Underground Electric Railways Company of London
The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited (UERL), known operationally as the Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"[note 1] underground railway lines opened in London during 1906 and 1907: the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway. It was also the parent company from 1902 of the District Railway, which it electrified between 1903 and 1905. The UERL is a precursor of today's London Underground; its three tube lines form the central sections of today's Bakerloo, Northern and Piccadilly lines.
The UERL struggled financially in the first years after the opening of its lines and narrowly avoided bankruptcy in 1908 by restructuring its debt. A policy of expansion by acquisition was followed before World War I, so that the company came to operate the majority of the underground railway lines in and around London. It also controlled large bus and tram fleets, the profits from which subsidised the financially weaker railways. After the war, railway extensions took the UERL's services out into suburban areas to stimulate additional passenger numbers, so that, by the early 1930s, the company's lines stretched beyond the County of London and served destinations in Middlesex, Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey.
In the 1920s, competition from small unregulated bus operators reduced the profitability of the road transport operations, leading the UERL's directors to seek government regulation. This led to the establishment of the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, which absorbed the UERL and all of the independent and municipally operated railway, bus and tram services in the London area.
Establishment
Background
The first deep-level tube railway, the
The
By 1898, American financier Charles Tyson Yerkes had made a large fortune developing the electric tramway and elevated railway systems in Chicago, but his questionable business methods, which included bribery and blackmail, had finally drawn the disapproving attention of the public. Yerkes had unsuccessfully attempted to bribe the city council and Illinois state legislature into granting him a 100-year franchise for the tramway system. Following a public backlash, he sold his Chicago investments and turned his attention to opportunities in London.[5]
Acquisitions
Yerkes' first acquisition in London was the
Perks was also a large shareholder in Yerkes' next target, the
The
Yerkes' final purchase was the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR) in March 1902 for £360,000 (£41.6 million today).[7][8] The BS&WR had permission to construct a line from Paddington to Elephant & Castle and, unlike his other tube railway purchases, construction work had started in 1898. Substantial progress had been made before it was stopped following the collapse of the BS&WR's parent company, the London & Globe Finance Corporation, due to the fraud of its managing director Whitaker Wright in 1900.[13][14] With a varied collection of companies under his control, Yerkes established the UERL in April 1902 to take control of them all and manage the planned works, and took the position of chairman. On 8 June 1902, the UERL took over the MDETC and paid off the company's shareholders with cash and UERL shares.[8]
Finances
The UERL was set up with an initial capitalisation of £5 million (£577 million today).[7][8] The company was backed by three merchant banks, Speyer Brothers in London, Speyer & Co. in New York and Old Colony Trust Company in Boston, each of which was to receive £250,000 from the capital raised. Almost 60 per cent of the initial share offering was bought in the United States, with a third sold in Britain and the rest mainly in the Netherlands. Further capital was soon needed for the construction works and additional share and bond issues followed. The UERL eventually raised a total of £18 million (£2.06 billion today).[7][15]
Like many of Yerkes' schemes in the United States, the structure of the UERL's finances was highly complex and involved the use of novel financial instruments. One method, used by Yerkes to raise £7 million, was "profit-sharing secured notes", a form of bond which was secured against the value of shares. They were sold at a 4 per cent discount, paid 5 per cent interest and were due for repayment in 1908.[16] The assumption was that shares would inevitably rise in value once the UERL's tube railways were operational and producing a profit. Investors in the notes would gain the double benefit of the growth in share price and interest.[15]
Engineering works
Electrification of the District Railway
Before its takeover, the DR had carried out some joint electrification experiments with the
The committee's preferred system was a 3,000
Victorious, the MDETC quickly began the electrification of the DR's tracks, starting with an extension from Ealing Common to South Harrow that opened with its first electric service in June 1903. Conversion of the rest of the DR's tracks was completed in mid-1905, although failure to coordinate installations with the MR meant that the first electric services on the Inner Circle from 1 July 1905 were disrupted for several months due to equipment failures on the MR's trains.[18] Power came from the UERL's own Lots Road Power Station on Chelsea Creek. Originally planned by the B&PCR, construction of the power station began in 1902 and finished in December 1904. It became operational on 1 February 1905, generating three-phase alternating current at 11,000 volts, which was converted to 550 volts direct current at track-side transformers located around the network. The power station was constructed large enough to power all of the UERL's lines once they opened plus others later.[19] By the time the last of the DR's steam trains were retired on 5 November 1905, the UERL had spent £1.7 million (£194 million today)[7] on the electrification of the line.[20]
Construction of the tube railways
With funds in place, construction of the BS&WR was quickly restarted. 50 per cent of the tunnelling and 25 per cent of the station work had been completed before work had been stopped,[21] and by February 1904 virtually all of the tunnels and underground parts of the stations between Elephant & Castle and Marylebone were complete and works on the station buildings were under way.[22] Construction of the GNP&BR and the CCE&HR began in July 1902 and proceeded quickly so that the UERL was able to record in its annual report in October 1904 that 80 per cent of the GNP&BR's and 75 per cent of the CCE&HR's tunnels had been completed.[23]
Following the pattern adopted by the earlier tube lines, each of the UERL's lines was constructed as a pair of circular tunnels using tunnelling shields with segmental cast iron tunnel linings bolted together and grouted into place as the shield advanced. Generally the tunnels followed surface roads and were constructed side by side, but where the width of the road above was insufficient, tunnels were placed one above the other.[24] Stations on all three lines were provided with surface buildings designed by the UERL's architect Leslie Green in a standardised style modified for each site.[25] These consisted of two-storey steel-framed buildings faced with red glazed terracotta blocks with wide semi-circular windows on the upper floor.[note 3] The stations had flat roofs and were designed to accommodate upward extension for commercial development.[24] Most stations were provided with between two and four lifts and an emergency spiral staircase in a separate shaft.[note 4] At platform level, the wall tiling featured the station name and an individual geometric pattern and colour scheme designed by Green.[25]
The UERL used a
Operation
Early struggle for survival
Apart from the electrification of the DR, Yerkes did not live to see the completion of the fast-paced construction works that he set in motion; he died in New York on 29 December 1905 and was replaced as UERL chairman by
Yerkes also did not live to see the UERL's financial struggle during the first years after the opening of the new lines. Because of greatly over-optimistic pre-opening predictions of passenger numbers, the lines failed to generate the income expected and needed to fund the interest payments on the UERL's substantial borrowings.[35] In the Bakerloo Tube's first twelve months of operation, it carried 20.5 million passengers, less than sixty per cent of the 35 million that had been predicted during the planning of the line. The Piccadilly Tube achieved 26 million of a predicted 60 million and the Hampstead Tube managed 25 million of a predicted 50 million. For the DR, the UERL had predicted an increase to 100 million passengers after electrification, but achieved 55 million.[36] The lower than expected passenger numbers were partly due to competition between the UERL's lines and those of the other tube and sub-surface railway companies, and the further spread of electric trams and motor buses, replacing slower, horse-drawn road transport, that took a large number of passengers away from the trains. The low price of tickets also depressed income.[35]
The crisis point for the UERL was the need to redeem the five-year profit-sharing secured notes on 30 June 1908. The UERL did not have the money. Speyer unsuccessfully tried to persuade the London County Council (LCC) to inject £5 million into the UERL and used some of his own bank's money to pay-off disgruntled shareholders threatening bankruptcy proceedings. Eventually, Speyer and Gibb managed to obtain agreement from the shareholders to convert the notes into long-term debt to be repaid in 1933 and 1948.[37]
Consolidation
As Speyer and Gibb worked to restructure the debt, the UERL's general manager, Albert Stanley, appointed by Gibb in 1907, began to increase the UERL's income by improving management structures. With commercial manager Frank Pick, Stanley instigated a plan to increase passenger numbers; developing the "Underground" brand and establishing a joint booking system and coordinated fares throughout all of London's underground railways, including those not controlled by the UERL.[38][39]
In 1909, the UERL overcame the objections of previously reluctant American investors,
As managing director of the UERL from 1910, Stanley led further transport consolidation with the UERL's take-over of London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) in 1912 and the CLR and the C&SLR on 1 January 1913. The LGOC was the dominant bus operator in the capital and its high profitability (it paid dividends of 18 per cent compared with Underground Group companies' dividends of 1 to 3 per cent) subsidised the rest of the group.[43] Through the UERL's shareholding in the London and Suburban Traction Company (LSTC), which it owned jointly with British Electric Traction, the UERL took control in 1913 of the London United Tramways, the Metropolitan Electric Tramways and the South Metropolitan Electric Tramways. The UERL also took control of bus builder AEC.[44] The much enlarged group became known as the Combine.[45] Only the MR (and its subsidiaries the Great Northern & City Railway and the East London Railway) and the W&CR (by then fully owned by the London and South Western Railway) remained outside of the Underground Group's control.[46]
Extensions and improvements
Another way in which the UERL tried to improve income was the construction of extensions to its lines to generate additional passenger traffic, often through the stimulation of new housing developments in the areas through which the lines ran. The DR was extended to
In addition, a programme of modernising many of the Underground's busiest central London stations was started; providing them with escalators to replace lifts.
Move to public ownership
Starting in the early 1920s, competition from numerous small bus companies, nicknamed "pirates" because they operated irregular routes and plundered the LGOC's passengers, eroded the profitability of the Combine's bus operations. This had a negative impact on the profitability of the whole group.[56] Stanley lobbied the government for regulation of transport services in the London area. Starting in 1923, a series of legislative initiatives were made in this direction, with Stanley and Labour politician Herbert Morrison, London County Councillor (and later member of parliament and Minister of Transport) at the forefront of debates as to the level of regulation and public control under which transport services should be brought. Stanley aimed for regulation that would give the UERL group protection from competition and allow it to take substantive control of the LCC's tram system; Morrison preferred full public ownership.[57] After seven years of false starts, a bill was announced at the end of 1930 for the formation of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), a public corporation that would take control of the UERL, the Metropolitan Railway and all bus and tram operators within an area designated as the London Passenger Transport Area.[58] As Stanley had done with shareholders in 1910 over the consolidation of the three UERL controlled tube lines, he used his persuasiveness to obtain their agreements to the government buy-out of their stock.[59]
The Board was a compromise – public ownership but not full nationalisation – and came into existence on 1 July 1933, with Stanley as chairman and Pick as Chief Executive.[60]
See also
- List of transport undertakings transferred to the London Passenger Transport Board
- London Post Office Railway
- History of public transport authorities in London
Notes and references
Notes
- cut and coveror running above ground.
- cut and covermethod.
- Tottenham Court Road and Charing Cross on the CCE&HR. For these stations the tube line was accessed either from an existing station building or from a pedestrian subwayunder the street.
- Otis,[26] were installed in pairs within 23-foot (7.0 m) diameter shafts.[27] The number of lifts depended on the expected passenger demand at the stations, for example, the BS&WR's Lambeth North had two lifts, but Elephant & Castle originally had four.[28]
References
- ^ a b c d Rose 1999.
- ^ Badsey-Ellis 2005, p. 112.
- ^ a b c Horne 2006, pp. 36–37.
- ^ Badsey-Ellis 2005, pp. 70–71.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, pp. 164–65.
- ^ "New London Electric Railway Scheme". The Times (36252): 6. 20 September 1900. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g Badsey-Ellis 2005, p. 118.
- ^ "New London Electric Railway Scheme". The Times (36260): 12. 29 September 1900. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
- ^ Horne 2006, p. 37.
- ^ a b Day & Reed 2008, p. 63.
- ^ Badsey-Ellis 2005, p. 85.
- ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 69.
- ^ Badsey-Ellis 2005, pp. 113–14.
- ^ a b Wolmar 2005, pp. 170–73.
- ^ Badsey-Ellis 2005, p. 282.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, pp. 123–24.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, pp. 125–26.
- ^ Horne 2006, pp. 40–41.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 123.
- ^ "The Underground Electric Railways Company Of London (Limited)". The Times. No. 36738. 10 April 1902. p. 12. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ "Railway And Other Companies – Baker Street and Waterloo Railway". The Times. No. 37319. 17 February 1904. p. 14. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ "Railways and Other Companies". The Times (37525): 10. 14 October 1904. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ a b Day & Reed 2008, p. 73.
- ^ a b Wolmar 2005, p. 175.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 188.
- ^ Connor 2006, plans of stations.
- ^ "Clive's Underground Line Guides, Lifts and Escalators". Clive D. W. Feathers. Retrieved 20 June 2010.)
- ^ Horne 2001, p. 19.
- ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 72.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 195.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, pp. 173–74.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 181.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 186.
- ^ a b Wolmar 2005, p. 197.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 191.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, pp. 196–97.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 199.
- ^ Badsey-Ellis 2005, pp. 282–83.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 198.
- ^ "No. 28311". The London Gazette. 23 November 1909. pp. 8816–8818.
- ^ "No. 28402". The London Gazette. 29 July 1910. p. 5498.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 204.
- ^ "Obituary – Lord Ashfield, Reorganizer of London Transport". The Times. No. 51221. 5 November 1948. p. 7. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 193.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 205.
- ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 82.
- ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 79.
- ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 94.
- ^ Day & Reed 2008, pp. 96–97.
- ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 90.
- ^ Bruce & Croome 2006, pp. 24 & 30.
- ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 93.
- ^ Day & Reed 2008, pp. 104–107.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 269.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 259.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, pp. 259–262.
- ^ "No. 33668". The London Gazette. 9 December 1930. pp. 7905–7907.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 264.
- ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 266.
Bibliography
- Badsey-Ellis, Antony (2005). London's Lost Tube Schemes. Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-293-3.
- Bruce, J Graeme; Croome, Desmond F (2006) [1996]. The Central Line. Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-297-6.
- Connor, J.E. (2006) [2001]. London's Disused Underground Stations. Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-250-X.
- Day, John R; Reed, John (2008) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground. Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-316-7.
- Horne, Mike (2001). The Bakerloo Line. Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-248-8.
- Horne, Mike (2006). The District Line. Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-292-5.
- Rose, Douglas (1999) [1980]. The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History. Douglas Rose/Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-219-4.
- ISBN 1-84354-023-1.
External links
- Documents and clippings about the Underground Electric Railways Company of London in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW