Continued from Previous Page

The rapid expansion of London into the surrounding country side was given a further boost be the coming of the railways. At the start of the 19th century public transport consisted of horse drawn short stage coaches or Hackney carriages and ferry boats. Only the better off could afford to travel by them but this did not matter so much as most people lived within walking distance of their place of work.

George Shillibeer copied an idea from Paris and introduced the 20 seat horse drawn Omnibus. With low fares these soon became the mode of transport for the lower middleclass. By 1850 with fierce competition amongst the numerous rival companies had led to the development of double decker Omni buses with around 1300 buses on the streets of London. 

Soon the various companies were bought up by one company, The London General Omnibus Company and by 1875 they were carrying 50 million passengers annually. 

The first railway to be built in London was the London & Greenwich railway in 1836,  which ran for four miles from Spa Road Bermondsey to Greenwich on a brick viaduct of  878 arches. Within 10 Months it was extended to London Bridge.

 Even though much of the route was in open country side, ground level railways in London  were out of the question  due to the amount of roads to be crossed. Within a few years many railway lines followed 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(To be Continued.......The growth of London, the advent of working class leisure time, football mania and a group of Tin Smiths from C&E Morton works on West Ferry Road)

 

 

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