Images of 150 Years of the Metropolitan Railway

Book excerpt: To celebrate its 150th anniversary, this book endeavours to capture in pictures the beguiling character of the Metropolitan Railway, which started as the world's first underground railway between Paddington and Farringdon, but grew to create iconic Metro-Land, later immortalised by John Betjeman. However, this evolution was influenced by the notorious Victorian entrepreneur, Edward Watkin, which resulted in the "Met" having to share some of its routes with a mainline railway--indeed it still does so. The other major change was the reluctant absorption in 1933 into the new London Transport, which sought to make it adopt their standard practices. Although this was suspended due to the Second World War, in which bombing took a heavy toll on the vital cross-London lines, by 1961 LT was able to replace most of the Met steam services with electrification. Now these trains are themselves being replaced by new stock, marking another facet in the complex story of the idiosyncratic "Met" cherished by millions of travellers.