On this day, in 1870: First underground railway opened. The Tower Subway is a tunnel, dug in 1869, beneath the River Thames in central London, close to the Tower of London. Its alignment runs between Tower Hill on the north side of the river and Vine Lane (off Tooley Street) to the south. Its innovative method of construction provided the template for the construction in 1890 of the City & South London Railway. The Subway was originally intended to provide a passenger service beneath the river. A small cable car shuttled a maximum of 12 passengers from end to end for about 70 seconds. However, the cramped, low-capacity Subway proved uneconomical almost as soon it was officially opened on 2 August 1870: the railway service lasted just three months - too few passengers were being carried and the speed of the carriage was too slow.
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 18:50:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015