“Fascinating account of the development of the London Underground.
Has plenty of interesting little tidbits. When first opened it was non-smoking, but Parliament rapidly passed a law insisting that smoking be permitted. In the early days of electrification, the station furthest from the generator didn't have quite enough power, and since there was an incline up to the station, sometimes the train wouldn't quite make it, and would have to roll back down and try to get enough momentum for a second go.
The Metropolitan built a Ferris wheel at Earl's Court as an attraction, and once when it broke down gave everyone on it £5 compensation. Next day, 11,000 people queued up hoping for another breakdown. The early electric trains had heavy locomotives rather than powered carriages, which caused so much vibration draughtsmen in offices above couldn't draw straight lines.
The book also presents a thoughtful analysis of the problems of setting up the network, which gives a lot of insight into how the chaos of the modern system came about.
Getting finance was a struggle, and most of the early investors lost their money. Although the opening of the lines creating a property price bonanza, all but one company (the Metropolitan) was forbidden from buying property. So despite the enormous positive externalities (benefits) of the system, it was hard to make a profit.
There was bitter rivalry between the early companies, leading to a lack of integration and interconnection. Wealthy property owners successfully opposed railways and developments, making it hard to run overground lines into the centre. In the Nineteenth Century railway companies were presented in the press as rapacious and destructive. Finally, to avoid conflicts with pipes and foundations, even some of the deep lines were build with twists, turns and inclines to follow street lines, reducing the speed of the trains.
Wolmar makes an interesting conjecture that if the right capitalists hadn't come along at the right time, before motor-buses, there might be no underground railways worldwide: it may have needed one city to make the breakthroughs.
Overall, interesting and informative book, well worth reading if you're interested in the Tube. ”
