EAPTD-TRANSIT SUBWAYS IN METROPOLITAN CITIES. 761 



gas to escape, but tliey very inadequately performed that function. 

 The managers, with the cliaracteristic Enolish sh)wness to adopt 

 new methods and the desire to make hir<>:e pi-ofits, reminding one 

 of the New York ^Manhattan Ek^vated Kaih-oad Company, refused 

 to adopt ek^ctric traction, and until 1890 there was no method of 

 rapid transportation in London other than the steam roads. 



In that year the City and South London Electric Railway was 

 opened, about 3i miles in extent, extending from near the monument, 

 in King William street, only a few blocks from the commercial cen- 

 ter of the metro})olis, to the suburl)an district of Stockwell, upon 

 the south side of the Thames. The success of this road and the 

 desire for access to the heart of the city led the Southwestern Rail- 

 way — one of the most important English roads — to construct a 

 short electric line between its Waterloo station and the Mansion 

 House, opposite the Bank of England. This line is very short, only 

 14 miles in length, but it does assist in solving the problem of urban 

 trans])ortation in that it brings the suburban districts reached by 

 the Soutliwestern into closer communication with the business por- 

 tion of the city. 



The Central I^ondon Railroad, the latest, largest, and best equipped 

 of all London subways, most nearly resembles, from the point of 

 location, the New York subway. It runs from the Bank of Eng- 

 land, under Cheajjside, Newgate, Ilolborn Viaduct, and Oxford 

 street, past St. ranks Cathedral, Hyde Park, and Kensington (har- 

 dens to a station in the suburban district of Shepherd's Bush, a total 

 distance of ()i miles. There is a large traffic toward the Bank of 

 England in the morning and to the West End in the evening, and 

 the only means of transportation until lately Avas by onniibus or 

 carriage or a roundabout route via the underground. No tram- 

 way has been permitted to occui>y this main artery, and the new 

 underground road will greatly add to the transportation facilities 

 of London. 



Various other electric undi-rground lines have been pr()i)Osed, and 

 within the near future the Metropolitan and the Metropolitan Dis- 

 trict railways, now operated by steam, will a(h)pt electricity as a 

 motive power. Bids and plans have already been called for. 



('ONunioNs IN lUDArnsr. 



After London, r>udaj)esl was the fii-st city to build a subway. 

 Here it was the outcome of various plans for joining the ccuti-al and 

 business portion of the city with the park, a favorite i-endezvous some 

 2tV miles distant. Nothing definite was j)r()i)osed initil the spacious 

 and handsome Andrassystrasse was laid out, which oH'ei'ed n direct 

 and attractive route for a sti-eet I'ailway. A|)pricati()n was made for 

 permission to -build a horse-car line, but the plan met with strong 



