Editing Bakerloo line (section)

==History==
{{Further|Baker Street and Waterloo Railway}}
The route had its origins in the failed projects of the pneumatic 1865 [[Waterloo and Whitehall Railway]] and the 1882 Charing Cross and Waterloo Electric Railway.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate/modesoftransport/tube/linefacts/?line=bakerloo#section-5 |title=An extended history of the Bakerloo line |website=TfL }}</ref>

Originally called the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway, the line was constructed by the [[Underground Electric Railways Company of London]] (UERL) and opened between [[Lambeth North tube station|Lambeth North]] (at the time named ''Kennington Road'') and [[Baker Street tube station|Baker Street]] on 10 March 1906.<ref name=Day>{{cite book |last1=Day |first1=J.R. |last2=Reed |first2=J. |year=2001 |title=The Story of London's Underground |location=Harrow Weald |publisher=Capital Transport Publishing |isbn=978-1-85414-245-0 }}</ref> It was extended eastward to Elephant & Castle five months later, on 5 August. The contraction of the name to "Bakerloo" rapidly caught on, and the official name was changed to match in July 1906.<ref name=Day />

When work on the line started in June 1898, it had been financed by the mining entrepreneur and company promoter [[Whitaker Wright]], who fell foul of the law over the financial proceedings involved and dramatically committed suicide at the [[Royal Courts of Justice]], after being convicted in 1904. As a result, work on the line was stopped for a few months and did not resume until [[Charles Yerkes]] and UERL stepped in and took over the project.<ref name=Day />

By 1913, the line had been extended westward from its original northern terminus at Baker Street, with [[interchange station]]s with the [[Great Central Railway]] at [[Marylebone station|Marylebone]] and with the [[Great Western Railway]] at [[Paddington tube station (Bakerloo, Circle and District lines)|Paddington]], and a new station at [[Edgware Road tube station (Bakerloo line)|Edgware Road]].

===Watford branch===
[[File:Edgware Road (Bakerloo) stn northbound look south.JPG|thumb|The northbound Bakerloo line platform at [[Edgware Road tube station (Bakerloo line)|Edgware Road]]]]
In 1915, the line was extended to {{lus|Queen's Park}}, where it joined the [[London and North Western Railway|LNWR]]'s [[Euston-Watford DC line]] (now part of [[London Overground]]) to {{rws|Watford Junction }}. Bakerloo services to Watford Junction were reduced in the 1960s and cut back in 1982 to {{lus|Stonebridge Park}}.

Services as far as Harrow & Wealdstone were gradually restored from 1984, and in 1989 the present all-day service was instituted.

===Stanmore branch===
By the mid-1930s, the [[Metropolitan line]] was suffering from congestion caused by the limited capacity of its tracks between Baker Street and [[Finchley Road tube station|Finchley Road]] stations. To relieve this pressure, the network-wide [[New Works Programme]] included the construction of new sections of tunnel between the Bakerloo line's platforms at Baker Street and Finchley Road and the replacement of three Metropolitan line stations ({{lus|Lord's}}, {{lus|Marlborough Road}} and {{lus|Swiss Cottage}}) between those points with two new Bakerloo line stations ({{lus|St John's Wood}} and [Swiss Cottage Swiss Cottage]). The Bakerloo line took over the Metropolitan line's service to [[Stanmore tube station|Stanmore]] on 20 November 1939. The branch remained part of the Bakerloo line until 1 May 1979, when similar congestion problems for the Bakerloo line caused by two branches converging at Baker Street led to the creation of the [[Jubilee line]], initially formed by connecting the Stanmore branch to new tunnels bored between Baker Street and {{lus|Charing Cross}}.

When the Bakerloo line was extended to Watford in 1917, it acquired an interchange at Harrow & Wealdstone with another route to Stanmore, the [[Stanmore branch line]]. This branch line was operated by the LNWR and terminated at a separate Stanmore station (later renamed {{rws|Stanmore Village}}). It was closed in 1964, partly due to the success of the rival Metropolitan/Bakerloo Underground line to Stanmore.<ref>{{cite web |title=Disused Stations: Harrow & Wealdstone Station |url=http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/harrow_wealdstone/ |url-status=dead |date=12 February 2018 |access-date=12 February 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180212135022/http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/harrow_wealdstone/ |archive-date=12 February 2018}}</ref>

===Camberwell extension===
{{Main|Bakerloo line extension#Historical extension proposals}}
An extension at the southern end of the line to [[Camberwell]] and [[Denmark Hill]] was proposed and approved in 1931 as part of the ''London Electric Metropolitan District and Central London Railway Companies (Works) Act, 1931''.<ref name=Gazette_1>{{London Gazette |issue=33699 |pages=1809–1811 |date=17 March 1931}}</ref><ref name=Gazette_2>{{London Gazette |issue=33761 |page=6462 |date=9 October 1931}}</ref> In April 1937, the estimated cost of the proposed extension was £5,000,000 (approximately £{{Formatprice|{{Inflation|UK-GDP|5000000|1937}}|0}} today){{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} and the [[London Passenger Transport Board]] announced that, due to rising materials prices, the extension had been postponed until the Board's finances improved.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rising Cost of Steel - London Transport Economics - Extensions Delayed |date=10 April 1937 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |page=14 |location=London}}</ref> Apart from the extension of the sidings south of [[Elephant & Castle tube station|Elephant & Castle]], no work on the extension took place before the [[Second World War]], but the powers were renewed by the government in 1947 under the ''Special Enactments (Extension of Time) Act, 1940''.<ref name=Gazett_3>{{London Gazette |issue=38145 |page=5876 |date=12 December 1947}}</ref> A projected extension as far as [[Camberwell]] was shown on a 1949 edition of the Underground map but no further work was done.<ref name="1949map">{{cite web |title=London Tube Map |url=http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/tubemaps/1949.html |url-status=dead |date=June 1949 |access-date=13 January 2008 |publisher=London Transport |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080125074800/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/clive.billson/tubemaps/1949.html |archive-date=25 January 2008 }}</ref> The train describers at [[Warwick Avenue tube station|Warwick Avenue]] station showed ''Camberwell'' as a destination until the 1990s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Garland |first=Ken |title=Mr Beck's Underground Map |publisher=Capital Transport |year=1994 |page=41 |isbn=978-1-85414-168-2}}</ref> Further extensions of the line were considered, south to Peckham Rye in the 1970s, and east to [[London Docklands]] and [[Canary Wharf]] in the 1980s. Neither proposal was proceeded with.<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |last=Roberts|first=Jonathan|date=December 2011|title=Extending the Bakerloo - Tube line could reach Hayes|pages=56–59 |magazine=Modern Railways }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Roberts|first=Jonathan|date=13 September 2011|title=Reports of Society Meetings - Beyond the Elephant|url=https://www.lurs.org.uk/articles12_htm_files/2012%2003%20reports%20of%20society%20meetings.pdf|url-status=live|access-date=28 March 2021|website=London Underground Railway Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709021735/http://lurs.org.uk/articles12_htm_files/2012%2003%20reports%20of%20society%20meetings.pdf |archive-date=9 July 2013 }}</ref>

===Electricity supply===
One oddity is that, almost from its opening until 1917, the Bakerloo operated with the polarity of the [[Third rail|conductor rail]]s reversed, the outside rail negative and the centre rail positive. This came about because the Bakerloo shared a power source with the [[District Railway]]. On the Bakerloo, the outside conductor rail tended to leak to the tunnel wall, whereas on the District Railway, the centre rail shared a similar problem. The solution was to reverse the polarity on the Bakerloo line, so that the negative rail leaked on both systems.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bakerloo Line, Dates |url=http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/bakerloo.html#dates |url-status=live |work=Clive's Underground Lines Guide |access-date=13 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080126103530/http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/bakerloo.html |archive-date=26 January 2008}}</ref> In 1917, the two lines were separated when the LNWR began its 'New Line' service between Euston and Watford Junction, which the Bakerloo would share north of Queens Park. As a result, normal operation was restored.

===Centenary===
The line celebrated its centenary on 10 March 2006, when events were organised with actors and staff in Edwardian costume entertaining travellers.<ref name="centenary">{{cite news |title=Tube line's 100 year celebration |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4790322.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |location=London |date=10 March 2006 |access-date=<!--13 November 2007-->}}</ref>

===2017 fire===
In 2017, a fire on a train at Oxford Circus station caused disruption on the Bakerloo line. A number of people were treated for the effects of smoke inhalation.<ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/11/oxford-circus-station-evacuated-rush-hour-bakerloo-line-train-catches-fire |title=Two taken to hospital after fire on rush-hour tube train in London |work=The Guardian |location= London |first=Jamie |last=Grierson |date=11 August 2017}}</ref>