New-York tribune., 1900-12-23
TWOPENNY TUBES.
UNEXPECTED DISCOVERY OF NERVES
AMONG LoNDoNERS-PRoJECTs FOR
UNDERGROUND ELECTRIC LINES
HOW THE COST OF THE
SOUTH AFRICAN WAR
WILL BE EQUALLED.
WILL BE EQUALLED.

London, December s.
The success Of the new Twopenny Tube has
led TO one singular result. 1t is the discovery
that Londoners have nerves The general infiu-
ence Of London fogs. blue, yellow and gray has
been the promotion OF habits Of insensbility to
everything that is disagreeeble or unusual. The
Londoner has plumed himself upon being phleg-
matte. and. unlike the excitable American,
virtually without nerves Complaints are now
made by householders all the way from Shep-
herds Bush to the Mansion House of the vibra-
tion caused by the constant running of trains
in the deep level tunnels. Letters written
10 the newspapers by residents along the route
describing the discomfort Of nvalids not from
the noise, but from the vibration underground.
and asserting that unless the evil be miti-
gated some OF the best residential dis
tricts west of Oxford-st. and along Hyde
Park will become uninhabitable and property
decline in value. The real estate agents have
been singing another song. They have been
putting up rentals in that residential district
and in the western suburbs served by the Cen
tral London Railway the natural sequence
TO the improvement in transit facilities. It is
difficult to forecast any practical method of
lessening the vibrations. The tunnels Of the
new electric lines are least fifty feet under
ground. and sometimes ninety feet, and the.
cavations in the main have been made in deep
beds Of clay, which ought TO deaden the sense
Of vibratory motion The tunnels are lined with
iron in consequence Of the fixed requirement Of
an act Of Parliament. 1t is possible that con-
crete protection would diminish the oscillations.
In any event, indignant househoiders rails
ing outcries for thorough inquiry by the Board
Of Trade.
Complaints are also recorded by the news
papers on another score. Old-fashioned. slow
going leisurely passengers object strongly to
being hustled in and out Of trains at stations.
In the District and Metropolitan railways as
well as in omnibuses. they have been in the
habit of taking their time to finish paragraph
in the newspaper before alightng. and they
irritated when they are ordered by the guards
10 Step lively" and are fairly bundled out of
car When they are in the Twopenny Tube
they have no excuse for not knowing where
they are, for the guards, in true American
style briskly call out the name of the approach
ing station and slam the doors with bang, in
order TO emphasize the significance of the
nouncenent. When the train is reaching the
station outgoing passengers are expected TO be
on their feet. working toward the door and bal
ancing themselves with the aid of the overhead
straps. and a minute suffices for clearing the
way for the incoming throng. The managers
sert that. with the enormous pressure of traffic,
II is necessary TO operate trains at ~ minutes
headway al busy hours and that the platform
must be cleared within two minutes. Staid. con-
servative Londoners who are not responsible for
Che schedule are influenced by these consid-
erations. They inve!gh against the introduction
into the English metropolis of the mad whirl
and reckless energy Of American life. In the
slang OF the West End. the Twopenny Tube
gets on their nerves" AS a foreigner who has
been out Of America f0r nearly six years, and
sometimes has qualm of homesickness in Lon
don town, may add that 1 have only TO put
ticket in the chopper and take ride in the
Twopenny Tube in order to imagine that I am
once more in New-York.
The writers Of complaining letters need to be
as lucid and eloquent as possible for no time
Is to be lost in protecting British nerves against
underground oscillations and the irrtabilty
produced by hustling. The success of the Cen
tral London Railway has impaired a trcmen-
dous impulse to the rapid transit movement,
and there are scores of projects coming before
Parliament for the construction Of new tun-
nels for electric lines. There three
electric railways in operation: The City and
South London. the Waterloo and City, and
the Central London. These lines have a total
mileage Of eleven. They connect Clapham Com
mon through the old South Borough with the
Mansion House and Finsbury Pavement, Water
loo Station under Queen VictOria-st. with the
Mansion House, and Shepherds Bush under
oxford-st and Hoiborn with the Royal Ex-
change In addition to the railways open to
traffic there are four undertakings either in
progress or about to be begun. These are %
the Baker-st and Waterloo, which will run
under the Thames to Charing Cross, and thence
under Portland-st. 10 Baler-st, with an exten-
sion 10 Paddington; C2) the Charing Cross, Eus-
ton and Hampstead. which viii pass under
Tottenham Court Road, and for which nu-
rnerous extensions are projected TO Highgate,
Golder's Green and Victoria; 81 the Great
Northern and City. from Finsbury Pavement
10 Finsbury Park and a the Brompton and
Piccadiny via Kensington. High and Hyde Park
Corner The length Of these four undertakings
without the extensions of the Hampstead line
will be fifteen and three-quarters miles.
The general law under which these enterprises
are constructed is extremely liberal, the only re-
quirements being the lining Of the tunnels with
iron and provisions for cheap transit for work
ing people mornino and evening Almost any
company with adequate financial support can
secure authority for cutting an underground
tube. In addition 10 the 2G2 miles now open for
traffic, or in process Of construction, authority
has been granted Cor an increased mileage OF
lS12. Both the Baker-st and Waterloo and the
Central London are empowered to extend their
lines. and the City and South London can also
enlarge its system by branches to Brlxton and
Islington Hardly has the new thoroughfare
been planned between Holborn and the Strand
before there is q project for undermining IL with
tunnel as an outlet for the Great Northern
system ana. for electric line four miles long.
There is also scheme for an electric railway OF
the same length from Marble Arch TO Crickle-
wood, and the Metropolitan and District rail-
ways are authorized 10 lay down deep level
line from South Kensington TO the Mansion