Unless I'm very much mistaken, it was Paul Terry
), in message
who said:
In message , Paul Weaver
writes

Looking at the history of the tube, the vast majority of it was built
between 1890 and the first world war.

Actually, comparatively little of today's tube network had been built
by then.


Hmm... if one includes all the bits that already existed under alternate
ownership, I'd guess that around two thirds of the current network was
already in place in 1914.


Obviously this was all entrepreneurs, capitalists that produced the
finest public transport system of its day.

On the contrary, limited capacity and over-crowding was a problem from
the outset, and private capital was insufficient to finance the
expansion needed. Even after the formation of LUR the company was
straddled with debt and couldn't pay a dividend on ordinary shares for
year after year after year - nationalisation came as a blessed relief.
It was not until the New Works programme of the 1930s that more
ambitious schemes could be financed.

Whats happened since the end of the second world war? Nothing.

Erm ...

Central line extended from Liverpool Street out to Epping/Ongar +
Hainault loop
Central line extended from North Acton to Ruislip
Victoria line constructed
Piccadilly line extended from Hounslow to Heathrow
Jubilee line - new construction from Baker Street to Stratford
plus, of course, the Docklands Light Railway network.


Of these, the only achievements of any great geographical scope were the
Vic, and the Jubilee extension.

BTN