Underground, Overground

…Railway Mission involvement with London’s underground railways.

For most of its history the Railway Mission did not visit railwaymen who worked on the ‘Underground’ for which excavations had begun with the Metropolitan Railway in 1860. The London City Mission (LCM) and others visited the navvies at work. The LCM’s missionaries were allocated to particular districts bringing the Gospel to all they met. Later some visited occupational groups including railwaymen above or below ground. This ministry lasted until 2014 after which it was passed to the Railway Mission in 2015 as the LCM sought to refocus its activities. Although the whole of the London Underground is referred to as ‘the Tube’ there are two distinct types of railway, the ‘Underground’ and the ‘Tube’. The larger profile ‘Underground’ lines were built on what is known as the ‘cut and cover’ system whilst the Tube tunnels were bored with the navvies excavating within a ‘Greathead shield’. The Railway Mission had very little involvement with the ‘Deep Level’ lines that were bored from the 1890s. The District and the Metropolitan were ‘cut and cover’ railways, and the work of the Mission was concentrated on these two. The longest lived mission branches were both on the District at Acton Green and West Brompton. The latter was formed in 1878 before the RM itself and lasted until 1931. The Railway Signal of April 1885 carried the story of West Brompton. Their first

venture was visiting two stations with flowers and copies of the British Workman. These were received “with a kind of pleased surprise; [and] gradually, we found that here and there, up and down the line, were Christians standing firm through temptation and ridicule…”. One drawback was that they had no focal point in the men’s neighbourhood to which to invite them. So “a little gathering of District Railway Christians [met] in an upper room to pray” and discuss how to reach their mates. A Mission branch was established and at first meetings were held in a local Coffee Tavern. At one of the first gatherings, an Inspector and his wife stood up and declared “We bless God the Railway Mission ever came our way”. Another early fruit was the young porter who having come to Christ was heard singing as he worked: “I do believe, I will believe That Jesus died for me, That on the cross He shed His Blood, From sin to set me free." A Sunday Bible-class was held for the men's wives and one husband’s first response was "Bosh!" but he later had to admit to his wife "Well, there's something new about you anyhow." The RM branch at West Brompton was formally founded in 1885 and remained until 1931. The last Superintendent, from July 1924 until 1931, was William Porter the father of a current Mission Trustee. That mission hall is still an active place of worship known as the West London Family Church (AoG). Today the Underground employs 28,000 people, and six of the Mission’s chaplains offer support to London Underground stations.

Dudley Clark January 2021

Illustrations A District Railway train with carriages from the 1920s and 30s in 1964 (Whitechapel District K-Q stock v2.1.jpg)

William Porter superintendent of the West Brompton branch from 1924 until 1931 in 1949 (Porter W. J. jpg)