Christmas Re-Cap : Victoria (3)

Old Maps For The Old Man

There are plenty of maps on-line showing the position of Victoria station in the Nottingham city centre road plan, but nearly all show the station firmly in place. Even this oldest version has a rudimentary station building and line of track shown reasonably correctly but perhaps lacking 100% accuracy.

So let's begin with a traditional one inch OS map, before the covers went pink and the maps went metric.

The dotted green line is the west-to-east footbridge.  At the north end we see a solid line crossing the black blob north of the red station box. This is a public road that ran high above the canopies. The blue dots show a through road that was lost when the station was built.

Here is the west-to-east road bridge standing in splendid isolation after everything else has been demolished.

That road no longer exists!

We can see something of that road pattern on today's Open Street Map.

The roads upper left have become the Victoria bus station ...

... but can we plot these roads on a map that was drawn before Victoria station arrived?

Of course we can!

The shape is still there but the contents of the grid are unrecognisable. Huge amounts of property had to be acquired and demolished. Huge amounts of sandstone rock with its layers of topsoil had to be excavated.

It was a massive job!

And there is nothing left. The very voracious maw of the Victoria Centre has swallowed up all signs of the station, apart from its iconic tower.

Or has it?

Using Google Earth we have this aerial view at the northern edge of the former station site.

Upper left is the bus station and lower right is the access to the multi-storey car park. Here a smear of green remains; which can be accessed by those in the know.

We can then see the former north tunnel mouth ...

... and here is the tunnel exit for real.

Looking towards the car park, we see parts of the massive retaining walls needed to hold back rock and property to allow the railway to fit in.

And there is more to the right (to the west) of the multi-storey.

This does show the huge amount of engineering (and doubles the huge cost!) needed to create a viable station - and all for less than 70 years of service to the travelling public of Nottingham.

A small group of you-tubers has accessed the northern tunnel, whether officially or nay is not known by fbb.

The natural sandstone walls are perhaps a little over-enhanced by the lighting and the camera's response, but the tunnel is in very good condition. The ambience is improved by ...

... shopping trolleys!

The video's commentator offers no explanation as to how and why, or even when, they got there!

There are small refuges in which to strand clear of passing trains.

In the length of the tunnel are three bigger refuges ...

... once offering seating and the opportunity for a brew and a wedge. This would have been quite luxurious if you could ignore the deafening roar of passing trains!

Travelling  north from Victoria there were two consecutive tunnels with a gap in between. That gap was filled with Carrington Station.

The station is shown on this old map.

The road junction has gained a roundabout but the station site is unrecognisable obliterated by a small office park. Presumably the YouTube invaders found an access there?

So ends fbb's lengthy but fascinating expose of the long-lost Great Central Railway in Nottingham. There is more to the city than Robin Hood ...

... and cricket ...

... and it's railways are far more interesting than both!

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 V arious  V ictories

Quirky Answer : They are all called Victor.

Victor Meldrew - One Foot in the Grave character

Victor Spinetti - actor

Victor Hugo - French writer

Victor Sylvester - dance band leader

    he of "slow, slow, quick, quick, slow" fame

The imagery of life as a battle is still quite common, but the imagery of that battle as being of "Godly good" against a "devil" can often be sidelined by the "Jesus is Lovely" approach of some modern church life.

Medieval wall artists were only too keen to portray a "devil" as a being to be feared.

Today's media prefers a lovable cartoon devil ...

... which is strange; as the majority view of the same media is that the world is increasingly a dark and dangerous place where anyone and everyone is "out to get you".

If God is the embodiment of good, love and support, surely the idea of a personified purveyor of the bad, destructive and nasty is a good way of coming to terms with the dangers of disobedience? It can encourage us NOT to be "tempted" or at least not to succumb to temptations"?

So these New Testament writers are offering sound advice, Godly advice on "Various Victories".

And maybe with some armour?

But please prefer the English spelling of 'armor'! Noah Webster's fervor and ardor for spelling reform has a lot to answer for.

Or a bit of good old-fashioned moral support.

Of course, we need God to be "for us" for that to work.

Now there's a new year's resolution to try!

Quirky Question : What is the most dangerous part of the body?

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  Next Variety blog : Tues 30th Dec 

Christmas Re-Cap : Victoria (2)

 A Tour Of The Station

The above 3D graphic shows the main Nottingham Victoria station entrance, plus the station hotel on the right. 

Entering the station you would find the main booking office at street level.

Before we move into the station proper entering on the western side of the site, it should be noted that there was another entrance. This was from Upper Parliament Street on the south ...

... where the arched entrance ...

... led to steps down to the two island platforms.

Beyond the entrance you could just glimpse the southern tunnel entrance ...

... which led to the Market Cross Junction where the GNR line branched off aiming for Grantham. Both these locations are totally obliterated by modern construction.

From the main entrance, however, a huge footbridge led to the platforms.

Here it is for real.

There was another footbridge but it did not serve the station.

It was a public right of way running east west and replacing some of the many streets that existed before the station was ever imagined! Again here it is for real.

Here is another view showing the footway passing through the station buildings.

There were two blocks of offices and public facilities on both of the island platforms ...

... separated by the main foot bridge.

 Here is a station plan spun through 90 degrees with north on the left. But it may help our readers post celebratory minds grasp something of the site's geography!

Reading from left to right (north to south) we have a road bridge over the bay platforms, the east west through foot way bridge, the stations footbridge and, far right, Upper Parliament Street.

Seemples?

Nottingham Victoria was a magnificent station, far more grandiose that Midland and a real tribute to those who conceived and built the Great Central Railway.

But long before Richard Beeching was up to his fun and games, the line and all its stations had been deliberately run down by British Railways in favour of the Midland main line and the West Coast main line.

It is a salutary though that, had the cut-back plans been completed, only the West Coast main line out of Euston would have survived with former Great western routes from Snow Hill transferred to New Street and Midland main line trains diverted into Euston or routed to Kings Cross.

If the Great Central had not been removed from the railway map of the UK, might the route have been developed as a much cheaper option for High Speed 2?

The route was engineered for the high speed of the day with easy curves and gentle inclines - it would have been a good start!

Just for completeness, Nottingham Victoria station had sidings ...

... and its very own turntable!

Yes, it was a station to be proud of!

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 U ltimate  U nderstanding

Quirky Answer : All things work together for those who love God and are fitting in with His plans. Again, God is not a slot machine; to gain his forgiveness we have to make every attempt to do things his way. Lasting, nay ever lasting Good only comes if we do not neglect the often ignored last bit of the quote!

It comes from Paul's Letter to the Romans; some churches use the word "Epistle", which is a little used old fashioned word for, erm, 'letter'!

Paul wrote many, many letters to encourage the early Christians as the church grew dramatically. He also aimed to help those recipients with their problems and provide an antidote to some of the destructive disagreements that will always plague any organisation. His encouragement and advice was circulated widely amongst the various growing churches in the Mediterranean Lands.

Some were written to individuals whilst other leaders' letters were also collected together and later added to the Bible.

The advice and encouragements, plus a good dollop of correction are still valued today,

They really do help. How about this extract from Romans Chapter 8 to move is on from the joys of CHRIST-mas and provide a good start to 2026.

These books of The New Testament offer the ultimate understanding of how Christianity works.

Quirky Question : What do these four have in common?

The answer will involve tomorrows A to Z!

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  Next Victoria blog : Mon 29th Dec