Building archives: Setbacks on the world’s first underground railway, 1860

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A deadly boiler explosion, half-built tunnels flooded by sewage and an “interminable tangle of timber”: here’s how The Builder reported on the first part of the London Tube network

The Metropolitan Railway was the first part of the London Tube network to be built and the world’s first underground railway line. Work had started in March 1860 following years of delays and would complete two years later at a cost of £1.3m.

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