Edgware Road Tube Schemes - Kearney High-Speed Tubes

Kearney High-Speed Tubes

In 1905-08, the Australian-born engineer Elfric Wells Chalmers Kearney put forward a plan to build two tube lines from Crystal Palace to Strand and Cricklewood, known variously as the Cricklewood & Oval and Strand & Crystal Palace Tube Railways, the Kearney High-Speed Tubes or the Kearney High-Speed Railway. The scheme was promoted by the Kearney High-Speed Tube Railway Company Ltd. and proposed the construction of an underground railway operated on an unusual monorail system patented by Kearney. Trains would run on a single rail with four double-flanged wheels under each carriage; wheels mounted on the roof would run along an upper guide rail above the train. The trains, which were to be designed in a streamlined style similar to the London Underground 1935 Stock, would have a low centre of gravity, which, along with the gyroscopic effect of motion, would stabilise the train on the lower rail and reduce the side-to-side hunting oscillation. The stations were to be located just below the surface, connected by deep-level tube tunnels which would drop down steeply from each station; it was intended that the 1 in 7 track incline would enhance acceleration and deceleration between stations with the effects of gravity, with trains reaching 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) before decelerating. This "roller coaster" system was promoted for its low power consumption.

Kearney promoted his system by publishing leaflets, writing a book, giving lectures and he displayed a model of a Kearney train in 1905 for the press.