January 10 – The Day Humans Willingly Went Underground - Strange History

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome back, dear listeners to the Strange History Podcast, where

0:03 Speaker 1: history reminds us that sometimes progress sounds like a terrible

0:07 Speaker 1: idea right up until everyone decides they love it. Today

0:11 Speaker 1: is January tenth, and on this day in eighteen sixty three,

0:14 Speaker 1: London did something bold, uncomfortable, and slightly unhinged. It opened

0:20 Speaker 1: the world's first underground railway. That's right. Humans looked at crowded,

0:25 Speaker 1: polluted Victorian streets and said, what if we put trains

0:30 Speaker 1: under all this? Let's talk about the day the subway

0:32 Speaker 1: was born. In smoke, steam and very poor ventilation.

0:36 Speaker 2: London had a problem, and it was horses.

0:41 Speaker 1: Mid nineteenth century London was bursting at the seams. Millions

0:45 Speaker 1: of people, narrow streets and tens of thousands of horses

0:49 Speaker 1: hauling carts meant the city was constantly jammed and constantly

0:53 Speaker 1: covered and manure. Moving people across London could take hours.

0:57 Speaker 1: Something had to give. The solution was radical dig tunnels

1:01 Speaker 1: beneath the city and run trains through them, not electric trains,

1:05 Speaker 1: steam locomotives underground. Even at the time, many people thought

1:11 Speaker 1: this sounded like a fantastic way to suffocate politely.

1:15 Speaker 2: Opening day, January tenth, eighteen sixty three.

1:21 Speaker 1: On January tenth, the Metropolitan Railway officially opened to the public.

1:26 Speaker 1: Thousands of curious Londoners lined up to try it. The

1:30 Speaker 1: tunnels were bricklined and gas lit. The trains puffed smoke

1:34 Speaker 1: and steam into enclosed spaces. Passengers emerged coughing, smelling faintly

1:39 Speaker 1: of coal, and absolutely thrilled. Despite fears that underground travel

1:44 Speaker 1: would cause madness, illness, or spontaneous moral collapse, the public

1:49 Speaker 1: loved it. Over thirty thousand people rode the line on

1:53 Speaker 1: opening day alone. Victorians, it turns out, were extremely ready

1:58 Speaker 1: to commute.

2:00 Speaker 2: The strange experience of early subway riders.

2:04 Speaker 1: Imagine the sensory overload. You descend underground, something most people

2:10 Speaker 1: had never done voluntarily. The air is warm, lamps flicker,

2:15 Speaker 1: a steam engine roars past inches from the platform, Smoke

2:20 Speaker 1: curls along the ceiling, and yet it worked. Newspapers praised

2:25 Speaker 1: the railway, engineers celebrated. Londoners realized they could cross the

2:30 Speaker 1: city faster than ever before without sitting behind a parade

2:34 Speaker 1: of horses. The underground wasn't just transportation. It was a

2:39 Speaker 1: declaration that cities could reinvent themselves. Vertically.

2:43 Speaker 2: Why this day changed the world.

2:46 Speaker 1: That first underground railway didn't just change London, it became

2:50 Speaker 1: the blueprint for modern cities everywhere New York, Paris, Tokyo, Moscow,

2:57 Speaker 1: All of them would eventually copy the idea. January tenth

3:01 Speaker 1: marks the moment humans decided that progress didn't always mean

3:04 Speaker 1: going higher or farther. Sometimes it meant going down and

3:09 Speaker 1: surviving the smoke. Before we wrap up today's episode, a

3:14 Speaker 1: word from our sponsor, because fresh air was still a

3:17 Speaker 1: developing concept.

3:18 Speaker 3: Today's episode is brought to you by Victorian Fresh commuter noseguards,

3:23 Speaker 3: designed specifically for underground travel. Powered by coal optimism and

3:27 Speaker 3: questionable engineering, Victorian Fresh noseguards filter smoke, soot and the

3:33 Speaker 3: overwhelming sense that you might be making a terrible life choice.

3:37 Speaker 3: Not recommended for actual steam tunnels, moral panics or fainting couches.

3:42 Speaker 3: Use promo code Breathe for ten percent off and a

3:45 Speaker 3: complimentary handkerchief.

3:48 Speaker 1: And that, dear listeners, is your strange history entry for

3:52 Speaker 1: January tenth, The day people climbed underground, boarded smoky trains

3:57 Speaker 1: and discovered the future of cities. Boin me tomorrow for

4:01 Speaker 1: January eleventh, when Amelia Earhart does something pilots still talk

4:05 Speaker 1: about in AWE. Until then, mind the gap, appreciate fresh air,

4:11 Speaker 1: and remember progress is often uncomfortable at first