Central line (London Underground): Difference between revisions

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The line was opened as the [[Central London Railway]] in 1900, crossing central London on an east–west axis along the central shopping street of [[Oxford Street]] to the financial centre of the [[City of London]]. It was later extended to the western suburb of [[Ealing]]. In the 1930s, plans were created to expand the route into the new suburbs, taking over steam-hauled outer-suburban routes to the borders of London and beyond to the east. These projects were mostly realised after the [[Second World War]], when construction stopped and the unused tunnels were used as air-raid shelters and factories. However, suburban growth was limited by the [[Metropolitan Green Belt]]: of the planned expansions one (to {{rws|Denham}}, Buckinghamshire) was cut short and the eastern terminus of {{rws|Ongar}} ultimately closed in 1994 due to low patronage; part of this section between Epping and Ongar later became the [[Epping Ongar Railway]]. The Central line has mostly been operated by [[automatic train operation]] since a major refurbishment in the 1990s, although all trains still carry drivers. Many of its stations are of historic interest, from turn-of-the-century Central London Railway buildings in west London to post-war modernist designs on the West Ruislip and Hainault branches, as well as Victorian-era [[Eastern Counties Railway]] and [[Great Eastern Railway]] buildings east of {{stn|Stratford}}, from when the line to Epping was a rural branch line.