Steam celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Hammersmith & City Line

London Transport Museum is celebrating the 150th year of the Hammersmith & City Line
with special steam train journeys through the Victorian tunnels of the London Underground between Moorgate and Hammersmith stations and Moorgate and Northfield stations on 2 and 9 August 2014.

The public will travel in the Chesham set coaches, which were built in 1898 and 1900 and are on loan from the Bluebell Railway. The carriages will be hauled by the Metropolitan Steam Locomotive No.1 which was restored last year to its former 1898 glory. The Metropolitan Railway milk van No. 3 (1896) will also be in the train.

Guests will be entertained at Moorgate station by a brass band and actors dressed as Victorian characters between 09.00 and 16.30 (for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Hammersmith – Moorgate – Hammersmith runs). Look out for London Transport Museum’s pop-up shop which will be selling gifts and mementoes including exclusive Hammersmith & City centenary posters.

The Hammersmith & City railway opened on 13 June 1864, just over a year after the very first underground railway opened in January 1863 and at a time when horse drawn omnibuses were still in use and the world had yet to see the invention of motor car, television and telephone.

The line was part of the Metropolitan Line until 1990 when it was given its own identity as the Hammersmith & City Line.

• Five journeys will take place on each day – 2 and 9 August 2014:

• The first journey will run between Northfields and Moorgate (steam hauled)
• The next three journeys will run from Moorgate to Hammersmith and return to Moorgate (electric hauled out, steam back)
• The last run will be from Moorgate to Northfields (electric hauled, the steam locomotive will be on the back of the train)