DISCOVER LONDON
the Blitz in 1940 and can still be seen
straddling the District line platforms today.
Extending the Metropolitan
The Metropolitan pushed east through the
City, opening an extension from Moorgate
Street to Liverpool Street in 1875, linking
up with the new Great Eastern Railway
main-line terminus there before extending
to a new City terminus of its own at Aldgate
in 1876. Further building work on this end
of the Inner Circle was then suspended,
leaving a final gap between Aldgate and
Mansion House to be completed. Like the
District, the Metropolitan already paid
more attention to developing its suburban
traffic at the western end of the line.
During the 1870s, a fierce rivalry
developed between the two underground
railway companies, which made a merger
even less likely. This was exacerbated by
the personal antagonism between their
respective chairmen, James Staats Forbes
at the District and Sir Edward Watkin
at the Metropolitan. Both men were
notoriously autocratic, and they had already
clashed frequently over the affairs of the
two rival, main-line companies they also
represented: the South Eastern and the
London, Chatham and Dover (LCDR). Their
enmity became a major factor in delaying
the completion of the Inner Circle and
led to independent city interests forming
the separate Metropolitan Inner Circle
Completion Railway Company in 1874
to push the project forward.
Needless to say, the completion of
the Inner Circle did not end the feud
between Forbes and Watkin. There were
interminable court battles and almost
childish tactics used to steal each other’s
passengers, through misleading poster
campaigns to denigrate the rival and almost
fraudulent ticket selling at joint stations
where both companies had a booking office.
Occasionally, things got physical,
including a clash over the use of a siding
at South Kensington, where the two
companies met. The District chained a
locomotive to the track, prompting the
Metropolitan to send three locomotives
in an unsuccessful bid to drag it away. All
these incidents were gleefully publicisedBelow: A Victorian
Metropolitan train
Right: Gloucester
Road station is
now served by the
District, Circle and
Piccadilly lines