Like many an innovation, the proposal to build a three-mile (4.8 kilometer) underground rail line from Paddington Station in central London to Farringdon on the edge of the financial district in the east aroused great skepticism and criticism when it was first proposed.
An editorial in The Times of London at the time found the concept repulsive: "A subterranean railway under London was awfully suggestive of dank, noisome tunnels buried many fathoms deep beyond the reach of light or life; passages inhabited by rats, soaked with sewer drippings, and poisoned by the escape of gas mains," the newspaper declared.
"It seemed an insult to common sense to suppose that people who could travel as cheaply on the outside of a Paddington bus would prefer, as a merely quicker medium, to be driven amid palpable darkness through the foul subsoil of London."
London's Daily News took a more macabre view: "For the first time in the history of the world men can ride in pleasant carriages, and with considerable comfort, lower down than gas pipes and water pipes," the newspaper said, adding, "lower down than graveyards."
For the anniversary celebrations, Transport for London will run old-style steam powered trains underground -- but only on Sunday, so as not to disrupt its crucial people-moving function during the working week.
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