Portal:Trains/Selected article/Week 48, 2007

The City & South London Railway (C&SLR) is considered to be the first deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and also the first major railway in the world to use electric traction. Originally intended to be operated with cable-hauled trains, the collapse of the cable contractor while the railway was under construction forced a change to electric traction, a still experimental technology at the time, before the line opened. When first opened in 1890, it served six stations and ran for a distance of 5.1 km in a pair of tunnels between the City of London and Stockwell, passing under the River Thames. The diameter of the tunnels restricted the size of the trains and the small carriages with their high backed seating were nicknamed "padded cells". The railway was extended a number of times north and south; eventually serving 22 stations over a distance of 21.7 km from Camden Town in north London to Morden in Surrey. Although the C&SLR was well-frequented, low ticket prices and the construction cost of the extensions placed a strain on the company's finances. In 1913, the C&SLR became part of the Underground Group of railways and, in the 1920s, it underwent major reconstruction works prior to its merger with another of the Group's railways. In 1933, the C&SLR and the rest of the Underground Group was taken into public ownership. Today its tunnels and stations form the Bank branch and Kennington to Morden section of the London Underground's Northern Line.