One hundred years ago today, the process of linking up the tube railway with the city’s main termini was completed with the extension of the Bakerloo Line to Paddington Station.
As extensions go though, it was quite a short one — being just a short length of tunnel from Edgware Road to Paddington Station. It was however, very popular, with around 14 thousand people using the line on the first day, and over 7 thousand tickets being sold at Paddington.
Work on extending the Bakerloo Line had started on the 18th August 1911 and involved between 250-300 men working both day and night to complete the tunnels.
Following their successful introduction at Earl’s Court in 1911, the station was also the first on the line to be designed to use escalators instead of lifts.
As the terminus of the Bakerloo Line it was not to last for long though, as construction was already under way to extend the line up to Queen’s Park. That opened in early 1915, having been delayed by the little matter of a World War.
Bakerloo Line passengers are still waiting for the long talked about extension southwards from the other terminus at the bottom of the line.
The station was refurbished with its distinctive Brunel engineering inspired tiles a couple of decades ago.
But, a hundred years after it opened, it is to shortly get a bit of a rude shake up again as a tunnel running from the new Crossrail station will burrow under the mainline station direct to the Bakerloo Line platforms.
