We’ve looked at some fairly impressive feats of UK engineering here on our blog, and it’s only when you do this that you realise just how many different projects are worthy of acclaim. We’ve missed out some genuinely huge feats so far, and so today we’re going to plug one of those notable gaps. The title’s a giveaway, so it won’t shock you to hear that the London Underground is the focus…
Did you know that the London Underground serves a grand total of 270 separate stations using 11 lines? Over 250 miles worth of track is required to achieve this undertaking, and almost 50% of this track is, as you might expect, beneath the surface of the earth.
Did you know that the London Underground was home to the very first underground railway in the world? This was the Metropolitan Railway, which first opened in 1863 and is now incorporated into three different lines.
Did you know the electric traction cars in the Underground were also a world first? Whilst the technology had been used on the surface, the underground nature of their usage in London set a precedent. They carry some 1.2 billion passengers a year, so obviously the system is working well!
Did you know that a train from 1970 is still being used on the Underground today? Despite this, the project is anything but stuck in its ways, as a plethora of planned stations, extensions and new technologies are in the pipeline during the coming years.
Did you know that the first tunnels for the Underground were literally excavated as trenches and then roofed using an overhead support system? Only later were deeper tunnels dug through the clay; a practice that originally brought about the now famous nickname of ‘The Tube’.
Did you know that the London Underground has now been on the go for 151 years? That’s a lot of success for a tenuous idea that was first proposed in the 1830s, and we reckon that this longevity alone justifies numbering it among the great feats of British engineering.
When you look at the London Underground, it’s fair to say that we take this colossal feat of engineering for granted, but of course good engineering is present within a variety of little things that we tend to overlook. When it comes to things like making a wire form, for example, we like to think that our engineering is pretty creative at Airedale Springs, so whatever your needs might be – no matter how unusual – we’re confident that we can help. If you’d like to find out more, contact us now by calling 01535 643456 or email our friendly team on sales@airedalesprings.co.uk.