History of the District line

The history of the District line started in 1864 when the Metropolitan District Railway was created to create an underground 'inner circle' connecting London's railway termini. The first part of the line opened using Metropolitan Railway gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. The District introduced its own trains in 1871 and was soon extended westwards through Earl's Court to Fulham, Richmond, Ealing and Hounslow. After completing the 'inner circle' and reaching Whitechapel in 1884, it was extended to Upminster in East London in 1902. To finance electrification at the beginning of the 20th century, American financier Charles Yerkes took it over and made it part of his Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) group. 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 and the capital's tramway and bus operators to form the

was introduced in 1985.

Metropolitan District Railway (1864–1933)

v t e District line
Legend
former branches transferred to Piccadilly line Uxbridge Depot Uxbridge Hillingdon Ickenham Piccadilly line to Heathrow Airport (closed 1975) Hounslow West Ruislip Depot Hounslow Central Central line to West Ruislip Ruislip (closed 1909) Hounslow Town Ruislip Manor Hounslow East Eastcote Rayners Lane Osterley Metropolitan line to Harrow-on-the-Hill Osterley & Spring Grove South Harrow (closed 1934)   Sudbury Hill ( Sudbury Hill Harrow) Boston Manor Sudbury Town Alperton Northfields Depot Park Royal & Twyford Abbey (closed 1931) Central line via central London Northfields Park Royal South Ealing North Ealing Great Western Main Line via Reading Ealing Broadway Piccadilly line to Uxbridge Central line to Epping Paddington Ealing Common Ealing Common Depot   Former service Waterloo–Reading line to Reading to Hounslow   Richmond Piccadilly line to Heathrow Airport Waterloo–Reading line to Waterloo Kew Gardens Acton Town River Thames Gunnersbury South Acton (closed 1959) South Acton North London line to Stratford South West Main Line Chiswick Park Tramlink via West Croydon Wimbledon Turnham Green Sutton Loop Line Wimbledon Park Stamford Brook Southfields Ravenscourt Park East Putney River Thames Hammersmith Putney Bridge Liverpool Street Parsons Green Barons Court Fulham Broadway West London Line to Clapham Junction West Kensington West Brompton Lillie Bridge Depot Kensington (Olympia) Earl's Court West London Line to Willesden Junction Triangle Sidings Circle line Gloucester Road South Kensington High Street Kensington Piccadilly line to Cockfosters Sloane Square Notting Hill Gate Victoria Hammersmith St James's Park Bayswater Westminster Embankment Paddington Temple Blackfriars Edgware Road Liverpool Street Mansion House Cannon Street Monument Mark Lane Hammersmith Tower Hill Metropolitan line via Harrow-on-the-Hill ( Fenchurch Street) ( Tower Gateway) Aldgate ( ) Hammersmith & City line Aldgate East St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road) East London line to Highbury & Islington St Mary's Curve to East London line Paddington East London line via Surrey Quays Whitechapel Elizabeth line to Abbey Wood or Shenfield Stepney Green Central line via Liverpool Street Mile End Central line to Epping Bow Road ( Bow Church) Bow Junction to Stratford Docklands Light Railway Bromley-by-Bow Bow Creek West Ham Plaistow Upton Park East Ham Gospel Oak to Barking line to Gospel Oak Barking Gospel Oak to Barking line to Barking Riverside Rainham Upney Becontree Dagenham Heathway Dagenham East Elm Park Hornchurch Upminster Bridge Romford–Upminster line to Romford Upminster LTS line to Grays via Chafford Hundred Upminster Depot LTS line to Shoeburyness via Basildon

The Metropolitan District Railway (commonly known as the District Railway after 1871) was formed in 1864 to build and operate part an underground 'inner circle' connecting London's railway termini.

At the start of the 20th century the District was seeing increased competition from the new electric underground tube lines and trams, and the use of steam locomotives underground led to unpopular smoke-filled stations and carriages.

Hounslow and Uxbridge were served by 2 or 3-car shuttles from Mill Hill Park (now Acton Town); some trains also served South Acton and central London in the peaks.[7] Services were extended again to Barking in 1908 and Upminster in 1932.^[8] In 1932 Piccadilly line trains were extended from Hammersmith to South Harrow, taking over the District service from Acton Town to South Harrow, although the District continued to provide a shuttle from South Harrow to Uxbridge.^[9] In 1933 Piccadilly trains reached to Hounslow West, the District continuing to run services with an off-peak shuttle from South Acton to Hounslow.^[10]

London Passenger Transport Board (1933–1947)

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2013)

On 1 July 1933 the District Railway amalgamated with other Underground railways, tramway companies and bus operators to form the

The outbreak of

Nationalisation (1947–2000)

This section needs expansion with: March 2013. You can help by adding to it. (March 2013)

London Transport's railways, along with other British railways were

R Stock, composed of new cars and the Q Stock trailers that had been built in 1938, replaced the trains with hand-operated sliding doors that remained.^[20] The new trains were built between 1949 and 1959,^[21] and after 1952 trains were constructed from aluminium, saving weight. One train was left unpainted as an experiment and considered a success, so between 1963 and 1968 trains were left unpainted or painted white or grey to match.^[22] The transfer of CO/CP Stock from the Metropolitan line in the early 1960s allowed some of the Q stock to be scrapped.^[23] The District line was overcrowded at the east end to Barking and beyond, but it was not possible to run more trains as the tracks were shared with British Rail steam passenger and goods trains to Fenchurch Street. A plan was developed in 1950 to electrify the southerly pairs of tracks with overhead lines for new British Rail trains and separate these from the District line. A flyover and a fly under were built at Barking to allow cross-platform interchange between Underground and British Rail services. British Rail required the District's land at Little Ilford, so a new depot was built at Upminster for District trains.^[24] Work began in 1955, with work on Upminster depot starting the following year. Upminster depot, able to take 34 x 8-car trains, fully opened 1 December 1958, and the work was complete in 1961. British Rail was running a full electric service from June 1962.^[25]

The South Acton shuttle was withdrawn on 28 February 1959, followed by the peak hour District line through service to Hounslow on 9 October 1964.

Services were operated with 6 cars off-peak and 8 cars during peak hours until 1971, when trains were reformed as fixed 7-car trains, and some 6-car trains for the Edgware Road branch.

Transport for London (from 2000)

Transport for London (TfL) was created in 2000 as part of the Greater London Authority by the Greater London Authority Act 1999.^[33] Control of London Underground passed to TfL in 2003, after the infrastructure of the District line had been partly privatised in a public–private partnership, managed by the Metronet consortium. Metronet went into administration in 2007 and the local government body Transport for London took over responsibilities.^[34]

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Bruce, J Graeme (1983). Steam to Silver. A history of London Transport Surface Rolling Stock. Capital Transport.
  ISBN 0-904711-45-5
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• Day, John R; Reed, John (2010) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground (11th ed.). Capital Transport.
  ISBN 978-1-85414-341-9
  .
• Green, Oliver (1987). The London Underground: An illustrated history.
  ISBN 0-7110-1720-4
  .
• Horne, Mike (2006). The District Line. Capital Transport.
  ISBN 1-85414-292-5
  .
• Rose, Douglas (December 2007) [1980]. The London Underground: A Diagrammatic History (8th ed.). Capital Transport.
  ISBN 978-1-85414-315-0
  .