The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR;) was a railway company that constructed the deep-level underground railway that is now the core central section of London's Piccadilly line. The GNP&BR;, formed in 1902 through a merger of two older companies, was a subsidiary of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL). A number of different routes were planned, but most were rejected by Parliament. When it opened in 1906, the GNP&BR;'s line served 22 stations (Russell Square pictured) and ran for 14.17 kilometres (8.80 mi) between its western terminus at Hammersmith and its northern terminus at Finsbury Park. A short branch connected Holborn to the Strand. Most of the route was in a pair of tunnels, with 1.1 kilometres (0.68 mi) at the western end above ground. Within a year of opening it became apparent to the management and investors that the estimated passenger numbers for the GNP&BR; and the other UERL lines were over-optimistic. Despite improved integration and cooperation with the other tube railways, the GNP&BR; struggled financially, and in 1933 it and the rest of the UERL were taken into public ownership.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Northern,_Piccadilly_and_Brompton_Railway
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
320:
Pappus of Alexandria, one of the last great Greek mathematicians of antiquity, observed an eclipse that allowed historians to calculate the approximate dates of his life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pappus_of_Alexandria
1009:
Under orders from Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church now within the walled Old City of Jerusalem, was destroyed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre
1851:
Moby-Dick, a novel by American writer Herman Melville, was first published as The Whale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick
1967:
The Soviet space probe Venera 4 performed direct analysis of the environment of Venus and became the first spacecraft to land on another planet, although it stopped working before that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_4
2004:
SPDC Chairman Senior General Than Shwe announced that Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt was "permitted to retire on health grounds", but then had him arrested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khin_Nyunt
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
stipulate: (botany; not comparable) Having stipules; that is, having outgrowths borne on either side of the base of the leafstalk. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stipulate
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundling’s father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we must there to learn it. --Moby-Dick https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick