In London, the world's first underground railway opens and carries 38,000 passengers on the day

Eight years after permission had been granted to build, the Metropolitan Railway opened its first section of underground railway linking the mainline railway station of Paddington to the new underground station at Farringdon in the financial district of the City of London. Using steam engines pulling gas-lit carriages, the new line carried 38,000 people on its first day.  The network expanded swiftly through the nineteenth century and today boasts 250 miles of track across the Greater London area.  (By John Osborne)