__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, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commem ...

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. The plan was similar in concept to that proposed by the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway 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 cease to function in the near future. In other words, it is when, in a fractional-reserve banking system (where banks no ...

. 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. 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 f ...

, had demonstrated the first electric railway in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

in 1879 and their electrical engineering company Siemens Brothers 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 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 is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. The extension was opposed by the

Metropolitan Board of Works The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was the principal instrument of local government in a wide area of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, defined by the Metropolis Management Act 1855, from December 1855 until the establishment of the London Coun ...

, 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