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Glorious black and white shots show the original Tube workers toiling away beneath London’s streets
As Crossrail's Elizabeth line snakes its way under the capital, here is how the original underground was built
As Crossrail tunnels its way across the capital, spare a thought for those who laid the tracks of the world’s first underground railway.
Victorian labourers and engineers are shown here building tunnels and stations of the London Underground – including Notting Hill Gate and South Kensington – which are still in use today.
Foundations for the Tube had been laid by the visionary Sir Marc Brunel and his son Isambard, who opened the Thames Tunnel between Rotherhithe and Wapping in 1843.
It was the engineering marvel of its day, but it would be another 20 years before trains would travel underground.
The Metropolitan Railway, opened in January 1863, ran between Paddington (then Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street. Today it forms part of the Bakerloo and Metropolitan lines.
The Brunels’ tunnel came into its own in 1869, when a steam locomotive chugged past its ornate brickwork. The same tunnel forms part of the London Overground line today.
The first electric trains entered service in 1890, but astonishingly, steam trains were not phased out until the 1960s! The last puffs of smoke were only made on overground sections of network, however.
It wasn’t until 1908 that the word Underground makes an appearance. In the same year, the familiar roundel logo is also seen for the first time.
The last major update of the network was the introduction of the London Overground in 2007. Prior to that was the extension of the Jubilee Line in 1999. But Crossrail outdoes them both in scope – and controversy.
Costing almost £15 billion, it runs east to west across the capital and includes 10 brand new stations.