New Britain herald., 1929-02-15
WRLD'S SUbWAYS
 QUITE NUMEROUS.
Xolt Slrtd by English on New
 Station ip London

Washington D. C.. Feb. 1.-The newest and one of the most ambi- tious of the worlds subway stations has just been opened under Picca- dilly Circus, the center of London's activity and the place of her great est traffic congestion. The placing of the new station in service recalls the brief period during which the present extensive underground rail. way systems in great cities have developed. bulletin from the Washington, D. C., headquarters of the National Geographic Society points out.
 Tt seems strange" says the bull letin. that man, who deserted his caves scores of thousands of years ago and who has been busy since subduing the earth's surface and even invading it's air. should turn back and begin borrowing beneath ground. It seems stransest of all that he should delve below the sur face for rapid, mass travel, a thing that he probably never dreamed of in his most imaginative moments until perhaps century ago.
 City Congestion Created SubWass
 , Underground rapid transit is the result of the tremendous growth Of certain cities. It was only where population increased in such an eN- tent that surface streets became choked with myriads of people seek ing to move about that the idea or travel beneath the surface could ever seem desirable. And 1t was only after the invention of the rall- way that the idea became feasible.
 "Just as the cross country railway developed from the stage coach. so the highly organized and heavily capitalized subway systems of today grew from the omnibus, the stage coach of the city. In New fork' city stage line was started in 1850 to operate north on Broadway from Bowling Green; and within two years the worlds first street railway its cars drawn by horses-Was born in the same city. It was a line along Fourth avenue from near the present site of city hall to near the present location of Grand Central station. The idea spread in the United States but Europe was slo" to follow. Paris established a horse car line in 1856: but it was not until 1 se1 that London had its first pas senger tram
 London the Pioneer
 "Londoners did not take kindly to the street railways; they objected to tho rails which interfered with other traffic. It was because of this feeling that railways in cities should be out of the way that the first steps were taken in London toward underground rapid transit. The earliest line, constructed before 1870 was not all underground. Much Of it was in open cut, and only part in tunnels. The trains were operated by steam engines. and the tunnels were so smoky and ill ventilated that the system was not a success.
 '.in the meantime New York, faced with . growing congestion of street traffic, and a lengthening city. vas experimenting with a new solu- ton, the elevated railroad. The first was built in 1868 and by 1878 there were four Elevated structures on which steam trains were operated. Placing fast moving city trains above the street level proved the hest solution while steam was the only motive power. and the system was adopted 'in Chicago, Berlin and Liverpool.
 First Subway Planned for Cables
 London, then the worlds greatest city, continued to look underground for the solution Of the rapid transit problem. After cable cars first came into use in San Francisco in 1873 and spread to other cities, the idea was conceived of operating cable cars in tunnels in London. In 1SS6 the worlds first all-tunnel subway vas started in London; by the time it was completed in 1890 the electric lomomotive had been perfected and the new undergI ound railway was put into operation with this newest draft agency.
 "Glasgow, Scotland and Berlin. Germany, opened subway railroads about the same time. Budapest, Hungary. was next 10 join the ranks of subway cities. It was opened in 1898. In 1900 the Paris Metro be- gan it's underground career. and in the same year New York started work on it's first underground rail- way. The first train rolled through the New York subway in 1904, and the work of extending the system has been under way almost con- tinually since. Philadelphia first joined the cities having underground rapid transit systems in 1908. Since then the roster has been added to only by Madrid, Buenos Aires, and Tokyo. The subway in Madrid and Buno Aires are only a few miles in length, but the Tokyo system IS fairly extensive.
 New York and London Differ
 The fact that heavy population is essential to the success of sub ways is demonstrated by a glance al the roter of subway cities Of th,. worlds ten greatest cities. all but Chicago, Osaka, and Moscow have subways, and in the missing three