Edward Stanford was one of a number of publishers who capitalised on the public interest in the deliberations of the House of Lords Select Committee on railways in 1863. Whilst James Wyld’s map of 1863 (map 1) shows all of the proposals put before the committee, this map only shows the improvements accepted by the committee and approved for development. This map was published on August 16, 1864, just two weeks after the conclusion of the Parliamentary session on July 29th, a remarkable achievement for the Stanford firm.

Prior to 1864, only one section of the Metropolitan Line had been constructed: a 4-mile railway connecting Paddington with Farringdon via Euston and King’s Cross. This map shows how that short stretch of railway would transform into the London Underground system we know today.

Red lines are used to show railways approved for development. Railways already constructed or previously approved for construction are in black. A green line shows the extent of the new Metropolitan Railway District within which the construction of new railway terminals would be severely restricted to prevent further incursions into the city. The lines in red are numbered according to an index in the upper-right corner. Most notable among these are numbers 167-172 as these relate to the expansion of the Metropolitan Line and the formation of the District Railway Company.

Numbers 167 & 179 refer to the extension of the Metropolitan Railway from Paddington to South Kensington. This section of track opened in December 1868 with only minor issues caused by the higher cost of land acquisition in fashionable West London.

Numbers 170 refers to the first northward extension of the Metropolitan Railway. Approval was granted for a single-track railway from Baker Street to Finchley Road, though when the line opened in 1868, it only reached Swiss Cottage. A planned branch line from Swiss Cottage to Hampstead Village was not authorized until 1865 and does not, therefore, appear on this map. The Hampstead line was abandoned in 1870 and the line to Finchley Road was completed in 1879.

Number 168 shows the eastward extension of the Metropolitan Railway to Tower Hill and the intended completion of the Inner Circle. The line from Farringdon to Moorgate Street would open in 1865, but further expansion to Aldgate would not begin until 1873 and was not complete until 1876.

Numbers 171 & 172 show the proposed route of the District Railway from West Brompton to Tower Hill with shared stations at South Kensington and Tower Hill to connect to the Metropolitan Railway. The section from Westminster to South Kensington opened in 1868. The western section to West Brompton opened a year later in 1869, and the final stretch from Westminster to Mansion House opened in 1870. Conflicts between the District and Metropolitan railways prevented the completion of the Inner Circle until 1884 when the final section of railway between Mansion House and Aldgate was constructed in a joint agreement between the two companies.

The Metropolitan District Railway company, later just the District Railway Company, was founded in 1864 as a distinct entity from the Metropolitan Railway Company. This was done to shield the Metropolitan Railway from any debts incurred during the construction of the southern half of the Inner Circle. It was intended that the two companies would eventually merge into one united Metropolitan Railway Company after the completion of the Inner Circle - the two companies shared many board members and even employed the same Chief Engineer, John Fowler. However, spiralling construction and operating costs for the District Railway led the Metropolitan Railway to cut ties in 1870, creating a schism that would not be resolved until the Metropolitan Railway was finally acquired by the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933.

Printed colour. [LDN7053]