3-028-681 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Railway through the Thames Tunnel, 1870. 'The first section of the East London Railway, extending from New-cross to Wapping - another link in the great outer circle of communication which will eventually surround the metropolis, and which, even in its incomplete condition, will be an important means of transit between the north and south sides of the Thames - was opened on the 7th December...All the works have been constructed by Messrs. Lucas and Wise, contractors, under the direction of Mr. Benjamin Burleigh, the acting engineer, according to the plans of Mr. Hawkshaw, the engineer of the line...For crossing the river advantage has been taken of the old Thames Tunnel, which Mr. Brunel designed for a materially different sort of traffic...so strongly was [the old Thames Tunnel] originally constructed - as a route for carriages which never passed through it - that it has not been necessary in any way to strengthen it...The Wapping station may for all practical purposes be said to be represented by the old access to the tunnel...The line is to be worked upon the "block" system, and all the stations are supplied with Saxby and Farmer's signalling apparatus and with the most recent electrical machinery'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.