Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

Metropolitan Line, 1863

The first underground railway in London, the Metropolitan Railway, opened on January 10 1863. It ran from Paddington (Bishop's Road) to Farringdon St (now just Farringdon), calling at Edgware Road, Baker Street, Portland Road (now Great Portland St), Gower St (now Euston Square) and King's Cross.

According to the February 1863 edition of Bradshaw's Railway Guide, end to end journey time was 18 minutes. It's now 12-13 minutes, which doesn't seem like a massive improvement until you realise that there were at most six trains an hour in each direction on the line compared to, well, a whole lot more today.

Fares were fairly simple - single fares for short journeys were 4d, 3d or 2d for third, second and first class respectively (yes, it had three-class service) and 6d, 4d or 3d for longer trips. The first train was at 0600, the last one was at midnight, and there were even occasional expresses - non-stop from Paddington to Farringdon or vice-versa calling only at Edgware Road.

And of course, it was steam-hauled...