It began transporting the public from 1 May, 1979, although not everything about what remains the newest London Underground line was new. The section of the Jubilee Line to the west (and north) of Baker Street which terminates at Stanmore ran on tracks that were already there and stopped at some very old stations. The bit that a fresh-faced Prince Charles got to ride on the day before the common herd had a go linked Baker Street with Charing Cross. Here’s ITV’s News At Ten coverage of the time.
Love it that underwear ads had been removed from escalator walls to spare the (still) future monarch’s blushes. The late Sid Weighell, making that cameo appearance as general secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen – these days known as the RMT – was a household name at the time. Now, enjoy this slightly more swinging footage from British Movietown.
The Jubilee was going to be called the Fleet Line after the lost London river from which Fleet Street also takes its name, but that was changed after a fashion in honour of Queen Elizabeth’s silver jubilee in 1977. Twenty years later, the extension of the Jubilee Line began operating, opening in three stages during 1999 and no longer stopping at Charing Cross. The Jubilee addition was prompted by the opening of Canary Wharf and now, of course, runs all the way to Stratford, taking in some of the Tube network’s more dramatic stations along the way. Here’s a bit of film of Southwark’s, produced by London Underground at the time.
There are similar films of Westminster and Canary Wharf stations. Was the extension delivered on budget and on time? Well, not exactly.
[…] to run late, be re-jigged and cot more than they were meant to – the fortieth anniversary of the Jubilee Line opening is a reminder of that. But with so much falling so far short, the mystery is why the earliest […]