RE: Escalators and subways:
Though their roots date back to Ancient Egypt, escalators as we know them began in 19th-century America, taking just 40 years to become commercially viable.
blog.stannahlifts.co.uk
The first working escalator on the
(London)* Underground was installed at Earl's Court in 1911, in fact they installed two! They were an instant success and from 1912, all new deep-level stations were provided with escalators instead of lifts.
*Added by me fore clarity.
However, there were other escalators already in use in the UK in other locations prior to this.
en.wikipedia.org
Early European manufacturers: Hallé, Hocquardt and Piat[edit]
Piat installed its "stepless" escalator in
Harrods Knightsbridge store on Wednesday, November 16, 1898, though the company relinquished its patent rights to the department store. Noted by Bill Lancaster in
The Department Store: a Social History, "customers unnerved by the experience were revived by shopmen dispensing free smelling salts and cognac."
[23] The Harrods unit was a continuous leather belt made of "224 pieces . . . strongly linked together traveling in an upward direction", and was the first "moving staircase" in England.
[24]
Hocquardt received European patent rights for the
Fahrtreppe in 1906. After the
Exposition, Hallé continued to sell its escalator device in Europe but was eventually eclipsed in sales by other major manufacturers.
Since WWI spanned from 1914 - 1918, it's not unreasonable to assume that Steve has seen, and probably ridden, an escalator before. However, as noted in the information regarding the Harrods department store escalator, it may have looked quite different than a modern escalator, so... bottom line: your mileage may vary.
