In 1863 the world’s first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway, connected Paddington, Euston and King’s Cross to the City, using gaslit wooden carriages. The author tells the history of the line’s concept, creation and later extensions, which reached Hammersmith and St John’s Wood, initiated the Circle Line, and triggered the suburbanisation of the countryside North-West of London, the area that became known as ‘Metroland’.