LONDON RAILWAY ARCADE. Central/Piccadilly Line precursor. HAWKSHAW 1855 map
£90
SKU
'Proposed London Railway Arcade. Plan referred to by Mr Hawkshaw and Mr Parrott in their evidence of 7th and 8th June 1855'
In 1855, Sir John Hawkshaw proposed what could have been the world's first Underground railway (although the construction of the Metropolitan line, which opened in 1863, had already received Royal assent at the date of publication of this map), which he called the "Railway Arcade", by virtue of its covered, sub-surface nature. Two separate branches were proposed (running along Oxford Street and Piccadilly respectively) which converged at Covent Garden to form a single underground line running to St Paul's. The technology did not exist at that time to tunnel underneath existing buildings leaving them untouched (the Metropolitan line was built by the "cut and cover" method). The line east of Covent Garden would therefore have involved constructing a new street, with the railway running underneath it. These routes form a strong resemblance to the central parts of today's Central and Piccadilly lines, opened in 1900 and 1906 respectively.
Size 31 x 62 cm | 12.0 x 24.5 inches
Date Published: 23 July 1855
Type: Antique map, prepared for consideration by the British Parliamentary Select Committee on Metropolitan Communication
Author: Other cartographers
Publication: Metropolitan Communications Hansard Report
Condition: Good |
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