London St Pancras King's Cross & Paddington Railway Stations 9th & 13th January 2013 John Betjeman
Vložit
- čas přidán 31. 01. 2013
- While killing time during the Steam underground filming, I took these shots of three London terminal railway stations. Firstly St Pancras. Dear old Sir John Betjeman, or should it be Saint John, keeping watch over the station. He headed the Victorian Society's fight to save it from demolition in the late 1960s. He described the station as "Too beautiful to survive" It nearly didn't, with just ten days to spare when the fight was won. The 60s were mainly desolate years for architecture and anything Victorian was seen as hideously out of date...The public outcry at the butchering of the Euston Arch just up the road in 1961 saw a turn in attitudes to architectural preservation. That grand Doric entrance to Euston station built in 1838 and the first major railway building in London was lost..An offer was even made to move it to a more suitable location at no cost to the railways, but no, British Railways insisted it was demolished...60% of the stones now sit at the bottom the Lee river in East London, plugging a hole...There are plans to remove them and rebuild the arch back on Euston Road once again as part of the High Speed Two redevelopment of Euston Station.
Now home to Eurostar, St Pancras sees services to Paris and Brussels with new services to Amsterdam and the South of France coming in the next couple of years..The German Railways (DB) will also arrive with services to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Cologne.....
Next door is King's Cross where we can see progress in the dismantling of the 1970s concourse on the front, by the Autumn this year a new public space will have been created. The engraved stone plaque marking the opening of the new western concourse was made from an old worn step recovered in the renovation works. It was barley installed before the Transport Secretary who opened it was "reshuffled"! Paddington was filmed on the 9th and we see the recently restored "Forth Span" dating from 1916 when Brunel's original station was enlarged. It had spent 15 years or so almost derelict above a crash deck, out of sight and under the threat of demolition for an office development project. Thankfully the plans were changed and the roof was restored.. Then it's back to King's Cross for the departure of the 18.23 Grand Central service to Sunderland and the18.30 East Coast service to Edinburgh.
Great display of these wonderful stations, traindriver35!
Thanks so much for transporting us there, awesome vid!
I like this video, it makes me feel as though I'm going there without being there. As well as just the trains it's also the everyday scenes and events that make this video more interesting.
Was in London last week, love Kings Cross Station, watching this video and listening to the station announcers voice takes me back there again, thanks for the great video.
Wonderful vid. Nice to see those great stations!
Thanks for uploading it. Looking forward to my next London trip in Summer and you can guess where I am going to.
I just happened to be testing my headphones and this is the first video I clicked on. Is it just my headphones, or is the soundtrack to this video amazing? Seriously, it sounds incredible.
We emigrated to Vancouver Island, 'tuther side of Canada in '03. We soon visited the city of Victoria seen as the edge of the British Empire and where the Royal Navy based it's Pacific fleet back in the day. I walked over to the railway station and onto the single track, passing a tiny modern building with a low platform. I walked along the track expecting to see a Victorian city terminal station but quickly reached the buffers. Turning around I realised the tiny building I'd passed was the city's terminus station!!!?????? If that's not bad enough they closed the line running up the island a few yrs later. Everything has now been thrown onto the busy, polluting road system.
Beautifully shot
I love these Victorian era big city terminus stations. They look and sound just the way you imagine they should.
Thank you.. Yes, I like to get people, traffic, advertising , shops, all sorts, not just trains...When you look back at old film now it's often the background details that are the most interesting rather than the main subject
Beautiful
Beautiful stations' I was there n July 2013, to catch a train to Paris,
Euro star train was fast and quiet & smooth'arrived in Paris in 2 1/2 hours.
Very cool :)
I love what they've done at King's Cross, but why is it so bloody cold in there?! It's almost colder in there than it's outside...
Very nice :)
what camera did you use ? is it a canon?
Hi, I really enjoy your vedio, I need to make a vedio to introduce Paddington station, and I wonder could I use part of your vedio? Of course your name will be added in th references. wait for your reply :) .
i recommend a very good book called " londons historic railway stations" by Betjeman and Gay.......i dont think he would have liked what has been done to st pancras though...it takes a lot away from the impact of the train canopy...marty
Were those TVs on the great western trains?
Thank Fuck the neanderthals were prevented from knocking this masterpiece down.
top
live the dream
They have no right to bother you..The Chief Contable of the BTP, Andy Trotter has made it quite clear to his officers. Network Rail says it "welcomes railway enthusiasts" All it asks it that you call in at the office to tell them what you are doing.....NOT TO ASK PERMISSIOM...It is your civic right to take photographs...Yes try again
Harry Potter brought me here!