The London Underground

The London Underground – Talk by E.E. Laird, member, at the Durrington Community Centre, 13th October,1993.
Note from secretary: Available on request is a tape cassette of the talk, for loan to members and also the written notes consisting of 6 pages. This transcript is rather long for the Newsletter and has not been included. However, if members feel that the complete notes should be published, please inform a committee member.
The talk followed the subject headings listed below:
1. LONDON TRANSPORT – THE COMPLETE ORGANISATION 1993 – Diamond Jubilee Year
(a) BriefHistorysinceformationofLPTBin1933
(b) The War Years 1939 – 45
(c) The present area covered by London Transport; and statistics of Road
(Bus) and Rail (Trains) operation.
2. THE LONDON UNDERGROUND
(a) The present system – geographical
(b) The split between Surface Railways, Sub Surface (c) Railways and Deep Tube Railways
(d) Staffing levels for Track Maintenance and Renewal (e) What is the PERMANENT WAY – in the open
in the tunnels (f) Tunnel Construction – Types and Sizes
3. TRACK DESIGN AND PARTICULAR FEATURES OF MAIN COMPONENTS (a) In the open
(b) In the Tunnel
(c) Advantages and Disadvantages of optional alternative components
4. WORKING METHODS FOR TRACK MAINTENANCE (a) Inspection
(b) Safety Procedures for Staff and Track Stability (c) Limited working hours
(d) Need for mechanised methods
(e) The effect of weather
(f) Emergency Organisation
5. SPECIALLY DESIGNED PLANT FOR MAINTAINING L. U. TRACKS Battery Locomotive
Flush Butt Welder 7 1/2 Ton Crane
Session 1993/4 No. 1 6 October 1993
Tunnel Cleaning Train Plassermatic
Track Digger
Weed Killing Machine
Unimog Leaf Cleaning Machine ROTRA Grinding Machine
6. SOME MAJOR JOBS OF INTEREST
(a) Victoria Line/Piccadilly Line – Track Lowering to give same level interchange (b) Victoria Line – Oxford Circus Umbrella
” ” Peter Robinson Stores – Supports on Victoria Line Running Tunnel
” ” Oxford Circus Station Layout
(c) Tottenham Hale – Tunnelling through Frozen Ground for Stability (d) Bridge Renewals
The following covers point 1 of the talk:
LONDON TRANSPORT – THE PAST
It was in 1933 when Parliament created the first unified passenger transport
authority for London. At that time there were some 170 independent railway, bus, coach, tram and trolleybus undertakings competing for a share of the passenger transport business. At street level passenger congestion was the order of the day, as private companies competed for business. (These two slides show Piccadilly Circus in 1920 and Oxford Street in 1928).
The new organisation was called the “London Passenger Transport Board” – L.P.T.B. for short, chaired by Lord Ashfield and assisted by Frank Pick. (I joined it in 1936 and stayed for 46 years until I retired some 10 years ago). Re-organisation proceeded rapidly until 1939 when, along with the main line railways, the Government took control of L.P.T.B. under the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act. World War 2, of course, caused upheavals for passenger transport in London. Normal vehicle and railways maintenance suffered as the major workshops turned over to war work. Part of the main Bus Overhaul Works became “London Aircraft Production”. My call-up was deferred to allow me to complete my apprenticeship and I well remember the excitement of working to one tenth of a “thou” on armament work, compared with the run-of-the-mill plus or minus one-sixteenth for railway construction. During the Battle of Britain air raids wrecked havoc. (These two slides show just one of the stations hit – Sloane Square, and general use of tube tunnel station platforms as air raid shelters).
With the war over, steps were taken as soon as possible to complete all organisational changes, overtake arrears of maintenance and to get to work on new construction. Signs of the old companies still remain. There was a healthy competitive spirit between groups of staff from different companies. Put to good use with interdivisional prizes.
LONDON TRANSPORT – RECENT AND PRESENT
(This slide shows the London Transport Area in 1980 – now still much as it was then. The facts given on these two slides indicate the size and complexity of the present
organisation).
630 square miles
6.5 M passenger journeys each day
More passengers carried each day than all the worlds’ airlines put together.
London Underground handles about 750 million passenger journeys per year (about 2 million per day). Ten times the number handled by all UK airports.
About 3.9 million passenger journeys per day on London buses (about the population of New Zealand).
Busiest L.U. stations:-
Victoria about 57 M journeys per year OxfordCircus ” 47M ” ” ”
King’s Cross ” 38 M ” ‘ ‘