1.
Sutton, London
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Sutton is the principal town of the London Borough of Sutton in South London, England. It lies on the slopes of the North Downs, and has the administrative headquarters of the borough. It is located 10.4 miles south-south west of Charing Cross, an ancient parish, originally in the county of Surrey, Sutton is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having two churches and two acres of meadow at that time. Suttons location on the London to Brighton turnpike from 1755 led to the establishment of coaching inns, when it was connected to central London by rail in 1847, the village began to grow into a town, and there was significant Victorian-era expansion. Suttons expansion and increase in population accelerated in the 20th century as part of the growth of London. It became a borough with neighbouring Cheam in 1934, and has formed part of Greater London since 1965. Sutton has the largest library in the borough, several works of art, four conservation areas. It is home to a number of international companies and the sixth most important shopping area in London. Sutton mainline railway station is the largest in the borough, with frequent services to central London, along with Wimbledon Studios, Sutton is a hub for filming in south-west London. Sutton is home to the Royal Marsden Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research, the town has among the lowest levels of crime in Greater London. Sutton is home to a significant number of the boroughs schools, in 2011 Sutton was the top performing borough for GCSE results in England. The placename Sutton is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book as Sudtone and it is formed from Old English sūth and tūn, meaning the south farm. It was probably in relation to Mitcham and Morden that it was considered southerly, the name was later applied to Sutton Common and the Sutton New Town development in the 19th century. Archaeological finds in the date back over ten thousand years. An implement from the age was discovered close to the junction of Sutton High Street. The Roman road of Stane Street forms part of the boundary of the parish of Sutton. The course of Stane Street through the area is now followed by the modern roads Stonecot Hill and London Road, some sources state the early name as Suthtone or Sudtana instead. Other place names appear in this charter are Bedintone, Cegeham
2.
London Borough of Sutton
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The London Borough of Sutton is a London borough in South West London, England and forms part of Outer London. It covers an area of 43 km2 and is the 80th largest local authority in England by population and it is one of the southernmost boroughs of London. It is south of the London Borough of Merton, west of the London Borough of Croydon, the local authority is Sutton London Borough Council. Its principal town is the eponymous Sutton, the Borough has some of the schools with the best results in the country. A Trust for London and New Policy Institute report noted that Sutton had the highest rate in London of pupils achieving 5 A* – C GCSEs, in December 2014 Sutton was described by a senior Government official as the most normal place in Britain. In connection with this, the leader of Sutton Council described the borough as quietly brilliant, low levels of recorded crime are a feature of the borough, being among the lowest in London. An Ipsos MORI poll in 2014 found that 97% of residents felt safe in the borough during the day, and 71% felt safe at night, a higher figure than in 2011. The 2014 Family Hotspots Report, on the best places in England and Wales for families to live, the areas were identified as postcodes SM1, SM2 and SM3. A Rightmove study in 2015 found that Sutton was the fourth happiest borough in which to live out of 33 in London and it achieved the same placing in the 2016 survey. In 2014, a survey by eMoov found Sutton to be the easiest place in the country in which to sell a property, the London Borough of Sutton was one of the four vanguard areas selected in 2010 for the Big Society initiative. The borough includes the areas, The London Borough of Sutton was once made up of rural villages, the village feel persists, and places in the borough such as Carshalton, Cheam and Belmont continue to be referred to as villages. The historic development of the borough is reflected in the number of areas designated as conservation areas and as areas of special local character. Descriptions of a selection of the cultural institutions and attractions are set out below. There were frequent productions at The Charles Cryer Studio Theatre, which is situated on the High Street in Carshalton Village and it was opened by His Royal Highness Prince Edward in 1991. As well as drama and musicals, productions included comedy and dance, with material ranging from Shakespeare to Chekov to panto and childrens favourites, the theatres aim was to balance popularity with quality. The theatre also served as a venue for local bands. The theatre is named after the man who led the campaign to open the Secombe Theatre, Sutton, in August 2016 Sutton Theatres Trust, which owned the theatre, went into administration and it closed permanently. The Secombe Theatre is in Cheam Road, adjacent to the Holiday Inn Hotel, the theatre was opened by Sir Harry, who lived in Sutton for over 30 years of his life
3.
Thameslink and Great Northern
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Thameslink and Great Northern services were merged into one franchise in 2006 due to the Thameslink Programme. In 2012, it was announced that services of First Capital Connect, Southern, the Invitation to Tender was to have been issued in October 2012, with the successful bidder announced in Spring 2013 and TSGN originally due to start in September 2013. However, due to the collapse of the InterCity West Coast re-franchising process, in September 2013 a revised invitation to tender was issued. Govia Thameslink Railway was awarded the franchise on 23 May 2014, on 14 September 2014, Thameslink and Great Northern took over from First Capital Connect, serving 122 stations and operating a fleet of 226 trains. In December 2014, full control was taken of the Sevenoaks Thameslink service, on 21 January 2016 Transport for London announced that it intends to take over the London suburban parts of the franchise in 2021, to form a new suburban metro service. 1, ^ The Northern City Line between Moorgate and Drayton Park is also electrified at 750V DC using third rail, in 2011 the consortium Cross London Trains Ltd. This was a controversial decision as the competing bidder Bombardier Transportation had a train factory in the UK. Both the procurement process and final close of contract were significantly delayed, the trains are known as Class 700s and the £1.6 billion contract to manufacture and provide service depots for the trains was finalised in mid 2013. A fleet of 115 8- and 12-car trains are expected to service between 2016 and 2018. Associated rolling stock depots are being built at Hornsey and Three Bridges, because of the delay in procuring the Class 700 trains,29 Class 387 trains were ordered for the Thameslink route, facilitating the release of existing Class 319 trains to newly electrified routes. Delivery was completed in 2014 and the trains entered service later that year, the order includes provision for an extra 140 vehicles. It was originally planned that once the Class 700s begin entering service, however a change of plans saw GWR order an entirely new fleet of Class 387s with the ex-Thameslink examples expected to be cascaded to the Great Northern routes upon delivery of the Class 700s. This will allow Great Northern to operate fast services at up to 110 mph, something which the old fleet was incapable of. › London Moorgate, in December 2015 it was announced that Siemens would be providing these new trains as a follow-on to the Class 700 order. Former units operated by Thameslink and Great Northern include, This franchise is different from other franchises let since privatisation in 1996, now the operator, in this case Govia, gives all revenue to the government, rather than paying set premiums. The Department for Transport will pay Govia, totalling around £8. 9bn over the period of seven years. With this Govia expects to make a 3% profit, and the risks on costs will be Govias, Govia plans to invest £50m in all 239 stations it will manage. It plans to, Enhance all 239 stations including improving access, replace electronic information screens and working with authorities on the redevelopment of St Albans. Increase staffing hours at many stations, with the 100 busiest stations staffed from first to last train, extension of the key smartcard which Southern has been introducing
4.
Tramlink
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Tramlink is a light rail tram system serving Croydon and surrounding areas in South London, England. It began operation in 2000, the first tram system in London since 1952 and it is owned by London Trams, an arm of Transport for London, and operated by FirstGroup. The Tramlink is the fourth-busiest light rail network in the UK behind Manchester Metrolink, Tyne and Wear Metro, in 1990 Croydon Council with London Regional Transport put the project to Parliament and the Croydon Tramlink Act 1994 resulted, which gave LRT the power to build and run Tramlink. In 1996 Tramtrack Croydon Limited won a 99-year Private Finance Initiative contract to design, build, operate, TCL was a partnership comprising FirstGroup, Bombardier Transportation, Sir Robert McAlpine and Amey, and Royal Bank of Scotland and 3i. TCL kept the revenue generated by Tramlink and LRT had to pay compensation to TCL for any changes to the fares, TCL subcontracted operations to CentreWest Buses. One of the leading to its creation was that the London Borough of Croydon has no London Underground service. There are four routes, Route 1 – Elmers End to Croydon, Route 2 – Beckenham Junction to Croydon, Route 3 – New Addington to Wimbledon, and Route 4 – Therapia Lane to Elmers End. Route 2 runs parallel to the Crystal Palace to Beckenham Junction line of the Southern network between Birkbeck and Beckenham Junction – the National Rail track had been singled some years earlier. At Woodside the old station buildings stand disused, and the platforms have been replaced by accessible low platforms. From Woodside to near Sandilands and from near Sandilands almost to Lloyd Park, Tramlink follows the former Woodside and South Croydon Railway, including the Park Hill tunnels. The section of Route 3 between Wimbledon and West Croydon mostly follows the single-track British Rail route, closed on 31 May 1997 so that it could be converted for Tramlink, a partial obstruction near this point has necessitated the use of interlaced track. A Victorian footbridge beside Waddon New Road was dismantled to make way for the flyover over the West Croydon to Sutton railway line, the footbridge has been re-erected at Corfe Castle station on the Swanage Railway. In March 2008, TfL announced that it had reached agreement to buy TCL for £98m, the purchase was finalised on 28 June 2008. The background to this purchase relates to the requirement that TfL compensates TCL for the consequences of any changes to the fares, in 2007 that payment was £4m, with an annual increase in rate. In October 2008 TfL introduced a new livery, using the blue, white and green of the routes on TfL maps, the colour of the cars was changed to green, and the brand name was changed from Croydon Tramlink to simply Tramlink. These refurbishments were completed in early 2009, the tram stops have low platforms,35 cm above rail level. They are unstaffed and have automated ticket machines, in general, access between the platforms involves crossing the tracks by pedestrian level crossing. There are 39 stops, most being 32.2 m long and they are virtually level with the doors and are all wider than 2 m
5.
Southern (Govia Thameslink Railway)
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Southern is the brand name used by the Govia Thameslink Railway train operating company on the Southern routes of the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise. In July 2015, the franchisee was subsumed into GTR, but the existing Southern and Gatwick Express brand identities were retained alongside those of Thameslink and it also provides services between Milton Keynes and Croydon via the West London Line. It also operates services from Brighton to Ashford, Brighton to Seaford, Brighton to Southampton, following the end of British Rail, Connex South Central was awarded the Network SouthCentral franchise by the Director of Passenger Rail Franchising. Operations began on 26 May 1996, in March 2000, the Shadow Strategic Rail Authority announced its intention to relet the franchise from May 2003 with Connex and Govia the shortlisted bidders. In October 2000 the SSRA announced that Govia had been awarded the franchise, Govia negotiated a deal with Connex to buy out the remainder of its franchise, this was completed in August 2001. Govia trading as SouthCentral took over operations on 26 August 2001, in May 2004 the franchise was rebranded as Southern in a recall of the pre-nationalisation Southern Railway, using a green roundel logo with Southern in yellow in a green bar. In April 2007 the Department for Transport announced that the Gatwick Express franchise was to be incorporated into the main South Central franchise. This was part of a plan to increase capacity on the Brighton Main Line, involving the extension of services from Gatwick to Brighton. This doubled the number of London to Brighton express trains during those periods, in December 2008, Southern took over the services on the Redhill to Tonbridge Line from Southeastern. However, such a transfer never took place and the DfT put out the franchise for tender. In August 2008 the DfT shortlisted Govia, National Express, NedRail, in June 2009 the DfT announced that Govia had retained the franchise, to start on 20 September 2009. In March 2012 the Department for Transport announced that Abellio, FirstGroup, Govia, MTR and Stagecoach had been shortlisted for the new Thameslink, Southern, the Invitation to Tender was to be issued in October 2012, with the successful bidder announced in spring 2013. However, in the wake of the collapse of the InterCity West Coast refranchising process, in December 2012, Southerns London Victoria to London Bridge via Denmark Hill service ceased, being partially replaced by London Overgrounds new Clapham Junction to Dalston Junction service. However the Southern brand was retained, Southern was criticised for major changes to its timetables in December 2007 and December 2008. In December 2007, Southern changed the arrangement for the splitting of services to and from London Victoria on the Arun Valley Line, in December 2008 further timetable changes included the introduction of the extended Gatwick Express services. However, reliability and timekeeping on some of the new services were considered poor, on 22 January 2009, Southern responded to some of these criticisms. During 2009 these services have recorded improved timekeeping and criticisms have since subsided, the new timetable also led to unhappiness due to the difference in speed and frequency of service between East Coastway services and those on the Brighton Main Line. Further changes to the timetable were made in December 2010, the first timetable change to many of the requirements of the new franchise
6.
Benhilton
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Benhilton is a suburban parish in north Sutton. It is dominated by All Saints Church, which is a Grade II* listed building designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon in a Gothic Revival style and it also contains All Saints Benhilton, C of E Primary and Greenshaw High School. Benhilton is significantly elevated above the surrounding area, Benhilton mostly lies within Sutton North ward of Sutton Council but also includes parts of Sutton Central, Carshalton Central and The Wrythe, the four ward borders meet in Erskine Village. The earliest recorded name for the area is Benhull from the 1385 Carshalton Court Rolls, the oldest surviving structures in the parish date from the 18th century, both of which are milestones showing the distance to central London. The first milestone is situated at the end of the High Street opposite the junction with Benhill Avenue. On the east side is the inscription, Whitehall XI Miles, the second milestone can be found on the west side of Rose Hill next to Rosehill Park, heading north out of the parish towards Rosehill. On the east side is the inscription, Royal Exchange XI Miles, Whitehall X Miles. and on the northern side the date 1745 is also just legible. More writing on the north and south sides, probably showing distances to other towns and they are two of a series of milestones that marked the road from Westminster and London Bridge to Banstead Downs and, from 1755, the route of the turnpike road to Brighton. The two focal points of the area are Benhill and Angel Hill, the latter being where All Saints Church now stands, in May 1823, the journalist William Cobbett noted in his Rural Rides, They have lowered a little hill on the London side of Sutton. Thus is the money of the country actually thrown away, the produce of labour is taken from the industrious and it became a public house before it was sold in 2011 and converted into a Tesco Express. Sutton Common was enclosed in c. 1810-12 and Sutton Green was reserved as a recreation ground, to the south side of the Green, a pond with a small island was built and in 1838 a weeping willow coronation tree was planted to celebrate the crowning of Queen Victoria. Cricket was played on the Green, which lent itself to the name of a house opposite the Green, The Cricketers. There were still open fields until Benhill Wood was enclosed in 1854-57. The ecclesiastical parish of Benhilton was formed out of the parish of Sutton on 15 September 1863, grand villas including Benhill House and Sorrento Villa to the north of Sutton Green were built to take advantage of the commanding views to the Crystal Palace ridge six or seven miles away. The largest and most prominent villa, Benhill House, was located on land between Benhill Road, Oakhill Road, Benhill Wood Road and Elgin Road on the plateau at the peak of Benhill. Once the roads had been out, Thomas Alcock seems to have preferred to sell off his land rather than develop it himself. Rabbits, who owned a boot factory at Newington Butts. After the war it housed a girls school, before being demolished in the 1930s
7.
Wimbledon, London
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Wimbledon had a population of 68,187 in 2011 which includes the electoral wards of Abbey, Dundonald, Hillside, Trinity, Village, Raynes Park and Wimbledon Park. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, Wimbledon has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age when the hill fort on Wimbledon Common is thought to have been constructed. In 1087 when the Domesday Book was compiled, Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake, the village developed with a stable rural population coexisting alongside nobility and wealthy merchants from the city. The location of the station shifted the focus of the subsequent growth away from the original village centre. Since 2005, the north and west of the Borough has been represented in Westminster by Stephen Hammond, the eastern and southern of the Borough are represented by Siobhain McDonagh, a Labour MP. It has established minority groups, among the most prominent are British Asians, British Ghanaians, Wimbledon has been inhabited since at least the Iron Age when the hill fort on Wimbledon Common, the second-largest in London, is thought to have been constructed. The original nucleus of Wimbledon was at the top of the close to the common – the area now known locally as the village. The village is referred to as Wimbedounyng in a signed by King Edgar the Peaceful in 967. The name Wimbledon means Wynnmans hill, with the element of the name being the Old English dun. At the time the Domesday Book was compiled, Wimbledon was part of the manor of Mortlake, the ownership of the manor of Wimbledon changed hands many times during its history. The manor was held by the church until 1398 when Thomas Arundel, the manor was confiscated and became crown property. The manor remained crown property until the reign of Henry VIII when it was granted briefly to Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, until Cromwell was executed in 1540 and the land was again confiscated. The manor was held by Henry VIIIs last wife and widow Catherine Parr until her death in 1548 when it again reverted to the monarch. In the 1550s, Henrys daughter, Mary I, granted the manor to Cardinal Reginald Pole who held it until his death in 1558 when it again become royal property. Marys sister, Elizabeth I held the property until 1574 when she gave the house to Christopher Hatton who sold it in the same year to Sir Thomas Cecil. The lands of the manor were given to the Cecil family in 1588, the Cecil family retained the manor for fifty years before it was bought by Charles I in 1638 for his Queen, Henrietta Maria. On his death in 1677 the manor was sold on again to the Lord High Treasurer, Thomas Osborne, the Osborne family sold the manor to Sir Theodore Janssen in 1712. Janssen, a director of the South Sea Company, began a new house to replace the Cecil-built manor house but, due to the collapse of the company
8.
World War I
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World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history and it was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved. The war drew in all the worlds great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances, the Allies versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war, Italy, Japan, the trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. This set off a crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia. Within weeks, the powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world. On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July, the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia, Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise, and when this was refused, declared war on Russia on 1 August. Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France, after the German march on Paris was halted, what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition, with a trench line that changed little until 1917. On the Eastern Front, the Russian army was successful against the Austro-Hungarians, in November 1914, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, opening fronts in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia and the Sinai. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers, Romania joined the Allies in 1916, after a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918, the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives. By the end of the war or soon after, the German Empire, Russian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, national borders were redrawn, with several independent nations restored or created, and Germanys colonies were parceled out among the victors. During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, the Big Four imposed their terms in a series of treaties, the League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict. This effort failed, and economic depression, renewed nationalism, weakened successor states, and feelings of humiliation eventually contributed to World War II. From the time of its start until the approach of World War II, at the time, it was also sometimes called the war to end war or the war to end all wars due to its then-unparalleled scale and devastation. In Canada, Macleans magazine in October 1914 wrote, Some wars name themselves, during the interwar period, the war was most often called the World War and the Great War in English-speaking countries. Will become the first world war in the sense of the word. These began in 1815, with the Holy Alliance between Prussia, Russia, and Austria, when Germany was united in 1871, Prussia became part of the new German nation. Soon after, in October 1873, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck negotiated the League of the Three Emperors between the monarchs of Austria-Hungary, Russia and Germany
9.
District Railway
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The Metropolitan District Railway was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete the circle, an underground railway in London. The Metropolitan Railway operated all services until the District introduced its own trains in 1871, the railway was soon extended westwards through Earls Court to Fulham, Richmond, Ealing and Hounslow. After completing the circle and reaching Whitechapel in 1884, it was extended to Upminster in Essex in 1902. To finance electrification at the beginning of the 20th century, American financier Charles Yerkes took it over, Electric propulsion was introduced in 1905, and by the end of the year electric multiple units operated all of the services. On 1 July 1933, the District Railway and the other UERL railways were merged with the Metropolitan Railway, today, former District Railway tracks and stations are used by the London Undergrounds District, Piccadilly and Circle lines. In 1863, the Metropolitan Railway opened the worlds first underground railway, the line was built from Paddington beneath the New Road, connecting the main line railway termini at Paddington, Euston and Kings Cross. Then it followed Farringdon Road to a station at Farringdon Street in Smithfield, the Mets early success prompted a flurry of applications to parliament in 1863 for new railways in London, many competing for similar routes. The House of Lords established a committee that recommended an inner circuit of railway that should abut, if not actually join. Proposals to extend west and then south from Paddington to South Kensington, initially, the District and the Met were closely associated and it was intended that they would soon merge. The District was established as a company to enable funds to be raised independently of the Met. The District also had permission to extend westward from Brompton station and, on 12 April 1869. There were no stations and this service initially operated as a shuttle. By summer 1869 additional tracks had been laid between South Kensington to Brompton and from Kensington to a junction with the line to West Brompton, during the night of 5 July 1870 the District secretly built the disputed Cromwell curve connecting Brompton and Kensington. East of Westminster, the section ran in the newly constructed Victoria Embankment built by the Metropolitan Board of Works along the north bank of the River Thames. The line was opened from Westminster to Blackfriars on 30 May 1870 with stations at Charing Cross, The Temple, the Met initially operated all services, receiving 55 per cent of the gross receipts for a fixed level of service. The District were also charged for any extra trains and the Districts share of the income dropped to about 40 per cent, the Districts level of debt meant that merger was no longer attractive to the Met and its directors resigned from the Districts board. To improve its finances, the District gave the Met notice to terminate the operating agreement, on Saturday 1 July 1871, an opening banquet was attended by the Prime Minister William Gladstone, who was also a shareholder
10.
London Underground
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The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2015–16 carried 1.34 billion passengers, the 11 lines collectively handle approximately 4.8 million passengers a day. The system has 270 stations and 250 miles of track, despite its name, only 45% of the system is actually underground in tunnels, with much of the network in the outer environs of London being on the surface. In addition, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London, the current operator, London Underground Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London, the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in Greater London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares, the Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless card payments were introduced in 2014, the LPTB was a prominent patron of art and design, commissioning many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and Johnston typeface, to prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, the worlds first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, the Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and this opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells. The Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, the Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade, the DC system was adopted. When the Bakerloo was so named in July 1906, The Railway Magazine called it an undignified gutter title, by 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines. In January 1913, the UERL acquired the Central London Railway, the Bakerloo line was extended north to Queens Park to join a new electric line from Euston to Watford, but World War I delayed construction and trains reached Watford Junction in 1917. During air raids in 1915 people used the stations as shelters. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was also delayed by the war, the Metropolitan promoted housing estates near the railway with the Metro-land brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on the line. Electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth, and branches opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925, the Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow and Hounslow. In 1933, most of Londons underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form the London Passenger Transport Board, the Waterloo & City Railway, which was by then in the ownership of the main line Southern Railway, remained with its existing owners. In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, in the following years, the outlying lines of the former Metropolitan Railway closed, the Brill Tramway in 1935, and the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936
11.
City and South London Railway
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The City and South London Railway was the first deep-level underground tube railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. When opened in 1890, the line had six stations and ran for 3.2 miles in a pair of tunnels between the City of London and Stockwell, passing under the River Thames. The diameter of the tunnels restricted the size of the trains, the railway was extended several times north and south, eventually serving 22 stations over a distance of 13.5 miles from Camden Town in north London to Morden in Surrey. Although the C&SLR was well used, low prices and the construction cost of the extensions placed a strain on the companys finances. In 1933, the C&SLR and the rest of the Underground Group was taken into public ownership, today, its tunnels and stations form the Bank Branch of the Northern line from Camden Town to Kennington and the southern leg of the line from Kennington to Morden. In November 1883, notice was given that a bill was to be presented to Parliament for the construction of the City of London & Southwark Subway. The railway was to run from Elephant and Castle, in Southwark, south London, the tracks were to be in twin tunnels 10 ft 2 in in diameter, running for a distance of 1.25 miles. The bill received assent as the City of London and Southwark Subway Act,1884 on 28 July 1884. Section 5 of the Act stated, The works authorised by this Act are as follows, with Newington Butts and terminating at King William Street. The subway shall consist of two tubes for separate up and down traffic and shall be approached by means of staircases, in 1886, a further bill was submitted to Parliament to extend the tunnels south from Elephant and Castle to Kennington and Stockwell. The tunnels on this section were of a larger diameter –10 ft 6 in. Before the railway opened, a further bill received assent, granting permission to continue the line south to Clapham Common, the act was published on 25 July 1890 as the City and South London Railway Act,1890, also effecting a change of the companys name. Like Greatheads earlier Tower Subway, the CL&SS was intended to be operated by cable haulage with an engine pulling the cable through the tunnels at a steady speed. Section 5 of the 1884 Act specified that, The traffic of the subway shall be worked by, the system of the Patent Cable Tramway Corporation Limited or by such means other than steam locomotives as the Board of Trade may from time to time approve. However, the length of tunnel permitted by the supplementary acts challenged the practicality of the cable system. It is reported that this problem with the CL&SS contributed to the bankruptcy of the company in 1888. However, electric traction had been considered all along. So, CL&SS chairman Charles Grey Mott decided to switch to electric traction, other cable-operated systems using the Hallidie patents continued to be designed, such as the Glasgow Subway which opened in 1896
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