Given how much I traveled around London, it would have been ridiculous not to know that the oldest underground in the world is right here. But I looked a bit deeper into the subject, curious to find out more…
THE LONDON UNDERGROUND
The London Underground dates back to 1863, seriously!!!
While we were under Prince Cuza’s rule and going through the secularization of monastic estates, the English were digging hard to get underground transport up and running, in order to reduce the suffocating traffic at street level.
BAKER STREET
I traveled through here many times without having a clue that Baker Street is the oldest underground station in the world!
Opened on January 10, 1863, it is currently one of the largest stations in the London network, serving 5 underground lines.
I wandered through the station, now looking with different eyes at the walls, pillars, inscriptions, and corridors. It’s a mix of historic architectural elements and modern features, added gradually over time, as I understand.
I read that this station also has a small museum dedicated to the history of the London Underground, but I only found out some time after I had left the station, so I didn’t go back to look for it…
In the early days, the trains were pulled by steam locomotives and, quite often, the tunnels filled with steam and soot, so breathing down there was pretty awful, given the ventilation of the time.
Passengers sat on wooden benches, divided into three social classes, and the carriages were lit with gas lamps.
Naturally, once Baker Street was opened, other stations were opened as well – after all, the underground couldn’t just move three meters forward and three meters back from Baker Street. Paddington, for example (the station, not the bear), was opened on the same day as Baker Street. That’s why I started wondering how Baker Street came to have the status of “the oldest underground station in the world”.
Well, it does have the credentials that “recommend” it 🙂 Baker Street has operated continuously as an underground station since 1863 and remains on the same site, with original platforms still in use!
Paddington, on the other hand, started out as a semi-underground station, then was moved, rebuilt, and reorganized several times over the years. So Baker Street truly deserves its reputation.
Do you know which station is our “Baker Street”, as Romanians?
It’s Timpuri Noi! Yes, it is indeed the very first metro station opened to the public in Romania, on December 19, 1979, as part of the Semănătoarea-Timpuri Noi line.
THE OLDEST METRO IN EUROPE
I would have lost that bet! I would have sworn that Paris had the oldest metro on continental Europe. Not at all – it’s Budapest!
The first metro on the Old Continent appeared in Budapest in 1896, while the Paris metro dates from 1900.
The original stations of the metro in Hungary’s capital are now UNESCO World Heritage sites. Pretty cool, right? But you can read more about them and about must-see places in Budapest, here.
And as for our metro line to Otopeni Airport… well, you can read about that around 2050 🙂
