Underground Unbuilt: The Thames Line

[00:00:00]Criy Blimey Stone the Crows. Today's video is sponsored by SY.

[00:00:07]The Jubilee line is one of the great 20th century success stories of the London Underground. A tube line that brought the Docklands and the West End together, which even more than a quarter of a century after it was completed, still feels futuristic.

[00:00:24]This is not the story of the Jubilee line. This is the story of how it nearly didn't happen and an alternative tube line proposed instead. So, a little background. The line we now call the Jubilee line was planned as the fleet line and it was intended to open in three stages. The first stage ran from Stanmore to Charing Cross. Much of it was taken over from the Baloo line which in turn had taken it over from the Metropolitan line. The plan thereafter was to extend it through the city to Fenurch Street. Indeed, the basement of this building here was actually built to be converted into a tube station. Then things get a little more complicated.

[00:01:10]The intention was to extend it through the Docklands. In the 1970s, the Docklands were changing. Fewer and fewer ships were coming into the docks, and no one was under any illusions that things were going to improve. The Docklands would have to evolve. Transport was the key to this. The Docklands had once served destinations all over the world, just like today's sponsor, SY. Travel and communication these days is easier than ever before. But it comes at a cost. I'm not being poetic there. I mean, using the internet overseas literally costs money in the form of roaming charges. And unless you're going to spend your entire trip hanging around Wi-Fi hotspots, which you could do, I mean, no judgment, you know, it's your holiday. But if you don't want to do that, you've got SY. SLY is an eSIM that works on any phone with an eSIM function, including iOS and Android, to give you all the data you need at a very decent price. All you have to do is this. You download the app, select your data plan, and once you arrive at your destination, you are automatically connected. There are regional or global plans to serve whatever travel plans you have, and it covers over 200 destinations worldwide. You can get your plan even cheaper with a 15% discount for viewers of this channel. Now what you do is you go to s.com/jgo link in the description below and you use the code jgo and you can browse the internet to your heart's content. Now let's head back to East London.

[00:02:54]The Docklands were crisscrossed by railways but most of them were abandoned or freight only. Those that did carry passengers provided an inconvenient and indirect service into central London.

[00:03:07]The trams were long gone. Some areas, like the aisle of dogs, were only served by buses and not very good ones. The fleet line was intended to solve this.

[00:03:18]An early version of this line would have gone on from Fenurch Street through the Docklands under the river and taken over part of the East London line. An alternative version was put forward in 1974 that would have gone to Tempsme in the spirit of optimism. A version of the line was drawn up that would have included both extensions. The problem was money. I mean, isn't it always? By 1977, things were looking bad. The government rejected a Greater London Council funding request for the extension and two weeks later they announced the whole thing was to be scrapped. They argued that it would lose £25 million a year and therefore was clearly not worth it.

[00:04:03]The reason for this was that at the time it was assumed that the redevelopment of the Docklands would be smallcale, light industrial, commercial and residential development, insufficient to justify a full tube line. Naturally, this was not a popular move with the people of East London. Other proposals were put forward for alternative schemes, including an express busway, trams, and various permutations of light railway. But there were those who still flew the flag for the tube. And this is where the temp's line comes in. This was a proposal by the managing director of the Dockland's development organization, Air Commodore Alan Moore. What him being an air commodore has to do with developing the Docklands, I do not know. But that is just how this article from the evening news describes him. I guess this was the tail end of that era when people did just refer to themselves by their military rank. Moore's proposal was for a tube line that made use of the existing East London line. At this time, the East London line was a rather dismal underground line in East London running from Shortorditch to New Cross. It was relatively short. It had no connection to central London and it was extremely dilapidated. It tended to be at the back of the line when it came to investment.

[00:05:24]It was ripe to be included in other schemes. His proposal was this. The line would begin at Oldgate. There were two possibilities thereafter. One would involve sending trains to Old Gate East and over the St. Mary's Curve onto the East London line, stopping at Shadwell and Whopping. The other would involve a new tunnel from Oldgate to Whooping.

[00:05:46]After Rotherheive, the line would head off east, calling it Lady Dock, Milw Wall, Customhouse, Beckton, and finally it would rejoin the district line at Barking. The thinking was that this would require far less tunneling than the fleet line proposals, although it would require a tunnel under the Tempames. It seems, although it's not stated in the article, that it could have reused old railway alignments. The route from Popla to Beckton is very similar to the Beckton branch of the Dockland's light railway which takes that route because it follows the route of abandoned railway lines. Ditto the route from Milwall to Popppler which follows the course of the old Milwall extension railway.

[00:06:27]Moore also argued that such a line could use existing rolling stock and staff which could save money. I would question this. It represents a substantial extension of a short line. So it would almost certainly have required extra trains and of course the people to run them. But if you didn't like that, Moore had more. As an alternative, he proposed a light railway. This would also use the East London line, but in a different form, converted to light rail. Light rail was a new concept in Britain at the time, and it seemed to open up a lot of possibilities for urban transport. At the northern end of the East London line, there had been a connection to Liverpool Street that had been pulled up in 1966.

[00:07:12]Moore proposed reinstating this, creating an essential connection to the city of London proper. There would be a branch off after Rotherheive. There would be stations at Lady Dock and Milwall. Then there were two alternatives suggested. One route would go via Popppler and Canning Town to Customhouse. The other would go straight to Custom House. The next station would be West Beckton and finally Beckton.

[00:07:38]Now, before the fleet line had been cancelled, the idea of a shorter line only as far as Beckton had been considered. This seems to be basically that, but with light rail in the temp's tunnel. It seems that it would either tunnel under or be carried on a vioaduct over the docks around Milwall. It doesn't specify in the article. I suspect Beckton would also be located differently from the current station because that sharp curve that exists on the DLR at Gallion's Reach is not on this map. What is specified is that the light railway should be automated, which famously the Dockland's light railway is. Now, I doubt Moore was the first to think of this idea, but it does show that he was thinking in terms of technology as a means of reducing running costs, which was no doubt intended to please the government pay masters. There was some criticism of the fact that both these schemes mostly stayed north of the river. Neither North Greenwich nor Tmsmeter served, which the fleet line extension had offered to do.

[00:08:40]The Jubilee line extension in 1999 did give us a station in North Greenwich, but to this day, Tempsme remains without any kind of rail connection. I would describe both these proposals as close, but no cigar. Neither of them got built, but they were both on the right lines, so to speak. They envisage a lowcost transport system, making use of what already existed in order to save money.

[00:09:06]This has proven to be the key to improving transport in East London in the decades since. The Dockland's Light Railway, the Jubilee line, the Elizabeth line, and the overground all take advantage of existing rail routes to a greater or lesser extent. And as a result, the Docklands are now very well served by public transport. Given how many of these proposals I see are utter nonsense, it's good to see some that do make sense. Mo may have been an air commodore, but he didn't have his head in the clouds.

[00:09:40]Well, I hope you enjoyed this Moorish tale from the tube. If you did, please do leave a like and consider subscribing for more like this. This video was made with the assistance of the Tower Hamlet's local history library and archive. I would like as ever to thank my donors on Kofi, on Patreon, and here on YouTube for your generous support.

[00:10:00]You are the temp's tunnel to my low-budget crossing. Thanks also to Sy for sponsoring today's video. You are also very good. Check out the link in the description below to take advantage of SY's generous offer and I will see you all again very soon. Cheerio.