Help return steam to the London Underground for 150th anniversary

A fundraising campaign to secure £250,000 to restore Met Locomotive No 1 has been launched by London Transport Museum. Donations will help bring the historic vehicle back to the London Underground to mark the 150th anniversary of the world’s first underground railway.

The Met Locomotive No 1 was built in 1898 and headed the opening train on the Uxbridge branch of the Metropolitan line in July 1904. The original Underground line was built and financed by the Metropolitan Railway, a private company which had been formed in 1854 to undertake the literally ground-breaking project to link the mainline stations at Paddington, Euston and King’s Cross with the City centre business district to the east.

On 10 January 1863 the world’s first underground train pulled out of Paddington station to make the first public passenger journey. The train made the 3½-mile journey under the streets of London from Paddington to Farringdon and into the record books.

On Sunday 13 January 2013, as part of the 150th anniversary celebrations, Met Locomotive No 1 will make a special journey to celebrate the inaugural public passenger journey, bringing steam back to the line. Met Locomotive No 1 will pull the Metropolitan Railway ‘Jubilee’ carriage No 353, which was built in 1892 and is being restored thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the Chesham set of coaches, which will be on loan from the Bluebell Railway. No 12 Sarah Siddons will also form part of this train.

Anyone supporting the restoration of Met Locomotive No 1 will be entered into a ballot to win a pair of tickets to ride on the recreation of the inaugural passenger journey, which will take place in January 2013.

To support the fundraising campaign visit http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/met1.