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the New York subway system is opened.

The first route runs north from City Hall, under Lafayette Street and Park Avenue to Grand Central Station, west along 42nd Street to Times Square, then north on Broadway to 145th Street.

At 2:35 in the afternoon the first subway train appears from the City Hall station with the New York mayor, George B McClellan at the controls.

The subway actually officially opens some hours later at 7 pm and over 100,000 people pay a nickel to ride the train.

The New York subway system has grown to be the largest in the world and the odds of being attacked whilst riding it are always a lot lower than commonly believed.

Subways are still something of a wonder today and the engineering involved in construction still makes headlines, how much more that was the case when first they appeared.

LIEBIG, Different Railway Systems [1909]

The US system was not the first, that honor goes to the London Underground.

Opened on 16 May 1863 it was an idea which had grown out of nothing. 20 years earlier London had no rail system at all, above or below.

The original underground was designed to link the three main London stations. The owrk was completed in two and a half years. Constructed by the simple 'cut and cover' method (basically digging a hole putting the rail in it and covering it over, the undertaking was enormous moving the underground pipes and cabling even then and the disruption to traffic something to behold.

Trial runs had been done with open carraiges but these were quickly deemed unsuitable for underground travel by steam engine.

In the first year of operation 9.5 million passengers were taken which increased to 12 million the following year.

	ON THIS DAY...
	London
	Engineering Wonders

44 locomotives were built from 1877 and all were still in service in 1905 when electrification of the system was completed. a process which had started on a trial basis in 1899.

Now of course many cities have underground rail systems, and many more need them. One thing is for sure those that have could do with them being extended.