IN these chilly winter months, it's hard to not want to stay warm, so naturally my mind has thrown itself to Austin Cooper's gorgeous Art Deco poster from 1924, proclaiming ‘It is warmer down below. Travel in comfort by Underground’ – so, for this month's Heritage in Miniature, let us travel down below and back to 1863 for the formation of the Metropolitan Railway, the world's first underground railway.
Metropolitan – a brief history
Opening to the public on January 10, 1863, the Metropolitan Railway ran from Paddington (Bishop's Road) to Farringdon Street via Edgware Road, Baker Street, Portland Road, Gower Street and King's Cross – all of which are still open to this day. At only 3.75 miles long, the Met was a far cry from today's sprawling Underground network but was by no means any less popular with the passengers of the time. The revolutionary idea to link London's main line termini without further congesting or altering the city above the surface seemingly struck a
