The Piccadilly line is 100 years old today. Not that it was called the Piccadilly line to start with. The line originally went by the less catchy name of The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway, because it had been created from plans for two completely separate tunnelling projects. One of these went east-ish from Hammersmith to Piccadilly Circus, the other south-ish from Finsbury Park to Aldwych, with an extra tunnel built inbetween to link the two together. The financial mastermind behind the line was American tube entrepreneur C.T. Yerkes, who was also responsible for construction of the Bakerloo and Northern at around the same time. David Lloyd George, then President of the Board of Trade, opened the brand new railway on Saturday December 15th 1906. The new trains were painted crimson red, with tropical yellow upholstery, and shuttled 9 miles from suburb to suburb. The quintessential London tube line was open for business.
The Piccadilly line is 100 years old today. Not that TfL have put on a big show. They've baked a cake. They've produced quite a nice leaflet, which you might maybe be able to find at certain Piccadilly line stations. They've placed commemorative posters in certain trains. They've rustled up a wholly unimpressive webpage with links to some nice arty bits. And there's an exhibition of Piccadilly line photography opening at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith on Monday, and moving to City Hall in January. It's not much, but it'll have to do. Take your pick.
Piccadilly 100
