View Single Post
  #8   Report Post  
Old April 8th 07, 06:46 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Paul Terry Paul Terry is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Dec 2003
Posts: 829
Default First Class on teh tube

In message , Toby writes

I know this sounds like a ridiculous idea, but considering we have class
segregation on the mainline and suburban trains in the UK (First and
Standard),


Many commuter services no longer have first class.

When the underground was first built, was there ever class segregation


Only on lines serving the outer suburbs (Metropolitan and District).
Given that most journeys were very short, first class facilities were
otherwise not needed (a comfortable armchair and a full English
breakfast might be nice on the journey from Manchester to London, but
hardly practical when en route from King's Cross to Moorgate).

or have the toffs always had to mix with the riff-raff on the
underground?


The tube network was created as a way of moving large numbers as cheaply
and quickly as possible (hence the Central's moniker of "the tuppeny
tube"). Also, given that journeys were very short on the original
network, comfort was not a prime consideration. I suspect that its
owners always knew that those with means would use their own preferred
transport, as they still do today ("two jags" anyone?).

--
Paul Terry