Victorian Stations: Railway Stations in England and Wales, 1836-1923

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London Bridge Station also in Tooley Street opened 10 months later marking it as one of the oldest still operating stations in London.

In 1923, the LNWR merged with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR), forming the London, Midland, and Scottish Railway (LMS). This was part of a larger consolidation of the British railway industry that took place in the early 20th century, aimed at increasing efficiency and reducing duplication of services. The LMS became the largest railway company in the UK, with a network stretching from London to Scotland, and employing over 100,000 people.Great Northern and Great Western trains also went south of the river along the LCDR lines, and the Great Western had a freight depot (which did not close till 1962 and whose curved entrance ramp is still clearly visible) under Smithfield Market. Both companies, as well as the Midland, ran trains into Moorgate. The Great Western Railway in fact ran a great variety of trains into Farringdon and Moorgate - from Hammersmith, Kensington (now Kensington Olympia), Richmond, even Windsor. Victoria has since seen more visits from royalty and heads of state than any other London station. During the funeral of Edward VII, seven kings, over 20 princes and five archdukes were greeted here. [44] Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. November 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 November 2022 . Retrieved 12 November 2022. It was not until 1843, however, that the very first building was constructed, and this was to the designs of two prominent Newcastle Architects, John and Benjamin Green.

That didn't bother the GWR, as it was one of the shareholders in the line (it was a way to get passengers from the City to Paddington, then on the very edge of London) and operated all of its trains for the first eight months. Once the Metropolitan took over operations, the GWR continued to run its own trains into Moorgate. This is because the Metropolitan was always designed not as a closed system but with links to main line railway services. The link to Paddington services is still obvious today, as the Metropolitan Line (or rather its Hammersmith and City branch, opened in 1864) runs alongside the main station platforms. But a link also existed right from the start to Kings Cross (used until 1976), and one was added to St Pancras when it opened in 1868 (a tunnel now used by Thameslink). All these trains made the LCDR Farringdon line and the City Widened Lines as busy as any Underground line today. In 1865, for example, there were 352 trains a day passing through Farringdon, 116 of them Metropolitan Line services, 110 to Hammersmith, 62 Great Western trains to Kensington, 10 Great Western trains to Windsor and 30 Great Northern trains. By the 1880s there were 200 trains a day over the Widened Lines into Moorgate and 100 southbound from Farringdon through the Snow Hill tunnel. All in all the Victorians would probably find plenty of familiar features in the railway network in London today, and be pleased to see that trains still play a vital role in moving people around the city. Several developments to the north of London are also worth mentioning. The Great Northern Railway out of Kings Cross slowly added suburban stations on its main line, but also took over a spur that had been built by an independent company from Finsbury Park up to Highgate, Finchley (now Finchley Central) and Edgware. That line opened in 1867, and branches followed from Finchley to High Barnet in 1872 and from Highgate to Alexandra Palace in 1873, the latter to coincide with that building's opening. (This Alexandra Palace station was immediately behind the palace complex and should not be confused with the current station of that name: see below.) I am going to design, in a great hurry, a station after my own fancy . . . with engineering roofs etc., etc.. It is at Paddington, in a cutting, and admitting of no exterior, all interior and all roofed in . . . Now such a thing will be entirely metal as to all the general forms, arrangements and design; it almost of necessity becomes an Engineering Work, but, to be honest, even if it were not, it is a branch of architecture of which I am fond, and, of course, believe myself to be fully competent for, but for detail of ornamentation I neither have time nor knowledge, and with all my confidence in my own ability I have never any objection to advice and assistance even in the department which I keep to myself, namely the general design. Now, in this building which, entre nous, will be one of the largest of its class, I want to carry out, strictly and fully, all those correct notions of the use of metal which I believe you and I share (except that I should carry them sill farther than you) . . . I want to show the public that colour can be used . . . ” (quoted also by L T C Rolt, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, London, 1957.)

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To help passengers choose the correct service, the floor of the main concourse at Victoria was marked with different coloured lines. Passengers could then follow the line marked with the specific colour for that service to arrive at their intended departure point. [76] Southeastern [ edit ]