Central London Railway - Opening

Opening

The official opening of the CLR by the Prince of Wales took place on 27 June 1900, one day before the time limit of the 1899 Act, although the line did not open to the public until 30 July 1900. The railway had stations at:

• Shepherd's Bush
• Holland Park
• Notting Hill Gate
• Queen's Road (now Queensway)
• Lancaster Gate
• Marble Arch
• Bond Street (opened 24 September 1900)
• Oxford Circus
• Tottenham Court Road
• British Museum (closed 1933)
• Chancery Lane
• Post Office (now St. Paul's)
• Bank

The CLR charged a flat fare of two pence for a journey between any two stations, leading the Daily Mail to give the railway the nickname of the Twopenny Tube in August 1900. The service was very popular, and, by the end of 1900, the railway had carried 14,916,922 passengers. By attracting passengers from the bus services along its route and from the slower, steam-hauled, MR and MDR services, the CLR achieved passenger numbers around 45 million per year in the first few years of operation, generating a high turnover that was more than twice the expenses. From 1900 to 1905, the company paid a dividend of 4 per cent to investors.