![]() Illustration of the iron tube intended for use on the railway. | |
Overview | |
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Dates of operation | 1865–1867 |
Technical | |
Track gauge | Unknown |
The Waterloo and Whitehall Railway was a proposed and partly constructed 19th century Rammell pneumatic railway in central London intended to run under the River Thames just upstream from Hungerford Bridge, running from Waterloo station to the Whitehall end of Great Scotland Yard. The later Baker Street and Waterloo Railway followed a similar alignment for part of its route.
Waterloo and Whitehall Railway Act 1865 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
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Long title | An Act for making a Railway from near the Waterloo Station of the London and South-Western Railway to Whitehall; and for other Purposes. |
Citation | 28 & 29 Vict. c. cclviii |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 5 July 1865 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2013 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
Authorised by the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. cclviii), its route was:
A Railway commencing in the Parish of St Martin's-in-the-Fields in the County of Middlesex in the Street or Place known as Great Scotland Yard at or near the Western End thereof, and terminating in the Parish of Lambeth and County of Surrey in a Piece of Land belonging to the London and South-western Railway Company, and in the Occupation of Edwin Benjamin Gammon, near to and opposite the Arches under the Waterloo Station of that Railway numbered respectively 249 and 250.
Waterloo and Whitehall Railway (Amendment) Act 1867 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
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Long title | An Act to enlarge the Powers of the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway Company. |
Citation | 30 & 31 Vict. c. cxcvii |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 12 August 1876 |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2013 |
Status: Repealed | |
Text of statute as originally enacted |
Waterloo and Whitehall Railway Act 1868 | |
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Act of Parliament | |
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Citation | 31 & 32 Vict. c. clxix |
Other legislation | |
Repealed by | Statute Law (Repeals) Act 2013 |
Status: Repealed |
The period was extended by the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway (Amendment) Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. cxcvii) and Waterloo and Whitehall Railway Act 1868 (31 & 32 Vict. c. clxix).
The pneumatic pressure was to have been 22 lb/sq ft (1,100 Pa; 0.010 atm) in a 12-foot (3.7 m) diameter tube, with the engine at the Waterloo end sucking and then blowing 25 seat carriages acting as pistons. [1] Edmund Wragge was resident engineer.
The railway was intended to cross the river in a tunnel formed of four prefabricated sections of tube, each 220 feet (67 m) long, laid in a trench dredged across the river. The sections were to be joined by introducing their ends into junction chambers formed in brick piers constructed below the level of the existing riverbed. The piers were also designed to bear the weight of the sections, which were made of three-quarter-inch boiler plate, surrounded by four rings of brick work, firmly held in place by cement and flanged rings riveted onto the metal. Each section (of which at least one was completed) weighed almost 1,000 tons. Prefabrication began at the Samuda Brothers shipyard, at Poplar, five miles downstream. [2] If completed, it would have been the first Tube railway. [3]
The line was hit by the 1866 financial crisis caused by the Overend, Gurney and Company bank collapse. On 2 September 1870 the Board of Trade used the Abandonment of Railways Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c. 83) and the Railway Companies Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 127) to declare the railway should be abandoned by the company. [4]
A further railway, the Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway, was incorporated by the Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway Act 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. cclv) but was abandoned by the Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway (Abandonment) Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. lxxi) of 16 July 1885. A third company, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, secured the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway Act 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c. iv). This project was also put on hold, but eventually became the Bakerloo line. [5]
Parts of the works remained and at some stages there were tubes at the bottom of the Thames [6] and piles protruding from the river. [7] The trench excavated at the northern end is said now to be the wine cellar of the National Liberal Club. [3] [8] Some works appeared during construction of the Shell Centre on the South Bank.
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The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. The railway was originally intended for cable-hauled trains, but owing to the bankruptcy of the cable contractor during construction, a system of electric traction using electric locomotives—an experimental technology at the time—was chosen instead.
The history of the London Underground began in the 19th century with the construction of the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway. The Metropolitan Railway, which opened in 1863 using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, worked with the District Railway to complete London's Circle line in 1884. Both railways expanded, the Metropolitan eventually extending as far as Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, more than 50 miles (80 km) from Baker Street and the centre of London. The first deep-level tube line, the City and South London Railway, opened in 1890 with electric trains. This was followed by the Waterloo & City Railway in 1898, the Central London Railway in 1900, and the Great Northern and City Railway in 1904. The Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) was established in 1902 to fund the electrification of the District Railway and to complete and operate three tube lines, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, which opened in 1906–07. By 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines.
The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR), also known as the Hampstead Tube, was a railway company established in 1891 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. Construction of the CCE&HR was delayed for more than a decade while funding was sought. In 1900 it became a subsidiary of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), controlled by American financier Charles Yerkes. The UERL quickly raised the funds, mainly from foreign investors. Various routes were planned, but a number of these were rejected by Parliament. Plans for tunnels under Hampstead Heath were authorised, despite opposition by many local residents who believed they would damage the ecology of the Heath.
The London Electric Railway (LER) was an underground railway company operating three lines on the London Underground. It was formed in 1910 and existed until 1933, when it was merged into the London Passenger Transport Board.
The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), also known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London, England. The GNP&BR was formed through a merger of two older companies, the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway (B&PCR) and the Great Northern and Strand Railway (GN&SR). It also incorporated part of a tube route planned by a third company, the District Railway (DR). The combined company was a subsidiary of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL).
The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR), also known as the Bakerloo tube, was a railway company established in 1893 that built a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The company struggled to fund the work, and construction did not begin until 1898. In 1900, work was hit by the financial collapse of its parent company, the London & Globe Finance Corporation, through the fraud of Whitaker Wright, its main shareholder. In 1902, the BS&WR became a subsidiary of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) controlled by American financier Charles Yerkes. The UERL quickly raised the funds, mainly from foreign investors.
The transport system now known as the London Underground began in 1863 with the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway. Over the next forty years, the early sub-surface lines reached out from the urban centre of the capital into the surrounding rural margins, leading to the development of new commuter suburbs. At the turn of the nineteenth century, new technology—including electric locomotives and improvements to the tunnelling shield—enabled new companies to construct a series of "tube" lines deeper underground. Initially rivals, the tube railway companies began to co-operate in advertising and through shared branding, eventually consolidating under the single ownership of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), with lines stretching across London.
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The Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway (CC&WER) was a railway company established in 1881 to construct an underground railway in London. The CC&WER proposed a line between a station under Trafalgar Square and the London and South Western Railway's terminus at Waterloo. The plan was similar in concept to that proposed by the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway in 1864 which could not raise funds due to a banking crisis. To form the tunnels under the River Thames, iron pipes would be sunk into a trench dredged in the river bed.