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The Metropolitan District Railway was the predecessor of the District line of the London Underground. Set up on 29 July 1864, at first to complete the "Inner Circle" railway around central London, it was gradually extended into the suburbs. It was a private company that was purchased by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London and moved into public ownership in 1933 as part of the undertakings of the London Passenger Transport Board.

Line openings[]

The core section of the District commenced at the MetR's South Kensington station and extended in stages to Mansion House. Sections were opened as follows with the District also running westwards over the MetR's tracks to Gloucester Road and High Street Kensington:

  • 24 December 1868: South Kensington to Westminster.
  • 30 May 1870: Westminster to Blackfriars.
  • 3 July 1871: Blackfriars to Mansion House.
    • Also High Street Kensington to the West Brompton branch.

From this core, the District began extending branches to reach new population centres, mainly in the west:

This completed the Metropolitan District Railway system.

Electrification[]

Electrification had been considered by the MetR as early as the 1880s, but such a method of traction was still in its infancy, and agreement would need to be reached with the District because of the shared ownership of the Inner Circle. Experiments were later carried out on the Earl's Court-High Street Kensington section, and a jointly-owned train of six coaches began a passenger service in 1900. As a result of those tests a MetR/District committee in 1901 recommended overhead AC traction on the Ganz three-phase system. This was accepted by both parties but when an American led group, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), took control of the District there was disagreement. The group was led by Charles Yerkes, whose experience in the United States led him to favour DC, with third-rail pickup similar to that in use on the City & South London Railway and Central London Railway. After arbritration by the Board of Trade the latter system was taken up and the railways began electrifying the routes, using multiple-unit stock.

  • In 1902 the District commenced building the Lots Road Power Station to supply power to their network, which opened in 1905.
  • 1 July 1905: Aldgate-Whitechapel, initially for the District service
  • 13–24 September 1905: gradual electrification of the Inner Circle
  • 5 November 1905: completion of the electrification of the District lines with the electrification of the Edgware Road-Hammersmith and the Addison Road (now Olympia) branch[1]
  • 1 March 1910: Rayners Lane - South Harrow. This enabled the District to extend its services to Uxbridge

References[]

Notes
  1. Wolmar (2004), p. 126
Bibliography

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  • Wolmar, Christian (2004) The Subterranean Railway : how the London Underground was built and how it changed the city forever, Atlantic ISBN 1843540223

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