Yerkes 2: Electrification Boogaloo

Get an exclusive Surfshark deal! Enter promo code JAGO for an extra 3 months free at surfshark.deals/jago
The second part of the Yerkes Trilogy!
Part 1: Yerkes and the Boodle
• Yerkes and the Boodle
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/jagohazzard
Patreon: / jagohazzard

[@JayForeman]

I’m always entertained by the dozens of different ways ‘Yerkes’ gets spelt in the otherwise totally accurate auto-generated subtitles.

[@johnfitzgerald7618]

"Yuckys" was my favourite.

[@JagoHazzard]

I might just mispronounce it in future videos to see what happens.

[@mw...]

Ur knot wrong, muchacho

[@brianbell4937]

Strikes me that if Yerkes was a frequrnt visitor to London, then he must have spent much of his time crossing the Atlantic !

[@Sophiebryson510]

It often uses ‘yankees’

[@Voyagerch75]

This Yerkes guy was quite a character. I bet you could make a whole Netflix series about him.

[@racosin]

I came to the comments section to say the same thing. Though Jago is doing a good job with part 3 coming up soon. Maybe Part 4 could be about Yerkes' missuss..

[@PeterGaunt]

I was about to say something similar :-)

[@andrewweitzman4006]

@@racosin Which one? He had two wives and any number of mistresses.

[@jacksonmacmanus1001]

@@racosin Yerkes' missus was named Gutteridge

[@allangibson8494]

But they would need to find a black woman to play him…

[@kevinfitzpatrick444]

Damnit, Jago's leaving us with cliffhangers now. He'll be setting homework next

[@757Spy]

Let the celebration begin! Grabbing a pint! Our favorite railroad bad-boy is back on Jago Hazzard!

[@josephkarl2061]

The bunting will be draped, and the brass band tuned up!

[@GaryJohnWalker1]

WIth a cameo from Watkin! I'm surprised this stuff hasn't fed a whole host of dramatised depictions - radio, tv or whatever. Plenty of chances to draw parallels with Musk et co of this century.

[@BroonParker]

If they could make half decent TV out of Selfridges they could do wonders with this story.

[@mattevans4377]

There is something so unapologetic about Charles Yerkes that makes you like him, even when he's doing wrong.

[@catmando7262]

Well he did pay for an astronomical telescope and has a crater named after him on the Moon so some people must have thought well of him

[@terrycostin7259]

That's how I feel , bloody creepy ain't it matt 👻

[@_CaptainCookie]

I believe that's what the kids call a "sigma male"

[@RobertBattersby-wr9em]

A Politician

[@mattevans4377]

@@RobertBattersby-wr9em Don't insult him like that

[@BarryAllenMagic]

Anything that Jago covers with Yerkes is undoubtedly a 'must watch'.....more than once! Quite a visionary chap really, wasn't he. That said, if he was still around today, I wouldn't trust him with a tenner to go down the chip shop for me.

[@AndreiTupolev]

To be quite honest, I think the public has a great deal to be grateful to the old boy for, giving them a clean, efficient and up-to-date urban transit system. Many of the Victorian railway entrepreneurs were rather unpleasant people. Edward Watkin, mentioned here, may not have done anything as un-English as giving backhanders to public officials, but to say his attitude toward the safety of the travelling public was cavalier would be a grave insult to supporters of King Charles I.

[@eattherich9215]

'... but to say his attitude toward the safety of the travelling public was cavalier would be a grave insult to supporters of King Charles I.' 😂😂😂

[@robertwilloughby8050]

Yes, it can be said that Watkin didn't care much for the safety of the public - or of his CME's either. The ghost of Charles Sacre can attest to that!

[@shodan2958]

I had the thought a couple of weeks ago that its possible a nationalised Tube might not have happened if Yerkes hadn't bought out a lot of the operations. Easier to deal with a few companies than several of them.

[@hb1338]

As George Bernard Shaw wrote "all progress depends on the unreasonable man".

[@laurencefraser]

@@hb1338 Mind you, so do most attempts to undo said progress.

[@johna5635]

It's scary that I've come to know the face of Charles Yerkes so well that I only needed to see a part of the thumbnail without visibility of the title and I thought - "Oh, there's a new Jago Hazzard video!"

[@rainyfeathers9148]

Imagine if these guys had our electronic social media platforms (I count writing to newspapers as social media). I just imagine Yerkes' doing 'don't hate the player' selfies all day😅.

[@ltankk]

This definitely deserves a Netflix series on its own!

[@fosterfuchs]

After Downton Abbey & The Gilded Age, this is definitely an equal.

[@neilscotter5191]

Like Mr Selfridge but with trains.

[@emjackson2289]

Deserves a musical at least, "Electrification Boogaloo: The Charles Yerkes Story" - surely someone around "Theatre Land" in London could put it on to thank Charles for all his efforts to bring their customers into the city. Songs to include: Up The Clapham Junction Funny Funny Money Going Underground (of course) You Cant Tunnel Love [Its the Wrong Kind of Place] Epping [and Ongar] Rifles Yerkes Calling And many, many more . . . .

[@fosterfuchs]

@@emjackson2289 I was just going to write it could include a Musical version of Pet Shop Boys' "West End Girls". Not just the name of the song, but there's the line "from Lake Geneva to Fulham Station". Then I looked up the lyrics online and found out it's "Finland Station". For almost 40 years I had that wrong!

[@NickyMitchell85]

I agree ☝️. “This definitely 💯 deserves a Netflix series on it.s own”..

[@coasterblocks3420]

Yerkes is the gift which keeps on giving to both London and your channel. If only more shady characters were more like him and less like another topical shady American character.

[@MrGreatplum]

Sometimes I think I know Yerkes better than I know my own family such is the depth of the knowledge imparted on your videos, Jago!

[@JagoHazzard]

Thanks! The final part of the story is coming next week.

[@jmtubbs1639]

Perks was also a partner with my ancestors in bringing the railway to New Romney, developing property there. He built a large house in Littlestone, later famous as the lodging of a Great Train Robber where he was arrrested. He was an MP and organised the funding of the Methodist Hall in Westminster.

[@unclenogbad1509]

Yes! The return of Dr Evil to the hazard channel. On the one hand, all he needs is a fluffy white cat, on the other, he did leave London some substantial benefits in his wake. Quick shout-out, though for Ganz Mavag - huge advances in electric technology, and should be in the same breath as Westinghouse and Tesla (Edison? Who that?). Across the world, the Ganz system powers just about every tram and rail network that uses overhead lines, and many of those with conductor rails. One of the best places to see it working, is Ganz's hometown of Budapest, the '#1' Metro line, third in the world, behind London and Paris (although second if you count completion dates, as many Hungarians, understandably, choose to do).

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Quote of the Day: “If he couldn’t beat them, force them to join him.”

[@hb1338]

As the Marquis de Sade didn't say "if you can't join 'em, beat 'em".

[@PiousMoltar]

The man, the myth, the legend, the unofficial Jago Hazzard channel mascot, Charles Yerkes!

[@LondonTransport466]

Yerkes is my favourite recurring character on this show.

[@EdgyNumber1]

A, er, colourful businessman. Perhaps there needs to be a television/movie drama based on Yerkes.

[@jerribee1]

He may have been a dodgy dealer, but I can't help having a sneaking admiration for CTY. He certainly got things done.

[@livetillyoudielovelife2299]

He was one interesting personality, like the old saying goes "you can't keep an evil man down "

[@andrewweitzman4006]

Well, nefritis managed it.

[@RobertBattersby-wr9em]

One just buys power with other people's money🤢

[@emjackson2289]

Charles Montgomery Burns, meet Charles Yerkes

[@simonwoods4268]

It's very rare that a sequel is as good as the original, but I have to say that "Yerkes 2" is as good as "Yerkes 1". Can't wait for "Yerkes 3". Hollywood take note of the Yerkes franchise!

[@hb1338]

If Hollywood gets involved, Yerkes will be cast as a black lesbian woman.

[@sillypuppy5940]

@@hb1338 But with a bigger moustache

[@xxxggthyf]

"..he was preparing to sink to the lowest possible depths". As a US citizen I'm surprised he was allowed to vote Tory.

[@alanmoss3603]

You'll all be glad to hear the BBC are extremely interested in my Sitcom 'Yikes its Yerkes' and we are moving forward with Mark Ruffalo as Charles Tyson and Bradley Cooper voicing his robot butler Binky!

[@rupep2424]

FYI: Yerkes' Chicago 'El' is very like the Liverpool Elevated Railway (2nd oldest electric metro). Like the underground City & South London, it also used 3rd rail DC (adding electric light signals & electric multiple units)...

[@roderickmain9697]

As dodgy characters go, his legacy is felt today in the Underground. Not every dodgy character can say the same. History is fascinating for the dodgy characters it throws up.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

“…and his match was Met.” I see what you did there 🌝

[@GNTel313]

I'd love to have seen Yerkes suggestion of using the Ganz system of electrification in action on the sub surface tube lines Jago. With all those cut n cover tunnel sections it would have been interesting to see how he would have powered the trains. Plenty of neutral sections I would guess ??

[@tbjtbj7930]

I think the traditional Jago Drinking Game might need a health warning for this one

[@trevorlaight3439]

I'm getting plastered watching these videos... But very happily. Shame more people don't join in - I kept saying *drink* every time he was mentioned on a Hidden London tour recently but nobody else got it.

[@trevorlaight3439]

Thinking about it, I also asked the HL host if the 80-odd steps we'd just gone down was the same as 15 stories, but that passed them by too...

[@thomasburke2683]

In one very practical way, Yerkes was absolutely correct. The tube tunnels were and remain so tiny that there was no possibility of overhead wiring and pantographs, so low voltage (max 750 volts DC, was the only way of powering the deep level tubes. The Metropolitan, on the other hand, could have had enough space for overhead power except for the tight clearance between Baker Street and Finchley Road, short enough to be rebuilt without too much expense.

[@iankemp1131]

Although the Metropolitan and District sub-surface lines probably had enough room for overhead wires, it's maybe just as well that the whole network went for third rail dc, as it makes things easier on any sections of track which get swapped between lines (District/Piccadilly) or where tube and subsurface trains share (Action Town through Ealing Common). Capital cost for third rail dc was probably lower too. It was notable that the Southern Railway, with both 3rd rail dc (LSWR) and overhead ac (LBSCR) extant on its formation in 1923, chose the former.

[@brick6347]

You've inspired me to go and film my town's train station. It's gonna need a lot of vodka, it's got one depressing story to tell.... But hey, I like your videos and my town's station has a very interesting story so why the hell not?!

[@RichardLightburn]

As a Chicagoan I always enjoy hearing about CTY. (To say "the dirt about CTY" would be a pleonasm.)

[@mumblbeebee6546]

Marvellous - you are a great writer and narrator, a pleasure to watch!

[@JagoHazzard]

Thank you!

[@peterjohncooper]

Yes. Yes. Yes. Almost a reasonable assessment. Can't wait for next instalment.

[@MrSmith1984]

The ironic thing however, is that AC Overhead Electrification turned out to be the better system than DC Third/Fourth Rail Electrification. Mainly because more power can be supplied to the train under the former compared to the latter.

[@michellebell5092]

Amazing history, amazingly told . I’ve always been interested in the ac v dc debate , especially in the context of the Southern railways, imagine the Underground with overhead wires ?!!

[@alanlancaster4797]

A cliff-hanger ending there! Can't wait to plumb the depths with Mr. Yerkes in part 3!

[@renodemona]

Charles Tyson Yerkes deserves a rock-rap Broadway song all to his own.

[@Sim0nTrains]

Enjoyed this part about Jago's arch nemesis, cannot wait to see more, great video

[@blueskiesabove3950]

Brilliantly crafted title for this video Jago. As someone who recalls that howler of a film from the 80's, it gave me a good chuckle.

[@phaasch]

Mudh in the manner of a pantomime villain, you cannot help but like Yerkes- grudgingly. An absolute bounder, and a stinker of the first order, but definitely NOT a shower!

[@supermanifolds]

Love this in-deph look at the unofficial mascot of the channel.

[@brettpalfrey4665]

nice one, Jago...now we wait for part 3, hopefully not too long! What an absolute character he is!

[@JagoHazzard]

All being well, part 3 should be out next week!

[@highpath4776]

@@JagoHazzard Is this going to be a trilogy in four parts ?

[@LauraValcarcelRodriguez]

Can't wait to see what Yerkes was getting up to 😅

[@CaptainCalculus]

Amazingly, a video about CTY only has a Yerkes number of 24. Since I invented The Yerkes Index this is the OFFICIAL number.

[@crispoman]

9:15 I think the only person involved in transit in London more excellently-named would have to be the early Tram pioneer George Francis Train.

[@template16]

An excellent part 2 Jago. Thanks for this. GH Whistle, a wonderful name.

[@AndreiTupolev]

Well if this is going to be the Yerkes Trilogy, we're going to have to start casting the inevitable movie. Who could best portray our hero? 🧛‍♂️

[@rax816]

Cumberbatch

[@highpath4776]

Jon Pertwee would have been good ( even had history as the dodgy Chief Petty Officer in the Navy Lark )

[@thexalon]

"And there was much rejoicing" me, involuntarily: "yaaay."

[@JagoHazzard]

I considered putting that in, but I figured people would spot the reference…

[@PokhrajRoy.]

If only Charles Yerkes had known that he was used as a segue for an Ad Read 😂

[@ZGryphon]

I feel like he probably would have approved, although the product would have required some explanation. :)

[@Del_S]

@@ZGryphon Yerkes: "We can make an actual shark surf though, right?"

[@highpath4776]

@@ZGryphon I think Yerkes would have got the idea

[@ZGryphon]

I have to admit I was distracted for a while by the windows on that building at 5:37. What do you suppose is going on there? At first I thought maybe the three that are in a row were on a staircase, but then what's with the other two? And why aren't there any others anywhere on that wall? It's all so... weird. I'd love to know what the room layout is like on the other side. Also, on a point of order, rap battles have existed since at least the fifth century, although the preferred term among scholars is _flyting._ Among other famous parties, the Norse gods were fond of a good flyting now and then. :)

[@bernardsmith1329]

Jago, can you imagine the shenanigans if the time frame was correct for Charles Yerkes and George Hudson to conspire together? I wonder what they might have got up to...😗

[@isashax]

More Yerkes, please!

[@btuckervideos4705]

I'd certainly like to have seen a rap battle to decide control of Underground lines. Maybe we can have one to decide what happens when the next one comes into the development and building stage

[@grahamstubbs4962]

08:40 'They said no, unreservedly'. That is the politest 'f**k off' I've ever heard.

[@JagoHazzard]

They were good at that.

[@grahamstubbs4962]

@@JagoHazzard My admiration for the Victorians abounds. 😀

[@timmyphillips6264]

You've just got to love a character like Charles Tyson!❤

[@PokhrajRoy.]

9:00 Hahaha I love this line

[@pseydtonne]

Seconded. I imagine very upper-class but affected accents trying to sync with even the slowest donk. Yerkes would've run away with the title.

[@garycook5071]

Where would we be without our regular Yerkes video

[@DavidWilson-hh2gn]

Another entertaining vid.Ganz were involved with the first electric main line in Italy.The company became Ganz Mavag who are a Hungarian manufacturer based in Budapest,they supplied the NZ Wellington system with units back in the 1980s the last of which were withdrawn about 2016-long service although I believe they did give some problems at times?The company have supplied worldwide including South America.

[@paultidd9332]

This really is a ‘Tale from the Tube’ and beats any TV soaps, I can’t wait for the third instalment. Maybe you should start introducing a cliffhanger at the end of each video.

[@JanRademan]

The turn of phrase is: "Can't beat them? Eat them!"

[@jonswinfield9336]

This is fantastic I can’t wait for the next episode on this character

[@bordershader]

We've just come back from a holiday which took in Chicago, and on the wonderful old preserved station of Quincy on the L there's a poster outlining the network's history - which mentions Yerkes. We were so chuffed! I'd highly recommend a visit, we spent a lot of time on the different lines, and the Loop is fantastic to travel on. It's the origin of the term 'in the loop', being the place where it's all going on.

[@francisboyle1739]

I almost didn't watch this video for fear it couldn't live up to it's title. Just joking, I'd watch the hell out of any video about our favourite villain.

[@highpath4776]

I dont think we can begrudge Yerkes having a bit of financial engineering on the side for his own pockets. Its just that sometimes there was little main corse left for the investors

[@corinheathcote9868]

Yerkes the channel's mascot ❤

[@rubysy2531]

The more videos I watch of Charles yerkes he reminds of the villain in the novel the way we live now by Anthony Trollope. A devious person Augustus Melmotte, who swindled people

[@PokhrajRoy.]

Charles Yerkes, friend of the channel and the OG Charles with a Shady Past.

[@edwardhackett-jones8126]

Good to see a mention of the shady Edgar Speyer!

[@paulhaynes8045]

So, two questions: 1) In underground railway terms, what are the advantages and disadvantages of AC and DC? I know the arguments for non-railway situations, where AC is preferred because it's easier to step up and down and transmit, and motors are simpler, but what was different with underground railways? 2) Why the fourth rail? In almost every other railway electrification scheme where overhead power wasn't suitable, a single conductor rail was used. I've been told that using a 'return' rail leaves the two running rails free for other uses, such as signalling and train control, but would this have applied in those days, when they didn't have the technology to use the rails like that? If a simple third rail was adequate for practically all other railways, what was so special about the Underground?

[@robertfletcher3421]

Yerkes was not just a train man and is remembered more fondly with the Yerkes Observatory, and it is still there today. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b52me4RvrNeIp7s

[@martinmargerrison2300]

Greetings XJ6. I'm sure you are fully aware of this but anagrams of Yerkes boogaloo include "BEE LOO ORGY SOAK" and "BOGS ERE LOOK AYO" plus "ROBS OKAY EEL GOO." My sincere apologies if I am repeating myself obviously. Kind regards as always from Slovenija.

[@Slycockney]

I have to admit that I am warming to Charles Tyson Yerkes

[@gregoryknight3873]

Charles Tyson Yerkes you legend.😂

[@andeegreen]

@9:00 for maximum Jago. That was quite F/ing brilliant my man! 👏👏👏

[@ThatScottishAtlantic57]

Great video Jago 👍

[@paulhaynes8045]

I'm surprised that his name never became an exclamation. For instance, on discovering that you had been right royally ripped off and your million dollar 'investment' was now worth south of ten cents, you might cry "Yerkes!".

[@grahambartram7944]

The shot of the "This way to Ickenham Metro Station" sign in the museum suggests a possible video about what we call our "Underground/Tube/Metro/Train" stations. The other day I saw a plan for some new housing with "Ruislip Train Station" marked on it - it made my blood boil for some reason :-) Over the past 1.5 centuries what have we called these stations (not the local part, the general name, eg.. "Tube Station") and why have we changed over time? Metro Station seems appropriate for a Metropolitan Line station, but what about a District Line station?

[@ZGryphon]

Maybe it _is_ a Metro station, although if so, the Paris subway system has _seriously_ expanded.

[@paulhaynes8045]

Almost anything except TRAIN station! ie just in case you might have been confused and tried to catch your TRAIN from a bus station... And most certainly NOT "the next station stop" - as if any train announcer anywhere ever announced stations that the train wasn't going to stop at!!!

[@hb1338]

The correct terminology is "railway station".

[@Rog5446]

Yerkes, my hero!

[@luisstransport]

Great video Jago

[@highpath4776]

Actually overhead AC on the Met to Baker Street might have been a good idea , it was fast as it was , it would be really fast , plus suitable for the Great Central line (though given BR's treatment of Woodhead and the NE electrifications they probably would have dismantled)

[@thatguyfromcetialphaV]

Yerkes should sit down with Bernie Ecclestone and Sepp Blatter to find out who is the biggest gangster...

[@hb1338]

Richard Branson would find himself at home in their company.

[@amcalabrese1]

Greetings from Chicago just having gotten off one of Yerkes L trains to get home.

[@Blade_Daddy]

Can't wait for more.

[@richardjalabhay5586]

Loves me a bit of Yerkes

[@SeverityOne]

In addition to "Yorkies" and "Yuckies", KZbin automatically generated subtitles now also call him "Yankees", which seems considerably more appropriate.

[@Jpkjr52]

Thanks again John in Chicago

[@jimmeltonbradley1497]

I cant wait for Yerkes: Episode ll

[@cuttingbored4195]

He’s back!

[@JBLewis]

It's an interesting connection that Yerkes set his ambitions on London as Roosevelt was cleaning up the monopolistic corruption in the US. It's often just posed to history students that he cleaned up corruption, dusted his hands off, and that was that. But this is a much more interesting tale: The kingpins didn't just cower down and start doing legitimate business, they went off to other places where they could resume their old games.

[@p1mason]

Excellent video! I am, though, disappointed that you referred to CTY's Empire in Britain, when you could have called it his British Empire. I for one appreciate the hell out of your puns.

[@paddyneill1964]

Thanks for the surfshark discount.

[@timstephenson4520]

As always, very interesting

[@daddy6249]

So this isn't the Yerkes fan club then 🤔 😂

[@philkelly704]

That was a deep-cut title, Mr Jago. But with a better critical reception than ‘Breakin’ 2’.

[@dirkjenkinz595]

Just a thought: it's only comparatively recently that I discovered Liverpool has an underground system (all right, it's mostly on the Wirral but to us southerners that's Liverpool) and it seems I am not alone in that. When you get fed up with the London Underground - as if you would! - perhaps you could turn your attention northwards?

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I may have mentioned this before but I see parallels with ‘Ted Lasso’. Imagine that show but with railways. P.S. There could be a Dueling Rap Battle.

[@fosterfuchs]

The aptly named GH Whistle - At the NBC affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina, the name of one of the meteorologists is Larry Sprinkle.

[@JagoHazzard]

Excellent!

[@marvintpandroid2213]

Its that man again.

[@PenryMMJ]

I'd like to think that the Springfield monorail episode of The Simpsons was loosely based on Yerkes.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

So Yerkes got his Perks.