Fleet Street, Sunday

The opening of the remade City and South London Railway tomorrow marks another stage in the conquest of the suburbs by Tube. This word Tube will soon be a misnomer. By the end of next year it will be possible to travel over twenty-three miles from Edgware to Morden – “the Edgmore” is suggested as a new name for the railway — and only about half the distance will be underground. The old Tubes will in time, with the spread of these country extensions, become merely tunnels to take people under the thick of London like tunnels through a rock.

The Tube, in its new phase, is becoming a great creator of suburbs. The big community of Golders Green owes its existence entirely to the Hampstead Tube, for the ridge always made the district difficult of access by bus, and now that Edgware is reached that once delightful village is not likely to resist for long its transformation into a big cluster of new villas.

The reconstruction of the old City and South London “Tube,” has cost three millions, and this is only part of the enormous post-war programme of the Underground. It will now be possible to tube it from Clapham Common to Edgware without a change. The opening of the new section sends out of commission the fleet of blue buses, in which for a year or more the South London season ticket-holders have been taken to the City and back.

There has been an extraordinary growth of comfort and luxury in the Tube trains since the war. At one extreme were the ancient and fish-like carriages that took you under the Thames and into South London; at the other are the new trains with mechanical sliding doors, soft-cushioned seats, and brilliant lights. By way of advertising their new production, the Underground Railways have been distributing 15,000 free tickets in South London for the opening day.