Paddington Underground Station, London, England (UK), 2014

This is the Paddington Underground station, which actually dates to 1863. This would make it one of the first subway stations in the world, as the original London Underground line was the Metropolitan, opened from Faringdon to Paddington in that year. Surprisingly, it was steam operated until the early 20th Century, which was achieved through ventilation, plus many stations that were open to the sky. Here you can see the remains of that, covered by a trainshed. The steam operation was probably chosen for lack of better technology at the time. The tunneling technology was similarly simple, being cut-and-cover. Essentially, the street was dug up to form a trench, the tracks were installed, and a stone structure was constructed above them to support the new streets, and the utilities, which even in those days were already being installed. Usually they were situated between the tunnels and the streets.