London Paddington

Opening of the new terminus occurred on 16th January 1854, but this was only to outbound traffic, the three-span roof not even being complete at this time. Inbound traffic was served by the terminus from 29th May of the same year and the opening of the ''Great Western Hotel'' followed this on 9th June. Demolition of all structures on the old site ensued the next year, which cleared the way for more tracks and a huge goods depot, the latter to the north of the approach lines. Now inside the new station, the fundamental layout concept adopted here was that of the temporary accommodation: three departure platform faces featured at the Eastbourne Terrace side of the trainshed, separated by seven tracks from the arrivals side, this also comprising three platform faces. Of the seven aforementioned tracks, the two outer most were served by a departures and arrivals face, whilst the remaining five were used for in-house rolling stock storage. At the end of every line underneath the trainshed, there was a rolling stock turntable.

Mention should also be made of the Metropolitan Railway, whose platforms later constituted a significant part of the whole terminus complex. The GWR's relationship with what was then called the ''North Metropolitan Railway'', dates from 1853. Concurrent with giving Brunel the authority to rebuild Paddington, the company's Board once again became aware of the fact that their line terminated on the outskirts of the capital and indeed, if the consideration of Euston had prevailed back in 1835, then the company would be more suitably located for potential passengers. Therefore, the company part-funded the 1854-renamed Metropolitan Railway on the agreement that the line be built to mixed gauge. The GWR subsequently provided £175,000 capital towards the project, but the Metropolitan was unable to immediately satisfy the remainder and the building of the underground line from Paddington to the City was delayed. Initially brought to light in 1853, the underground line concept would take a decade to come to fruition, the first mixed gauge passenger services operating between Paddington and Farringdon Street on 10th January 1863. A physical connection was made with the existing GWR main line at Paddington, but the angle at which the spur entered deemed it impossible to incorporate Metropolitan platforms under Brunel's three-span trainshed. Therefore, additional platforms were added to the north of, and at a forty-five degree angle to, the arrival lines. Services were extended westwards on the Metropolitan, Broad Gauge passenger trains to Hammersmith commencing on 13th June 1864 - Standard Gauge trains began appearing on the whole route to Farringdon in April of the following year.

By 1860 the ''West Midlands Railway'' had built up a network of Standard Gauge lines in the Birmingham vicinity. In 1861 the GWR absorbed this concern and although it allowed expansion of its railway empire, the latter was dealt the blow of having to lay Standard Gauge track from the Black Country to Paddington, via Oxford. The first Standard Gauge train reached Paddington on 14th August 1861, marking the beginning of the end for Broad Gauge - meanwhile, in 1859, Brunel had died. Over ensuing years, London commuter traffic into Paddington was predominantly of Standard Gauge stock, although longer distance services remained with Broad Gauge. As the network expanded and train movements into and out of the terminus increased, the approach lines were quadrupled in September 1884 to as far as Maidenhead Bridge, although these relief lines were only to Standard Gauge. Track improvements were undertaken in conjunction with the installation of further terminus platforms and although spaced to accommodate 7 foot 0¼ inch track, Broad Gauge was doomed. The last scheduled Broad Gauge trains left Paddington on 20th May 1892, although some locomotives did not depart until early the following morning.

Having originally been designed around Broad Gauge, Paddington was a spacious terminus, thus when the time came to internally rebuild and enlarge the layout, there was a generous provision of platforms. A decade-long enlargement programme was authorised in 1906, which saw more platforms added underneath the most eastern of the three trainshed spans, lengthening of existing platform faces and the re-arrangement of the Metropolitan Railway layout. The offices on the Eastbourne Terrace side of the station were also to gain an additional storey, but there were two even more significant changes which were to occur: the first concerned the brick viaducts over the approaches. These were to be demolished and steel girder bridge spans erected in their place, which would allow widening of the track layout. The station itself was set to gain an additional curved span, designed in sympathy with the existing Brunel structures, but this was to be built of steel instead of wrought iron. Furthermore, it would become the largest of all the station's spans, at a width of some 109 foot, compared to the 102 foot of the central Brunel span. This undertaking was completed in 1916; eight platforms had been increased to twelve (the Metropolitan lines remained as separate entities to the main station) and the longest faces had been extended to some 1000 foot.

Class 47 No. 1610 (later to become No. 47031 in 1974) and Class 52 ''Western Queen'' are

seen stabled in platforms 1 and 2 respectively at the terminus in 1971. The longest platform

faces under the trainshed spans are Nos. 8 and 9, which reach an impressive 1200 foot. This

lengthening took place as part of the station improvements between 1930 and 1934.

David Glasspool Collection

This all-HST line-up was witnessed at Paddington on 18th August 1986, the year after station restoration

began. By this time, the first HST sets had been in service for a decade, whilst the last builds dated from

1982. David Glasspool Collection

A view across the buffer stops on 26th April 1991 reveals a trio of HST power cars, the two most

prominent being Nos. 43175 and 43035, a Class 08 shunter in the CM&EE's two-tone grey scheme,

and a Network SouthEast Class 47. The long-term restoration of the trainshed is underway - the old

glazing covered in grime can clearly be seen. Mike Glasspool

The ornate clock beside platform 1 indicates 10:15PM in this scene from 8th November 1991, showing

Network SouthEast-liveried Class 47 No. 47587 ''Ruskin College Oxford''. It is worth noting the substantial

netting across the roof, which prevents birds from nesting in the trainshed spans. Class 47s have been a

regular at the terminus since their original deployment from 1962 onwards, their widespread curtailing

on services on the London end of the Western Region being the result of ''Networker'' DMU introduction.

David Glasspool Collection

<< Previous  Next: the History Continues >>

Return to the Kent Rail Homepage or alternatively, check for Updates.

Website & Copyright information - Links - Contact the Webmaster

All content is copyright © David Glasspool