Digging Deeper
Digging Deeper and the world's first electric tube
The shallow cut-and-cover construction method used for London’s early underground lines was expensive and created chaos on the streets.
In 1870 James Henry Greathead perfected a machine to cut a circular tunnel through the layer of clay beneath London safely and efficiently, giving his name to it – the Greathead Shield.
Its principles are still employed by the huge computerised Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) of today, on the Crossrail project, and the Nine Elms extension to the Northern line, but its first triumph was in 1890 – the City and South London Railway.
In 1890, the world’s first electric railway, the City and South London Railway (CSLR), opened between Stockwell and King William Street in the City. Initially conditions were basic, with passengers travelling in primitive windowless coaches nicknamed ‘padded cells’, but the experiment was a success and the CSLR was followed by the Waterloo & City in 1989, the Central London 1900, and several other proposals.
The main technical difficulties were overcome by Greathead’s shield, electric power and safe lifts, but raising capital was still a problem. The American entrepreneur Charles Tyson Yerkes - who made a fortune running street railways in Chicago – stepped in adopted three struggling schemes and successfully raised cash from his stateside contacts to build them. The Hampstead, Piccadilly and Bakerloo Tubes opened in 1906-7.
Must-see objects
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Ten significant engineering wonders of London’s transport history and the problems they solved, some more successfully than others! All can be seen at the Museum’s sites.
London’s population was about 1.7 million when Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837. Mainline railways in the 1840s and 1850s brought even more people into the Capital. Traffic congestion was reaching crisis point and radical solutions were needed. Read more about public transport in Victorian London – underground
The Metropolitan line is the oldest underground railway in the world. The Metropolitan Railway opened in January 1863 and was an immediate success, though its construction took nearly two years and caused huge disruption in the streets. Read more about the Metropolitan line.
More from the Museum guide
London’s population grew rapidly in the 19th century as the railways and the underground began to expand out, reaching villages like Brixton, and further out into new 'Metro-land', creating the first suburbs.
How did London Transport first form? Find out how and why Lord Ashfield merged all of London's transport operators in the early 1900s.
From horse-drawn vehicles to trams, trolleybuses and the first motor buses, discover what surface transport was like in the first half of the 20th century.
