page_title: Central London Railway
section_title: Opening
hierarchical_section_title: Central London Railway / Opening
caption_attribution_description: English: A poster for the Central London Railway (now the London Underground's Central line) extolling the ease of the railway's use. Online details of poster at London Transport Museum poster archive
context_page_description: The Central London Railway, also known as the Twopenny Tube, was a deep-level, underground "tube" railway that opened in London in 1900. The CLR's tunnels and stations form the central section of the London Underground's Central line.
  The railway company was established in 1889, funding for construction was obtained in 1895 through a syndicate of financiers and work took place from 1896 to 1900. When opened, the CLR served 13 stations and ran completely underground in a pair of tunnels for 9.14 kilometres between its western terminus at Shepherd's Bush and its eastern terminus at the Bank of England, with a depot and power station to the north of the western terminus. After a rejected proposal to turn the line into a loop, it was extended at the western end to Wood Lane in 1908 and at the eastern end to Liverpool Street station in 1912. In 1920, it was extended along a Great Western Railway line to Ealing to serve a total distance of 17.57 kilometres.
  After initially making good returns for investors, the CLR suffered a decline in passenger numbers due to increased competition from other underground railway lines and new motorised buses.
context_section_description: The official opening of the CLR by the Prince of Wales took place on 27 June 1900, one day before the time limit of the 1899 Act, although the line did not open to the public until 30 July 1900. The railway had stations at:
  Shepherd's Bush
  Holland Park
  Notting Hill Gate
  Queen's Road (now Queensway)
  Lancaster Gate
  Marble Arch
  Bond Street (opened 24 September 1900)
  Oxford Circus
  Tottenham Court Road
  British Museum (closed 1933)
  Chancery Lane
  Post Office (now St. Paul's)
  Bank
  The CLR charged a flat fare of two pence for a journey between any two stations, leading the Daily Mail to give the railway the nickname of the Twopenny Tube in August 1900. The service was very popular, and, by the end of 1900, the railway had carried 14,916,922 passengers. By attracting passengers from the bus services along its route and from the slower, steam-hauled, MR and DR services, the CLR achieved passenger numbers around 45 million per year in the first few years of operation, generating a high turnover that was more than twice the expenses. From 1900 to 1905, the company paid a dividend of 4 per cent to investors.
caption: Central London Railway poster extolling the railway's ease of use, 1905
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