__NOTOC__ The Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway (CC&WER) was a railway company established in 1881 to construct an underground railway in London. The CC&WER proposed a line between a station under

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

and the

London and South Western Railway The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exete ...

's terminus at

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, 1815 battle where Napoleon's French army was defeated by Anglo-allied and Prussian forces * Waterloo, Belgium Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Australia * Waterloo, New South Wale ...

. The plan was similar in concept to that proposed by the

Waterloo and Whitehall Railway The Waterloo and Whitehall Railway was a proposed and partly constructed 19th-century Rammell pneumatic railway in central London. It was intended to run under the River Thames just upstream from Hungerford Bridge, connecting Waterloo statio ...

in 1864 which could not raise funds due to a

banking crisis A bank run or run on the bank occurs when many clients withdraw their money from a bank, because they believe the bank may fail in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks normally only ...

. To form the tunnels under the River Thames, iron pipes would be sunk into a trench dredged in the river bed. The CC&WER was the first to propose electric traction for its trains and was supported by Sir

William Siemens Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens (4 April 1823 – 19 November 1883), anglicised to Charles William Siemens, was a German-British electrical engineer and businessman. autobiography Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens FRS FRSA, anglicised to Charles William Sie ...

. His brother,

Werner von Siemens Ernst Werner Siemens ( von Siemens from 1888; ; ; 13 December 1816 – 6 December 1892) was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He ...

, had demonstrated the first electric railway in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1879 and their electrical engineering company

Siemens Brothers Siemens Brothers and Company Limited was an electrical engineering design and manufacturing business in London, England. It was first established as a branchThe company started with a small factory at 12 Millbank Row, Westminster SW1, London, ne ...

was to provide the electrical equipment and operate the line for the first five years. Permission to construct the line was granted by Parliament on 18 August 1882 in the ( 45 & 46 Vict. c. cclv) and a proposal was submitted in December 1882 to continue the line from Waterloo to Blackfriars and the Royal Exchange in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. The extension was opposed by the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the upper tier of local government for London between 1856 and 1889, primarily responsible for upgrading infrastructure. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up severa ...

, but difficulties in raising funds to construct the line due to the novelty of its method of traction, led to the extension bill being withdrawn in May 1883. William Siemens died in November 1883, and the company was abandoned in July 1885.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{Closed London Underground stations Transport in the London Borough of Lambeth Transport in the City of Westminster Tunnels underneath the River Thames Abandoned underground railway projects in London Railway companies established in 1881 Railway companies disestablished in 1885 British companies disestablished in 1885 British companies established in 1881