Kingsway Tramway subway ink sketch

 Okay, it's 3 weeks since I last made an ink sketch, so I made this today. It's based on a photo which I'd guess was taken before the First World War. 

The Kingsway tramway subway was built in the early years of the 20th century, and it is the only underground tram tunnel ever to be built in Britain. The decision to build the subway was taken right at the end of the 19th century with the purpose of linking northern London tramlines with those to the south of London.

For more than 20 years only single decker trams were used in services through the subway. Only in 1929 was work carried out to enable the use of double decker trams. In some places the tubing of the tunnel was replaced by steel girders and joists which you can see in the sketch. In some placed the track was lowered as well. The subway was reopened in 1931.

The journey between Holborn and Aldwych took about 10 minutes, although the northbound journey could take 2 minutes longer than the southbound journey. This might have something to do with the difficulty of persuading a tram to go up the steep northern ramp. Only experienced drivers were allowed to drive trams through the subway.

From about 1935 the London Passenger Transport Board began to abandon trams and replace them with trolleybuses. By 1940 only South London trams and the subway trams remained. The height restrictions in the tunnel meant that trolleybuses were unsuitable as they couldn't draw power overhead in the subway itself. 

In 1952 the LPTB abandoned the last of its trams. The decision was made not to run diesel bus services through the subway, and some of the tracks still remain in place there. For some time the LPTTB stored unused coronation buses there, ad then it was used as storage space for some time. In 1958 work began to convert part of the southern end of the subway for motor vehicle use, and this became the Strand underpass. I have been driven through this more than once, so to that extent I guess I have been in at least part of the old subway. 

I know that in 2021 the London Transport Museum started offering tours of the unused part of the subway, and it's an ambition to one day take them up on this.

I used a photograph for this painting I made a few years ago. It was taken after the subway was converted so double decker trams could be used.