Going Underground No.2

The District Line.
After the success of the initial 7 stations on what is now known as the Metropolitan Line, ideas poured in for other underground railways. One person suggested a circular line around the city - encased in glass. Another person suggested draining the Regents Canal and laying tracks on its bed.
The idea that proved most popular was a line that ran along the Thames.
Green on the map, it is one of the shallowest tube lines - and was recently voted the second worst line to travel on (You Gov poll).
Originally named the Metropolitan District Line, work began in June 1865.

The first stretch - between South Kensington and Westminster opened in time for Christmas 1868. It was then extended eastwards to Blackfriars - making use of the Victoria Embankment.
Following what became known as "The Great Stink" - when pollution of the Thames got so bad in the summer of 1858 that the City ground to a halt and MP's in Parliament could only work by saturating their blinds with chloride and lime - a new sewer was planned to take all of the effluent that was currently emptying into the river and channel it out to the east of the city - downriver.
Joseph Bazalgette's great sewer was built by embanking the river front. Today, the buildings on The Strand are backed with wide pavements and roads, when once they backed directly onto the Thames.
Where the people working in the image above are, there was once river and foreshore.
The reclaimed area was big enough to take the sewer - and the new underground line.

Further extensions to the District Line were to Hammersmith (1874), Richmond (1877), Ealing Broadway (1879), Putney Bridge (1880) and Wimbledon (1889). Extensions to Uxbridge and Hounslow were transferred to the Piccadilly Line in the 1930's.
We'll start out journey in the west where these extensions cover.

Richmond: An overground railway station has been here since 1846. One of the early plans for Crossrail would have seen it come here - in place of the District Line.
Kew Gardens: Opened 1877. It is the only tube station still to have a pub attached to it, though the connecting door to Platform 1 has now been blocked off. In the 1940's, the nuclear scientist Klaus Fuchs used to meet his KGB contact at the station. The building lies in the Kew Gardens Conservation Area, and so remains an original 19th Century structure.
Gunnersbury: The overground station opened as Brentford Road in 1869. On 8th December 1954, a tornado ripped the roof off the station, injuring six people.

Ealing Broadway: A GWR station was built here in 1838, but the underground station was built some distance away.
Ealing Common: Opened as Ealing Common then changed to Ealing Common and West Acton, before reverting back to the original name. The station building was replaced by a Charles Holden design in 1931.
Acton Town: Opened as Mill Hill Park, changing to Acton Town in 1910. It is nearly a mile away from the centre of Acton. Nearby are the Acton Works - once the Underground's main repair facility and now where the Transport Museum keeps its reserve stock of road and rail vehicles (open some weekends through the year).
Chiswick Park: Opened 1879 as Acton Green. Charles Holden rebuilt the station in the early 1930's in anticipation of the Piccadilly Line sharing it - something which never transpired. This station is closer to Turnham Green than Turnham Green station is.
Turnham Green: Source of many puns. Built on the site of a failed assassination attempt against King William III. A plan to have the Central Line also use this station was abandoned due the onset of the First World War. Once the war ended, a new route was proposed instead. In 1878 a passenger was injured due to the fact that the height from the platform to the carriages was 2 feet. None of your step-free-access in Victorian times. (Even today, at Bank Station, there is a 1 foot horizontal gap between the platform edge and the carriages).
Stamford Brook: Named after one of London's lost rivers (now channeled underground, it rises at Wormwood Scrubs and enters the Thames at Hammersmith, separating Upper and Lower Mall. The first Underground station to have an automatic ticket barrier (they've been trapping our belongings since 1964).
Ravenscourt Park: Opened as Shaftesbury Road in 1877. The first station to have its platforms raised after that accident at Turnham Green mentioned above.

Hammersmith: The Metropolitan Line and the District Line had separate station across the road from each other. They were only linked, from a pedestrian point of view, relatively recently. Scene of a derailment in 2003 caused by a broken rail. The subsequent inquiry found that the rails across the entire network were not being checked as frequently or as thoroughly as they should.
Barons Court: The name has nothing to do with nearby Earl's Court. It comes from Barenscourt in Ireland. The developer of this area, William Palliser, had connections there. (Many of the local streets are named after family members). This is why the name has no apostrophe, unlike Earl's Court.
West Kensington: Opened in 1874 as Fulham - North End. In 2009, after spending over £5m on refurbishment, plans to make the station step free were abandoned.
Kensington (Olympia): On a little extension on its own, between 1946 - 86 only open when exhibitions were running. It reverted to this state in 2011.

Wimbledon: Opened in 1889. Confuses tennis fans as it isn't the closest station to where the Championships take place. Between 1949 and 1956 the mainline station was base of operations for an Airedale Terrier named Laddie. With a box strapped to his back he collected money for railway charities. When he died in 1960, he was stuffed and displayed on Platform 5 of the station, but since 1990 has been housed in a museum. There is now an interchange with the Tramlink service - which confuses the heck out of Oyster users. You can't touch out - you have to touch in a second time.
Wimbledon Park: The place for Andy Murray fans to alight as it is the closest station as the crow flies. However, the next station - Southfields - entails a shorter walk. Made the news in 2012 when the Surrey cricketer Tom Maynard was killed after being hit by a train when he was fleeing the police. He had been seen to be driving erratically nearby and ran off when stopped.
Southfields: As mentioned, the closest station to where the tennis gods summon rain - and Cliff Richard - every year. Underwent a major refurbishment in time for the 2012 Olympics as the tennis was being held here. Each year, the decoration of the platforms changes, depending on who the Championships' sponsors are.
East Putney: Opened 1889. The last overground train service ended here in 1941, but British Rail continued to own the station until 1994, when it sold it to London Underground for £1.00. Allegedly built on the site of a 17th Century plague pit.
Putney Bridge: Originally Putney Bridge & Fulham. The station is actually in Fulham, on the other side of the river from Putney. Fulham FC's Craven Cottage ground is about 1km away.
Parsons Green: The parsonage it was named after was demolished about two years after the station opened.
Fulham Broadway: Opened as Walham Green in 1880. It was renamed in 1952 after requests from Fulham's Chamber of Commerce. Nearest station to Chelsea FC's Stamford Bridge ground. Scene of a riot in May 2008 when Man United beat Chelsea in a Champions League Final. The only station to be name-checked in songs by both Take That and Ian Dury & The Blockheads.
West Brompton: Connected to the overground in 1999, though you have to go through the Underground to get to it.

Earl's Court: Originally just a small wooden station (burned down 1875), it is now a huge barn of a place (1915). Five different lines emerge from here. The exit to the exhibition halls is the smaller one to the west. Outside the larger east exit you can see a Police Call Box. (Just had to be mentioned...). The first escalators on the Underground were installed here in 1911. A one legged man named "Bumper" Harris was employed on the first day to go up and down them to prove they were safe.
High Street Kensington: Opened as Kensington (High Street). The station was built well back from the road in order to give direct access to the department stores Barkers, Pontings and Derry & Toms, who jointly owned the site. The stores ran special trains for their customers.
Notting Hill Gate: Named after a toll gate that used to stand nearby. Very busy every August Bank Holiday - Carnival time. A refurbishment in 1959 rediscovered lost lift passages, containing posters dating from 1900.
Bayswater: Originally Queen's Road. Then the street named Queen's Road was renamed Queensway, so the station became Bayswater. Two houses in Leinster Gardens had to be demolished during the construction of this part of the line. Fake frontages were put up to disguise this. (They appear in the 3rd series of Sherlock).

The fake frontages of No's 23 & 24

The view from the rear - with the tube lines running below

The station features in a painting by Walter Sickert - note the old diamond logo below. Whiteley's Department Store is advertised. In 1907 the wealthy grocer William Whiteley was shot dead by his illegitimate son - Horace Rayner - who came to him seeking money. Rayner then attempted to kill himself. He was spared the death sentence as the public felt sorry for the young man, abandoned as a baby by his rich father. Some 180,000  people signed a petition for clemency on his behalf.

Paddington: Opened as Paddington (Praed Street) to differentiate it from the Metropolitan Line station Paddington (Bishops Road). See also my post Going Underground No.1.
Edgware Road: Two stations of this name, serving different lines. There have been plans for years to rename one of them. Location for one of the bombs on 7th July 2005, killing 6 passengers.

Gloucester Road: It is a straight route east from here, now that all the various branches and extensions westwards have come together. Features in the Sherlock Holmes story The Bruce-Partington Plans - the one where the body gets dropped onto the roof of an underground carriage. Trains no longer stop at one of the platforms. It is used for art displays - Art On The Underground - viewable from the opposite platform. Surprisingly, the area around was still mostly fields and market gardens in 1869, as the OS map above shows.

South Kensington: The stop for the museums - V&A, Natural History and Science. The original western terminus of the line. Like its High Street namesake, the station is built into a shopping arcade.
Sloane Square: In the news just last week as London Underground have replaced the distinctive green wall tiles - with a white trellis motif, as this is the station closest to the site of the Chelsea Flower Show - with boring plain white tiles. The Sloane Rangers are not happy. In 1940 a bomb hit the station whilst two trains were on the platforms. The exact number of casualties was kept hushed up. The station was only reopened in 1951 as it was the closest to Battersea park, which was hosting part of the Festival of Britain. The River Westbourne passes above your head in a pipe above the platforms.
Victoria: One of the busiest and most overcrowded stations on the network. Passengers are locked out temporarily several times a day. They are currently building a new entrance, secondary ticket hall, and extra escalators - all to get you to the same number of platforms and the same number of trains. Pointless.
St James's Park: You need to come up onto the street to see its most distinctive feature. No 55 Broadway houses the HQ of London Underground, with a building designed by Charles Holden and decorated with statuary by Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein. At the time it was the tallest building in London. For many years the name did not include the apostrophe-s. New Scotland Yard is a short distance away on the other side of Broadway.
Westminster: The biggest engineering headache was making sure Westminster Abbey didn't fall into the hole when they were building it. Original eastern terminus of the line.

Embankment: Opened as Charing Cross, as it lies beneath the rail terminus of that name. Cross section above dates from 1914. Scene of an accident in 1938 when the signals were rewired wrongly. A Circle Line train collided with a District Line one. 6 people were killed, with 43 injured.
Warren's Blacking Factory used to stand on this site - where the young Charles Dickens had some of his formative experiences. The rest of his family were in debtors prison at the time.
Temple: Named after the nearby legal district. Had a lovely roof promenade over the station - closed within a year or so as it had became a favoured haunt of prostitutes. Originally The Temple - the definite article dropped out of use about the same time the prostitutes were banished.

This illustrates how the embankment allowed the sewer and the tube line to be built side by side - the buildings on the left once being beside the water's edge.

Blackfriars: The first extension to the line terminated here. Once part of a rail interchange called St Paul's.
Mansion House: Bank Station is actually much closer to the Mansion House than this. At one stage it was planned that this would be the connection hub for all of London's underground lines.
Cannon Street: Built to link up the Circle Line. Used to be shut on Sundays and would close early in the evenings on other days as it served no local population - only commuters to the City.
Monument: Opened as Eastcheap. Another station built to link up the Circle Line. Connected by escalator to Bank Station. The two stations were jointly voted "least liked" in the same You Gov poll in 2013 that voted this whole line second least liked.
Tower Hill: Named specifically after the place where executions took place. Replaced an earlier station called Tower of London. There was another station just to the west called Mark Lane, which was closed as being too close to this. A substantial section of the Roman Wall can be seen just outside the station. This is the stop for the rail terminus of Fenchurch Street - the only London terminus not to have its own dedicated underground station.
Aldgate East: Longest platforms of any Underground station. The original station was some 500 feet to the west. The new station was built in 1938. A nearby station called St Mary's (Whitechapel) could then be closed. Danger of tripping over 'Jack the Ripper Walk' participants outside most evenings - one of their main meeting points.

Whitechapel: Once Whitechapel and Mile End. Jack the Ripper fans also congregate here. His first acknowledged victim was found north west of the station. John Merrick - the Elephant Man - was being exhibited in a freak show just a few yards away (just to the left of the image above). He died in a house only a few doors away from there. The Blind Beggar pub is a few yards off to the right. The East London line runs underneath - now part of London Overground. It will soon be connected to Crossrail as well.
Stepney Green: The actual Green is quite a distance to the south. Westbound passengers get told when their next train is due. Eastbound passengers only get told where the next train goes to - with no time stated. Some sort of anti-Cockney discrimination, surely?
Mile End: One of the few places you can change lines without leaving the platform. The name comes from a stone marking one mile from the eastern gate out of the City of London. This stone was actually much closer to Stepney Green. In 1918 a stampede during an air raid led to a number of fatalities.
Bow Road: The approach to the tunnel to the east of the station has one of the steepest gradients on the network - 1:28. Walford East, in the BBC soap Eastenders, is based on this station.
Bromley-by-Bow: Rebuilt in 1972 following a fire, it is one of the lesser used stations on the line - there not being much around it. An unexploded WW2 bomb was found by the tracks in 2008.

West Ham: In 1897, Arthur Hills, owner of the Thames Ironworks & Shipbuilding Company, lobbied the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway Co. to build a station at Manor Road. This was so that people could easily get to visit the nearby Memorial Grounds where his works football team played. They were Thames Ironworks FC - who, in 1900, became West Ham United. The team play at another location now - so not the stop you want if going to one of their home games. Indeed, the plan is for them to move again - into the Olympic Stadium. In 1976, an IRA bomb detonated prematurely on a train at this station. 9 people were injured, but the train driver was shot dead when he tried to pursue the bomber.
Plaistow: A District Line station since 1902. Absolutely nothing interesting to say about it.
Upton Park: The station for West Ham United home games. Provides a quaint Cockney saying - to describe someone as "Upton Park" means they are a bit mad - being two stops short of Barking...
East Ham: As boring as Plaistow.
Barking: See Upton Park above. Terminus for the Hammersmith & City Line. The station was badly damaged in 1923 when a locomotive on the mainline collided with the buffers - leaving it hanging over the road below.
Upney: Officially the least used station on the line.
Becontree: Opened in 1932 to serve the Becontree Estate - at the time the biggest housing estate in the world. Reputedly haunted by a faceless woman in a white dress, with long blonde hair.

Dagenham Heathway: This was the nearest stop to Ford's Dagenham plant - famed for its globe-trotting Girl Pipers. See also the 2010 movie Made In Dagenham, which charts the women machinists' strike for equal pay. The theme song, written by Billy Bragg, is sung by Sandie Shaw - a local girl who once worked at Ford's.
Dagenham East: Scene of an accident in 1958 when a driver ran a red light due to dense fog. 10 people were killed and 89 injured. Legend has it that this incident is the source of the Becontree haunting.
Elm Park: Like Becontree, named after and built to serve a new housing estate in the 1930's. Unlike most other stations which had a separate ticket hall, here someone would sit in a little booth and sell tickets on one side, and collect tickets on the platform side.
Hornchurch: The station is a mile from the town of that name. The town gets its name from the 13th Century St Andrew's church, which is decorated with a horned bull on its gable end.
Upminster Bridge: Named after the bridge over the Ingrebourne river, which marks the ancient parish boundary between Hornchurch and Upminster.
Upminster: The most easterly station on the entire network, and the end of the line.