9th or 10th January 1863

[revupminster]

I have old books by Day and Howson that say the underground opened on the 10th January which is where wikipedia is probably quoting, but the TFL site says today. Who is right???

[rincew1nd]

I'm sure we have discussed this already recently, the more expert searchers will no doubt find the thread. I recall the 9th was the opening ceremony and first train, the 10th was the first day of passenger service.

[castlebar]

Trains were much slower in those days

It started out on the 9th, but arrived on the 10th

[railtechnician]

Jan 9, 2013 8:07:14 GMT revupminster said:

I have old books by Day and Howson that say the underground opened on the 10th January which is where wikipedia is probably quoting, but the TFL site says today. Who is right???

1863 Opened on 10 January from a junction with the Great Western Railway (GWR) main line at Bishops Road, Paddington to Victoria Street (later Farringdon Street) in the City of London. A plaque commemorating the opening is at street level outside Baker Street station on the north side of Marylebone Road. From opening the line was worked for six months by the GWR with broad-gauge rolling stock.

[ianvisits]

The posh people travelled on the 9th.

The plebs travelled on the 10th.

Today we would consider the 10th to be the opening date, but at the time, the posh people activities were considered to be more significant, so by the standards of the time, the railway opened on the 9th.

[revupminster]

Found Charles E Lee 1972 Brief history: On Friday 9th January the directors and a party of 600 in two trains left Bishops Road soon after 1pm and taking 2h 10min stopping to view the stations. it is beleived 350 were guest, the others being shareholders and associates of the company. at Farringdon a specially built tempoary hall and a banquet was served and many speeches made. Public service began on the 10th. Underground Official handbook by Piers Connor dated 1990 gives it as the 10th January.

[railtechnician]

According to the Mail Online............

The first stretch of the Tube, the Metropolitan or Met line as it was known, opened on January 9 1863 and was the world's first underground railway.
On that first day, 30,000 people took a trip on the Metropolitan Railway between Paddington and Farringdon, the temporary terminus of the line.

The article was written by women.

[londonstuff]

Obviously Google thinks it's today:



Courtesy of Ianvisits, with a whole article on his website.

[Phil]

That ianvisits website gives a huge amount of valuable info, but the pedant in me REALLY baulks at the words used to describe the consist of the 1915 on the 13th Jan. His aberration, and sorry to have spotted it, but to be hauled by a train?? Probably not............. .