Did you know the very first urban underground railway in the entire world is London’s Metropolitan Line? Still transporting Londoners daily, 2023 is the Met's 160th anniversary.
We've starred Paddington as the first station on the first Metropolitan line trip, on our interactive Friday Fun Fact map: Google My Maps.
The journey that changed everything
160 years ago, the fist Metropolitan line train connected seven stations from Paddington to Farringdon. Over the years this historic railway had a huge impact on the development of suburbs in the north west, such as areas of Middlesex that have since become part of Greater London, like Wembley Park. In the following years, the design for major city underground railways, like Paris' Metro, followed the Metropolitan Railway's lead.
Learn more about London’s expansion through transportation in Berkshire's new look: the royal commute.
The first trip; the worst commute
On its first day 160 years ago, the Metropolitan Railway ferreid 38,000 passengers around London, from Paddington to Farringdon.
The first train at 6am carried labourers from Paddington into the city. Around 8am, curious Londoners joined the fray and by 9am the stations were completely overwhelmed. King's Cross, which was hailed in a paper at the time as "certainly the finest station on the line throwing even the termini into shade" (1863, The Guardian), was jam-packed. For a while, tickets weren't issued in the direction from Paddington to Farringdon, as the trains were overrrun, while passengers going the opposite way had little issue.
Then came the afternoon rush, "the tide set in the other way, and the approaches to the trains at Victoria-street can be compared to no other than the crush at the doors of a theatre on the first night of a pantomine" (1863, The Guardian).
The Metro Line stays strong
The Metropolitan line is still running today, and property near these stations are forever in high demand. Did you know you can structure your property search by your commute? With our search features you can factor in travel time or search homes for sale and to rent by train stations from the Underground Map.
See what homes we have on the market near the six remaining original Metropolitan line stations:
Photo: Great Portland Street Station by Ewan Munro | CC BY-SA | Flickr
Great Portland Street
Euston Square (originally Gower Street)
