Paul Weaver wrote the following in:
news
Looking at the history of the tube, the vast majority of it was
built between 1890 and the first world war. Obviously this was all
entrepreneurs, capitalists that produced the finest public
transport system of its day.

Whats happened since the end of the second world war? Nothing.
Thanks to centralisation, lack of competition and general
socialist policy.

********. There's been the Victoria line, the Jubilee line, the DLR,
new stations and interchanges (e.g. c2c stop at West Ham) and I'm sure
there are other things I haven't heard of.

There's also the point that the first tubes were built at a time when
there was almost nothing. I saw a post earlier today where someone made
the point that there was more railway building in the early years of
the 20th century than in the past 50 years. What a silly thing to point
out. 50 years ago there was already quite a large tube network whereas
a hundred years ago there was practically nothing. Of course more was
built then when there was nothing in existence.

It makes me sick.

Perhaps your one of those people who desperately looks for things to be
sick about, and if nothing reasonable is available then makes something
up.

--
message by Robin May, consumer of liquids
"A very large head, a head like a bear's"

Hacker is to computer as boy racer is to Ford Escort.

Robin May wrote:

Paul Weaver wrote the following in:
news
Looking at the history of the tube, the vast majority of it was
built between 1890 and the first world war. Obviously this was all
entrepreneurs, capitalists that produced the finest public
transport system of its day.

There's also the point that the first tubes were built at a time when
there was almost nothing. I saw a post earlier today where someone made
the point that there was more railway building in the early years of
the 20th century than in the past 50 years. What a silly thing to point
out. 50 years ago there was already quite a large tube network whereas
a hundred years ago there was practically nothing. Of course more was
built then when there was nothing in existence.

There's also the point that, having built the lines, the entrepreneurs,
on the whole, failed to make money from them, and were eventually bailed
out by nationalisation in the '30s.

Presumably potential modern tube entrepreneurs know this, even if most
people don't.

Colin McKeznie

On 29 Sep 2003 19:43:57 GMT, Robin May
wrote:

Paul Weaver wrote the following in:
news
Looking at the history of the tube, the vast majority of it was
built between 1890 and the first world war. Obviously this was all
entrepreneurs, capitalists that produced the finest public
transport system of its day.

Whats happened since the end of the second world war? Nothing.
Thanks to centralisation, lack of competition and general
socialist policy.

********. There's been the Victoria line, the Jubilee line, the DLR,
new stations and interchanges (e.g. c2c stop at West Ham) and I'm sure
there are other things I haven't heard of.


The original poster also conveniently ignores anything between the
first and second world wars. In fact great chunks of the network
outside the centre - particularly stretches of the Northern,
Piccadilly, and Central lines - were built in the 1930s when the
system was already in public ownership, and its management was very
centralised. Those magnificent Holden stations weren't funded by
venture capitalists :-)

Of course that was in a very different economic and political climate
from today, so I wouldn't draw any conclusions about the relative
merits of public and private funding from any of this

Martin