AnselaJonla t1_iscdsng wrote on October 14, 2022 at 9:51 PM

Only 34 years after the Metropolitan Railway opened its first stations at Paddington (Bishop's Road), Edgware Road, Baker Street, Portland Road, Gower Street, King's Cross, and Farringdon Street, and only seven years after the City and South London Railway opened with electric locomotion due to the nature of its route under the Thames disallowing the use of steam.

aaj617 t1_isjuhno wrote on October 16, 2022 at 3:14 PM

Don’t know why you were down voted. Fascinating

AnselaJonla t1_isjvvo5 wrote on October 16, 2022 at 3:23 PM

I think it's amazing that the technology spread to the US so fast, especially in those days.

The UK actually suffers for having been the pioneer in the railways, as we're hamstrung by having much of that ancient infrastructure still in existence. We didn't, for example, undergo a five year intensive remodelling program in the 1940s, as Europe did.

Many of those original 19th century tunnels on the London Underground are still in use today. The rolling stock, the signalling systems, the rails, the platform detailing will be newer, but the tunnels themselves are original.