Kingsway: London's Abandoned Tram Subway

for decades the trams were a familiar sight on the Streets of London then one day in 1952 they ceased to be replaced by buses consigned to the history books along with the handsome cab and the sedan chair the rails were pulled up and there was little to show for this once extensive system aside from the odd Remnant for the eagle-eyed transport Enthusiast with the obvious exception of this this is the entrance to the Kingsway tram tunnel on Southampton Row in hobin looking so well preserved that you could half expect a tram to emerge at any minute let's look at the history of this curiosity located in the very heart of London the first experimental tram lines in London were laid in 1861 and in the 1870s development of a tram Network began in Earnest trams rapidly became popular particularly with workingclass passengers they were comfortable and smooth smooth riding compared to horsedrawn buses and cheap and convenient compared to trains in the early days tram lines were built and operated by private companies however in 1891 the London County Council began acquiring some of these companies the reasons for this were largely political the council planned to build new housing in the suburbs for workingclass people but realized that quick affordable transport would be essential to the project a counselor named Jay Alan Baker had been particularly impressed by the way things were done in America where trams or street cars as they were known over there had changed the way cities were structured he believed that something similar could be done in London but the tram Network would need work the lines were maintained to different standards used different modes of traction and only covered certain areas of the city the plan was to acquire tram lines renovate them where necessary Electrify them and Link them together together to form a comprehensive Network meanwhile in hoben other changes were a foot the area was something of a slum back then a Labyrinth of narrow streets with ram shekele houses a rare survivor of the area as was is the old curiosity shop and yes it is that old curiosity shop a plan was hatched to sweep all that away in favor of a long Broad Road move the locals to the aforementioned new housing and construct a new Junction at old witch the road was to be named King's Way in honor of king Edward iith well hang on a second said the tram boys can we get in on that running a Tramway down this road would provide a much needed connection between North and South in New York and Boston trams were running through Subways and this seemed like a good idea to the council it meant more space for road traffic and trams could avoid busy Junctions So In 1902 they applied to Parliament for permission to build a line from theobald's road to the Victoria embankment followed by a surface line over Westminster Bridge into South London there were several objections to the scheme in Parliament ranging from the Practical to the Absurd I think my favorite was the argument that align through Westminster would make it hard for MPS to get to the St Stevens Club I mean fast affordable transport is one thing but cocktail hour is quite another it wouldn't be until 1906 that all the required permissions were retained for the full line the council wanted construction of the subway was actually surprisingly straightforward once the obstacles had been worked out because Kingsway was being built at the same time as the subway it was easy for the construction teams to work around each other at the same time gas and water mains could also be laid the track descended at theobald's Road the first section of tunnel was in tubes passing under the buried River Fleet then it rose up again at hoben to just below street level constructed using the cut and cover method it continued under old witch emerging at Water Bridge here there would be two stations at hoben and aldwich there was a later proposal to build a third station at Wellington Street but that was abandoned the station at hobin would incorporate a connection to the underground at the time many of the trams in London were still hor drawn but those running through the subway would be electric power was picked up from a conduit between the rails the authority objecting to overhead wires through Westminster but because the trams didn't have to share the road the track could be laid more lightly in a way that made maintenance easier trams in London were usually double decked but having to dive under the fleet posed a problem the council's engineers believed that the gradient needed for a double deck tram to get from below the fleet to street level would be far too steep so a shallower gradient was built and special single deck cars were ordered at the insistence of the Board of Trade these had to be completely fireproof and were constructed in steel and aluminium one counselor did suggest open cars be provided for the benefit of smokers but this idea seems not to have been taken too seriously on the 24th of February 1906 the first trams ran through the subway the line from theobald's road to Angel had been electrified to provide an onward connection and Angel to Old which was the first service in 1908 the tram lines to the south of the subway were fully completed enabling services to be run into South London and up to Tower Bridge the tunnel was a success in fact in some ways it was too successful by the 1920s the size of the tunnel was proving limiting the LCC wanted to provide more services but that was hard when the majority of London trams couldn't use the major north south link there was also a maintenance issue the tram Works was in in Charlton in southeast London the only way double deckers could get there was by going west to Putney bridge then all the way through South London so in 1929 it was announced that the subway would be rebuilt to take larger trams in some places the floor was lowered and in others the roof was raised the fleet was actually diverted to avoid the gradient issue new trams the E3 class were ordered the reopen tunnel opened on the 5th of Janu AR 1931 a tram appropriately number 1931 was especially painted white for the reopening and it ran in that Livery for some months Legend has it that it was repainted in the standard Livery after a group of drunks mistook it for a ghost but I suspect it had more to do with the difficulty of keeping a white tram looking clean in a Dusty tunnel the double deckers found the gradient at the Northern end difficult the ever cynical Railway Gazette described trams using it as having the grace of a performing elephant on roller skates on the way up they often stalled on the section and sometimes even rolled back into the tunnel Sparks would be thrown up as they struggled and it sort of proves the board of Trades point about fireproofing in 1932 a new experimental tram number one entered service this had air powered doors and folding steps for use in the tunnel it didn't catch on partly because trams were already looking a little old-fashioned compared to buses but it has been preserved at the national Tramway museum at CR in 1933 an administrative change the LCC trams fell under the control of London transport in 1937 more upheaval or should that be down heal in the 1930s it was determined that Water Bridge would need to be rebuilt construction began in 1937 but the war held up completion until 1945 no matter for our purposes though what the the rebuild meant was that the southern end of the tunnel had to be moved a new one opening directly under the bridge or rather where the bridge would eventually be the exit is still there but now it's a bar yet even at this stage the tram's days were numbered buses had proved their worth over the last couple of decades and it seemed almost certain that they would replace trams in the not too distant future in 1939 an experimental trolley bus was tried out with doors on the offside so that it could hoben tram station it was not a success I guess my big question would be how would you power it without overhead wires I doubt the batteries would have been suitable for the whole journey the war and the austerity period meant that replacement of the trams took rather longer than planned new buses intended to replace the trams were diverted to replace well other buses that had been knocked out by the war when I said that the tram's days were numbered it was actually a pretty high number wholesale replacement of trams did not really begin until 1950 by this time trolley buses were also seen as something of a dead end motor buses were unsuitable for use in the subway due to fumes so it would have to go and buses would have to share King's Way with other traffic and negotiate busy Junctions exactly what the tunnel was built to avoid that's progress for you on the 6th of April 1952 in the early hours the final trams ran through the tunnel some would go to other cities to live out their last days the rest to the scrapyard elsewhere in London trams would hold out until the 5th of July not that the tunnel would see no further use in 1953 it was used to store buses and coaches for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1957 it was used as a store by a company called SG young the greater London Council would use it for flood control headquarters until that was made obsolete with the opening of the temps barrier in 1984 but given how car Centric urban planning was in the post-war years it will come as no surprise whatsoever to learn that two of the ideas for reusing it revolved around Cars one was to turn it into a car park this didn't go ahead the other which did was the Strand underpass a means for cars to duck under old witch this was approved in 1958 opened in 1964 and it's still there but it only covers the southern part of the tunnel the northern part is still there very much as it was in 1952 it's been used for various things over the years as a store as an exhibition space and as a film location most recently is the bat cave in the Batman a 2016 proposal would have seen a cycle track built through it which is ironic because bicycles and trams are natural enemies as of 2021 it's been possible to go on guided tours through part of the time tunnel which is now grade two listed I strongly recommend it if you get the chance well I hope you enjoyed today's video if so please do leave a like to let YouTube know and perhaps you might like to subscribe for more I would like to thank my doners on Kofi and patreon and here on YouTube for your ever generous support you are the folding steps to my tram station and I'll see you all again very soon cheerio how Che

Channel: Jago Hazzard

Views: 111,765

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Length: 12min 4sec (724 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 05 2023