3-053-393 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Thames Subway at Tower-Hill: interior of carriage, 1870. Tunnel under the River Thames in London, designed by William Henry Barlow. 'The subway consists of a narrow tunnel uniting two vertical shafts, the mouth of one being on Tower-hill and the other in Vine-street, Tooley-street...The tunnel is lined with iron tubing...This tube is 7 ft. in clear internal diameter...and carries a railway of 2 ft. 6 in. gauge. On the railway runs an omnibus conveying twelve passengers...The omnibus is of iron - light, but very strong, and runs upon eight wheels. It is connected with a rope of steel wire by means of a gripe that can be tightened or relaxed at will. At each end of the tunnel this wire runs over a drum, worked by a stationary engine... The descent of the shaft occupies twenty-five seconds, and the omnibus journey seventy seconds; so that a passenger may descend into the shaft at Tower-hill and emerge in Vine-street in a minute and three quarters from the time of his descent.... The lifts, as they only carry half as many passengers as the omnibus, will make twice as many journeys; and it is intended to give priority of ascent to first-class passengers, who pay twopence, while the second-class passengers pay one penny'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870. (Colorised black and white print).