0:00:03 > 0:00:05The morning rush hour in London.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10More than half-a-million people
0:00:10 > 0:00:12arrive at the central termini every day.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18This is a daily reality for so many people.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21But before the age of steam, you would have needed a horse
0:00:21 > 0:00:23to travel long distances over land,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26and most of us lived close to where we worked.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28The railways changed all of that.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32The expanding transport network was at the heart of modern,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34powerful Victorian Britain.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38A Britain bursting with energy and confidence.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43Railways were transforming virtually everything.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45From where we live to how we work.
0:00:46 > 0:00:49From what we eat to how we spend our leisure time.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59The railways helped to create the new suburbia.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03And where better to see the impact than London and the South East?
0:01:03 > 0:01:06Home to a new type of worker and resident - the commuter.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13TRAIN WHISTLE
0:01:36 > 0:01:39For a person sitting in this carriage in the 1890s,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41railways were already old hat.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43For more than 60 years earlier,
0:01:43 > 0:01:45the first passenger line had opened -
0:01:45 > 0:01:47the Liverpool and Manchester Railway.
0:01:50 > 0:01:53And over the decades, people were able to live further
0:01:53 > 0:01:55and further from their place of work.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01But the original motivation for developing rail travel
0:02:01 > 0:02:03was to support industry.
0:02:03 > 0:02:05And industry was centred up north.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10London was a little behind the curve.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12TRAIN WHISTLE
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Before long, private railway companies realised
0:02:15 > 0:02:18there was money to be made from passengers.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21And it was inevitable that London would soon catch up.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35The year was 1838.
0:02:35 > 0:02:38London's first passenger railway opened.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42Taking people from London Bridge all the way to Greenwich.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48This is the train from London Bridge to Greenwich today,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51running on exactly the same route.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55And, just like in 1838, at no point do we touch the ground.
0:02:55 > 0:02:57That's because, incredibly,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00the railway was built entirely on arches
0:03:00 > 0:03:03so it could cross the many streets and roads in its path.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09This is the tracks of the London and Greenwich Railway
0:03:09 > 0:03:13built in between 1836 and 1838.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16And, really, Britain's first suburban railway.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19And it was an amazing engineering achievement,
0:03:19 > 0:03:23because it was built on 878 arches,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25which still stand today, and we're still using them.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31The success of this railway
0:03:31 > 0:03:35meant there was pressure on the railway companies
0:03:35 > 0:03:36to build more lines.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Because what happened was that once you had a station
0:03:40 > 0:03:42in maybe a village or a small hamlet,
0:03:42 > 0:03:45once you had connections to London,
0:03:45 > 0:03:48then more houses would be built, more developments,
0:03:48 > 0:03:50and therefore, more people would use the railway.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53So it was a self-fulfilling success, as it were.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00The London and Greenwich's engineer was Colonel George Landmann.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Five years before the railway was opened, he predicted that -
0:04:03 > 0:04:06"The speed with which the inhabitants can be conveyed
0:04:06 > 0:04:08"from the smoke of the city
0:04:08 > 0:04:09"to the pure air
0:04:09 > 0:04:12"of Blackheath and Shooter's Hill will be a great
0:04:12 > 0:04:14"inducement to the occupation of houses
0:04:14 > 0:04:16"on this side of London".
0:04:22 > 0:04:25He was absolutely right.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Ten years later, 3.75 million passengers
0:04:28 > 0:04:30were using London Bridge station every year.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43Of course, before the railway arrived,
0:04:43 > 0:04:46a good way to get from the city to Greenwich
0:04:46 > 0:04:48was to sail down the Thames.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50Nowadays, the site of London Bridge station
0:04:50 > 0:04:54is marked by the tallest building in Britain - the Shard.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58The perfect place to see the routes to Greenwich.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Over there, we have the old highway, as it were, the river.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10And now, over here, we have what was obviously in the day, a superhighway
0:05:10 > 0:05:13for the trains, and a much faster way
0:05:13 > 0:05:15to get between London and Greenwich.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19But the railway company wasn't entirely sure their plan would work,
0:05:19 > 0:05:23so they actually allowed people to walk alongside.
0:05:23 > 0:05:25They created a footpath next to it,
0:05:25 > 0:05:27for which you had to pay a little bit to go on,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31because they weren't sure they could attract enough business on the railway.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34In fact, of course, the railway became very busy quite quickly
0:05:34 > 0:05:38and took over from the river traffic because it was much quicker.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43If Greenwich was the start, it wouldn't be long before
0:05:43 > 0:05:46other rail companies followed, in and around London.
0:05:46 > 0:05:49And one particular location would become synonymous
0:05:49 > 0:05:51with the very idea of commuting.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Within a couple of years, the London and Southampton Railway Company
0:05:57 > 0:05:59was building a line to Southampton.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03The company wanted to go through Kingston upon Thames,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05but the locals were having none of it.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11Coaching companies didn't want the competition,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14and there was always the River Thames.
0:06:16 > 0:06:18But, I think, the major factor was the reaction
0:06:18 > 0:06:20of some of the major landowners,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22who didn't really want the railway
0:06:22 > 0:06:23going through their land.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28So a station was built away from Kingston, in the middle of farmland.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32Because it was near Kingston upon Thames,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35some bright spark came up with an appropriate name.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39It was called Kingston upon Railway, this new area,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41with a very small station,
0:06:41 > 0:06:43which was not here, it was further up the track.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46They called it Kingston upon Railway,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48but this didn't last for very long.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52And then the station was moved about a quarter of a mile,
0:06:52 > 0:06:53to its current location
0:06:53 > 0:06:58and was finally given the name it has today - Surbiton.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01Houses began to spring up around it,
0:07:01 > 0:07:04and it's very significant in railway history,
0:07:04 > 0:07:07because it's the first suburb that came into existence
0:07:07 > 0:07:09entirely because of a railway.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18This is one of the mid-Victorian middleclass houses
0:07:18 > 0:07:20that sprang up around Surbiton station.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24Today, it's split into several homes.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27I work for one of the big banks.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29I do procurement for them.
0:07:29 > 0:07:32How do you feel about the fact that you're commuting in the same way
0:07:32 > 0:07:34that somebody in the 1850s did?
0:07:34 > 0:07:36Part of the reason I'm here
0:07:36 > 0:07:38is because I wanted to be able to commute.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41I'm working in town, and it's really easy.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45And upstairs, in the main part of the house...
0:07:45 > 0:07:49So before we moved here, we both worked in advertising.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53And I've slightly changed my work. I do editorial work now from home.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56So I do telecommuting and John does proper commuting.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Do you feel any kind of personal connection
0:07:59 > 0:08:03between the Victorian characters who occupied your house before?
0:08:03 > 0:08:06Well, it's quite interesting, because I read in the Census that
0:08:06 > 0:08:08as well as the generals that lived in this house,
0:08:08 > 0:08:10there were also a couple of town clerks.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12So they would have left the house
0:08:12 > 0:08:14probably the same time as my husband,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17walked up the road, went to the train station,
0:08:17 > 0:08:21took 24 minutes, apparently, to get to London.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23There is a definite sense that
0:08:23 > 0:08:26the railway station links this whole community.
0:08:26 > 0:08:27And it is the reason, if I'm honest,
0:08:27 > 0:08:29why most of my friends and myself have moved here.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32And it's an added bonus that it's a really nice place to live.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45In the 1840s, there was a huge rush to build railways.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49Fortunes were to be made in a period known as Railway Mania.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Massive sums were invested.
0:08:52 > 0:08:55The closest modern comparison is the amount spent on Britain's defence
0:08:55 > 0:08:57during the Second World War.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06A satirical cartoon from the Times shows railway bosses
0:09:06 > 0:09:10frantic to deliver all their individual plans before a deadline.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14But as the British railway network was created,
0:09:14 > 0:09:17the one thing it lacked was an overall strategy.
0:09:18 > 0:09:20The British railway system was very much made up
0:09:20 > 0:09:22as it went along.
0:09:22 > 0:09:26It was up to local interests, local businessmen, local politicians,
0:09:26 > 0:09:29to decide that there was a need, or they saw a need for a railway
0:09:29 > 0:09:33in a particular area. They promoted it, they raised the money.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35They had to go to Parliament to get permission,
0:09:35 > 0:09:37so there was a bit of a check there,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40but the state made no attempt whatsoever
0:09:40 > 0:09:42to plan a national system.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54This line in Sussex is a case in point,
0:09:54 > 0:09:56from later in the Victorian period.
0:09:58 > 0:09:59It was first authorised by
0:09:59 > 0:10:02the Lewes and East Grinstead Railway Act in 1877.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07But built in a sparsely-populated area,
0:10:07 > 0:10:09at the request of local landowners.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15It's now the Bluebell Railway, a heritage line.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23As railways sprang up all over the country,
0:10:23 > 0:10:27there was one man who tried to create order out of the chaos.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31He was Lord Dalhousie, President of the Board of Trade.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43But it didn't work. There were too many particular interests involved.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48And Dalhousie's plan, which would have given each region
0:10:48 > 0:10:51a carefully-thought-out set of railway routes,
0:10:51 > 0:10:54was scrapped after maybe a year of planning.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57And I think that was a great tragedy, really,
0:10:57 > 0:10:59because the British railway system today
0:10:59 > 0:11:02would probably be a lot more efficient
0:11:02 > 0:11:05if Dalhousie's plan had been allowed to run.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09There was intense competition between railway companies
0:11:09 > 0:11:12to corner different parts of the passenger market.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15In many cases, this would be a good thing and encourage innovation,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18but the battlegrounds could sometimes get ugly
0:11:18 > 0:11:20and results were far from perfect.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24One of the battlegrounds was Kent.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27The first line that the Southeastern Railway Company
0:11:27 > 0:11:28built into the county
0:11:28 > 0:11:30was from London to Dover.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34And the first line that the East Kent Railway Company built
0:11:34 > 0:11:36went from Strood to Faversham.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41And that was fine, as long as the two railways
0:11:41 > 0:11:44served two separate parts of Kent.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48But as they started to grow, as more people started to travel by train,
0:11:48 > 0:11:50each company became more and more ambitious
0:11:50 > 0:11:54and started to try to compete with the other one
0:11:54 > 0:11:57to move into the other one's territory.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03By the end of the 19th century,
0:12:03 > 0:12:06the Southeastern Railway had lines all over Kent.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11At the same time, the East Kent Railway had changed its name
0:12:11 > 0:12:14to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17The rivals' lines were tangled across the county.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25The battle became personal between two formidable figures.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31Sir Edward Watkin, boss of the Southeastern Railway,
0:12:31 > 0:12:35and James Staats Forbes of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40The two of them spent the best part of a quarter of a century
0:12:40 > 0:12:41fighting each other.
0:12:43 > 0:12:45I don't think it was just about profit.
0:12:45 > 0:12:49I think these were, these were big, macho entrepreneurs
0:12:49 > 0:12:53who were really fighting just to show that they were the top dogs.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55And they absolutely hated each other
0:12:55 > 0:12:58and did everything to do each other down.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00And even if one of them built
0:13:00 > 0:13:03a railway to a particular town or branch line,
0:13:03 > 0:13:07the other would then want to build a railway to the same place
0:13:07 > 0:13:09just to pinch each other's customers.
0:13:09 > 0:13:10There was a lot of duplication.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Canterbury, for example, got two railway stations.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15Ramsgate got two railway stations.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18We live with that consequence today.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21We live with a very, very tangled network of lines.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25So that's why we didn't end up with the best possible railway,
0:13:25 > 0:13:28we ended up with a railway that is all higgledy-piggledy,
0:13:28 > 0:13:31lots of duplication, and not particularly efficient.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36One result of the battle for Kent
0:13:36 > 0:13:37was that several competing companies
0:13:37 > 0:13:41were building lines into London Bridge station.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44The upshot was a tangle of tracks, which is now being untangled.
0:13:48 > 0:13:49Well, the railways in the Victorian era
0:13:49 > 0:13:53were capitalism red in tooth and claw.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56At one point, we had four different companies here at London Bridge,
0:13:56 > 0:13:58all competing with each other, all over the same tracks.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02You've got a spaghetti of tracks all crisscrossing each other,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05all coming in from different angles.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08They weren't designed with a sort of guiding mind in place.
0:14:08 > 0:14:09They were sort of... They evolved.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12London Bridge evolved, rather than being designed.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16So now Network Rail is going through the process
0:14:16 > 0:14:18of untangling the lines into London Bridge
0:14:18 > 0:14:21so that commuters can pass through the station more smoothly.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26So a little bit like going back in time
0:14:26 > 0:14:29and telling all the disparate companies to do it a certain way,
0:14:29 > 0:14:31- according to a big, major plan. - That would be fantastic.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34If you could jump in a time machine and go back to 1844 and say,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37"Look, guys, quit squabbling and think about it together
0:14:37 > 0:14:39"and design a station for the future",
0:14:39 > 0:14:41that would be absolutely brilliant,
0:14:41 > 0:14:43but we can't do that. We're doing our best with it now.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45But I really do want to emphasise
0:14:45 > 0:14:47that the Victorians did a lot of great stuff as well.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49One of the great things the Victorians did
0:14:49 > 0:14:52was they built their viaducts really strong.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54That was partly because in the Victorian era,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56they weren't quite as good at
0:14:56 > 0:14:58understanding tolerances as we are now,
0:14:58 > 0:15:01so the viaducts were built incredibly strong.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04And we're now throwing a huge number of trains across them every day
0:15:04 > 0:15:06and they're solid as a rock.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24By the mid 1800s, rail travel was reaching a new level of popularity.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27The network was expanding rapidly.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Steam trains were striking out all across the country
0:15:30 > 0:15:32and they were picking up speed.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38The railways started to come within the reach of the working classes.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40This was helped by special schemes
0:15:40 > 0:15:42operating out of the big new stations,
0:15:42 > 0:15:44like Liverpool Street in London.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52By the time Liverpool Street was built in 1874,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55many railways were running workmen's trains.
0:15:55 > 0:15:57They offered cheap, early-morning transport into town
0:15:57 > 0:16:00for as little as tuppence return.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02The government liked the idea.
0:16:06 > 0:16:07When they passed an Act of Parliament
0:16:07 > 0:16:10to give a company permission to build a railway,
0:16:10 > 0:16:13they began to write in workmen's trains as part of the deal.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18In the first wave of railway building and station building
0:16:18 > 0:16:20in the early part of the 19th century,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23the government didn't really take any interest in the fact that
0:16:23 > 0:16:26that displaced a lot of people who'd been living and working
0:16:26 > 0:16:28in the places where the railways are built.
0:16:28 > 0:16:30But now we're in the 1860s and the 1870s
0:16:30 > 0:16:32and the government's much more socially aware
0:16:32 > 0:16:33and concerned about what's going to happen
0:16:33 > 0:16:35to those people living in these places,
0:16:35 > 0:16:39so they start to make it a condition of building railways
0:16:39 > 0:16:40and building the track out
0:16:40 > 0:16:43that you provide workmen's trains and that you price them cheaply
0:16:43 > 0:16:45and that they start early in the morning,
0:16:45 > 0:16:48precisely so that those people who have been displaced
0:16:48 > 0:16:51have the opportunity, at least, to get back into London.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55But variations in the cost of the ticket
0:16:55 > 0:16:58caused variations in the character of different parts of London.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02When the government says you've got to put on workmen's trains,
0:17:02 > 0:17:04they're never explicit about how much they ought to cost,
0:17:04 > 0:17:06or how many there ought to be.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08So different companies make different decisions.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12And here in the east, a lot of the companies put on two-pence trains.
0:17:12 > 0:17:13In parts of the south of London
0:17:13 > 0:17:16and the railways going out to the south and to the west,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19often, those workmen's trains would be six or seven pence.
0:17:19 > 0:17:20That's quite a lot more.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23So that starts to determine what kind of housing is built
0:17:23 > 0:17:25in the different parts of London.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30For instance, what was the small hamlet of Walthamstow
0:17:30 > 0:17:34now has a huge number of comparatively-small terraced houses.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38Walthamstow really develops its housing.
0:17:38 > 0:17:40Kind of terraced housing, quite densely packed,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43precisely because there's a large number of workers
0:17:43 > 0:17:45who want to take advantage of the two-pence train.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47So they actually really look...
0:17:47 > 0:17:50I mean, these places still look very much like they do today
0:17:50 > 0:17:53precisely because of the way the railways were built.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58As time went on, the railways became unstoppable
0:17:58 > 0:18:01as the networks spread across the country.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08- MEDIA BROADCAST: - A spate of British railway building astonished the world.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12A century of pioneering with the sky the limit.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14And transport kept pace.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17To meet the needs of factories and trade,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20to carry our country's new-found greatness to far horizons,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23modern transport was born.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30But what about the town that came into existence
0:18:30 > 0:18:32entirely because of the railways?
0:18:32 > 0:18:34How was Surbiton getting on?
0:18:47 > 0:18:50In the local archive at Kingston upon Thames,
0:18:50 > 0:18:53the Census information and original maps
0:18:53 > 0:18:55show the growth of Surbiton's population.
0:19:01 > 0:19:02For example, in 1841,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05the population was still under 400.
0:19:05 > 0:19:07But with the arrival of the railways,
0:19:07 > 0:19:09it began to grow very, very rapidly.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12So that by 1861, we're looking at just under 5,000.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16By 1881, we're looking at just under 10,000,
0:19:16 > 0:19:18and then by the turn of the century, 1901,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21we're looking at 12,000.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28But an odd phenomenon grew around Surbiton
0:19:28 > 0:19:30at the same time as the population.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32It became the butt of jokes
0:19:32 > 0:19:35and has been known for its comedy value ever since.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40Like this Punch cartoon from 1938.
0:19:42 > 0:19:44"We really must be going now, darling,
0:19:44 > 0:19:46"we've got to get right out to Surbiton!"
0:19:48 > 0:19:52Though, perhaps, some of the joke has been lost in the midst of time.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57There were jokes about the development of Surbiton,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00which I think are pretty unfair, to be honest.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03And I think the origins of this were
0:20:03 > 0:20:08a small, intelligent, um...faction in London
0:20:08 > 0:20:11who tended to poke fun at the suburbs.
0:20:11 > 0:20:16And ever since then, we've had this strand in British culture
0:20:16 > 0:20:19which has tended to look down on the suburbs.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22And, in particular, of course, it's looked upon as being
0:20:22 > 0:20:25dull, boring. People were inward-looking
0:20:25 > 0:20:30and didn't really take much part in any community activity.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34And, of course, what is the ultimate suburb, but Surbiton.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Because Surbiton sounds like suburbia.
0:20:37 > 0:20:39Surbiton was never part of the grand plan.
0:20:39 > 0:20:42It evolved, like so many other railway towns.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45But in the 1900s, things started to change,
0:20:45 > 0:20:48and commuting and suburbia were taken to a whole new level.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58To the northwest of London, you'll find streets,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01avenues and crescents of the ultimate English suburbia.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06This is because, as the 20th century arrived,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09the Metropolitan Railway, with their new electric trains,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12could do something that no other railway company could do.
0:21:14 > 0:21:16They had the legal power to use land
0:21:16 > 0:21:19they no longer wanted to build houses.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22And they called it Metro-land.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26So, to them it was wonderful,
0:21:26 > 0:21:28they'd created a market
0:21:28 > 0:21:30for the railway services.
0:21:30 > 0:21:31A win-win situation for
0:21:31 > 0:21:33the Metropolitan Railway.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35That was a smart move.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37The Metropolitan Railway could open stations,
0:21:37 > 0:21:39fairly confident that housing
0:21:39 > 0:21:42development would follow shortly thereafter,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45because it was the company that was either building the houses
0:21:45 > 0:21:48or selling the land very cheaply to developers.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52So the Metropolitan Railway generated its own demand.
0:21:54 > 0:21:55They did wonderful publicity,
0:21:55 > 0:22:00they did posters that were really very beautiful, evocative.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04And they sold the northwest extension into the Chilterns
0:22:04 > 0:22:07as a way of being in London
0:22:07 > 0:22:10without having to live in the inner-city.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Metro-land is famous for being the archetype of English suburbia.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19And it was also the inspiration for poetry by John Betjeman.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26"Gaily into Ruislip Gardens runs the red electric train.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30"With a thousand Ta's and Pardon's, daintily descends Elaine."
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Yes. I mean, you knew he was going to rhyme
0:22:33 > 0:22:36"electric train" with "Elaine" there.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41Well, Betjeman is really the great author of Metro-land.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45TRAIN WHISTLE
0:22:45 > 0:22:48Betjeman's fascination with the new suburbia
0:22:48 > 0:22:51led him to make this documentary in 1973.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55The Metropolitan had a very good idea.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Look at these fields!
0:22:58 > 0:23:01"Why not..." said a clever member of the board,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04"..fill the meadowland with houses?"
0:23:08 > 0:23:12The healthy air of Harrow in the 1920s and '30s,
0:23:12 > 0:23:15when these villas were built.
0:23:15 > 0:23:19In fact, the country had come to the suburbs.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23Roses are blooming in Metro-land,
0:23:23 > 0:23:26just as they do in the brochure.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31English people have this yearning to own a house of their own
0:23:31 > 0:23:34in a leafy, green area.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Which was, of course, the way the Metropolitan Railway
0:23:37 > 0:23:38marketed Metro-land.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41You could enjoy the countryside
0:23:41 > 0:23:43and yet work in the city.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48Meanwhile, over on the other side of London,
0:23:48 > 0:23:51the Southern Railway was also targeting the commuters.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56Unlike the Metropolitan, they weren't able to build houses,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59but in parts of their territory near the capital,
0:23:59 > 0:24:02they enthusiastically began to electrify their railways.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08We stand here, beside the evidence of progress,
0:24:08 > 0:24:14which the railways have made since the station was opened in 1842.
0:24:15 > 0:24:19The National Railway Museum in York has a collection of posters
0:24:19 > 0:24:22from the time of the electrification of the Southern Railway.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26Herbert Walker, who was the dynamic manager of the Southern Railway,
0:24:26 > 0:24:28decided that electricity was the way forward.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32The way to compete with trams for that inner-suburban traffic,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35but also, to expand the market and to encourage people,
0:24:35 > 0:24:37as was happening in the north of London, with Metro-land,
0:24:37 > 0:24:40to live outside of London itself,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42in what were going to become the suburbs.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45A wonderful example being the line to Brighton,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48which was electrified in the early 1930s.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51And the Southern went all-out to persuade people
0:24:51 > 0:24:53not just to use the electric trains to go to Brighton,
0:24:53 > 0:24:56to go to the seaside, to enjoy a day out,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59but also to persuade people to go and live in Brighton
0:24:59 > 0:25:02and commute into London, a good 50 miles.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05It was a long way to travel in the 1930s to go to work,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08but the Southern managed to persuade people to do that.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10And they did it by using modern,
0:25:10 > 0:25:12cutting-edge advertising.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Very early on, it marketed its
0:25:15 > 0:25:17newly-electrified suburban lines
0:25:17 > 0:25:18as Southern Electric.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20Just those two words.
0:25:20 > 0:25:21Very powerful, I think.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Really, the creation of a brand.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29- MEDIA BROADCAST: - A new type of electric train
0:25:29 > 0:25:32makes its first appearance along the Southern Railway.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34It is capable of a speed of 75mph.
0:25:43 > 0:25:44Through the 20th century,
0:25:44 > 0:25:47commuters travelled further and further by rail.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52Now, the London larger urban zone has a population
0:25:52 > 0:25:55of nearly 12 million and is the largest in Europe.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59One attempt to deal with some of the limitations left to us
0:25:59 > 0:26:01by the Victorians is the Crossrail project.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17What we ended up with was a vast network of lines,
0:26:17 > 0:26:22radiating mainly out from London, north, east, south and west.
0:26:22 > 0:26:25A fantastic way to get in and out of the capital.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27But what passengers found difficult
0:26:27 > 0:26:31was to travel long distance from another part of the country,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34through London and out the other side in one seat.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43When the Victorians built lots of railway lines heading into London,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47it would seem logical to join them up in a massive central hub.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50But a Royal Commission on London railways in 1846
0:26:50 > 0:26:51advised against it
0:26:51 > 0:26:55because it would destroy too much valuable property in the centre.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Instead, it advised that an inner-circle underground railway
0:27:00 > 0:27:01should be built.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Joining up most of the major London termini.
0:27:06 > 0:27:08Today, it is known as the Circle line.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15But now the Crossrail project has been busy underground.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20It's created new routes from east and west,
0:27:20 > 0:27:22through the heart of the capital.
0:27:22 > 0:27:26This will extend the commuter belt out into new places around London.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Traditionally, in the UK, particularly in London,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34railways, big national railways,
0:27:34 > 0:27:37they stopped at the edge of the city.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39And so you then had to come down an escalator,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43get on a different train to take you around the middle of the city.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47That's something that projects like Crossrail,
0:27:47 > 0:27:49a boundary that's being removed,
0:27:49 > 0:27:51so you'll be able to travel straight through and out the other side
0:27:51 > 0:27:53if you want to.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01Commuting by train.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03Millions of us do it every day.
0:28:07 > 0:28:09You may see your commute as liberating.
0:28:09 > 0:28:12A way to get away from your desk in the busy city,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15and live somewhere attractive that you can afford.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18On the other hand, you may see yourself condemned
0:28:18 > 0:28:20to wasting hours every day
0:28:20 > 0:28:22in the daily trudge to and from work.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30For this, we can thank or blame the Victorians.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33They gave us a new type of place to live, suburbia,
0:28:33 > 0:28:36and a new type of person, the commuter.