Our Terminus Tour Terminates
But first a simple review of a complex area. The historic London Bridge station was well placed for the City area, and old pictures exist of gents in sombre black with bowler and trilby hats walking purposefully across London Bridge (the bridge) to get to their offices.
But the railways had their eyes on other markets and better penetration of the heart of the UK's capital - maybe several hearts!
So we have Cannon Street ...
... Blackfriars and Holborn Viadict ...
... and the next of our puzzle pictures.
Charing CrossHere, once again, there has been spectacular development over the top of the station.
The hotel remains, facing on to the Strand ...
... and is now super posh!
Here, a menu sample ...
... for afternoon tea. Or is it tiny afternoon nibbles?
fbb would want burger and chips PLUS posh nibbles and £40 would still be too much!
Waterloo
Not much to say, but, when you have got a moment, take a wander outside on Waterloo Road.
The top bridge links the main Waterloo terminus with Waterloo East's through platforms on the Charing Cross line. The lower bridge used to carry a single track railway link between the two stations.
On the diagram below, the link is marked "To S E R".
The connection was little used - a good thing as it crossed the concourse and the taxi toad on the level with no barriers! Health and Safety, where were you?
It was, and largely still is, two separate stations crudely glued together. Jack Worthing's unsatisfactory beginnings are unacceptable to Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Ernest'
He was found in a handbag ...
LADY BRACKNELL. At the cloak-room at Victoria Station?
JACK. Yes. The Brighton line.
LADY BRACKNELL. The line is immaterial. Mr. Worthing, I confess I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred, in a hand-bag, whether it had handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life that reminds one of the worst excesses of the French Revolution. As for the particular locality in which the hand-bag was found, a cloak-room at a railway station might serve to conceal a social indiscretion - has probably, indeed, been used for that purpose before now - but it could hardly be regarded as an assured basis for a recognised position in good society.
JACK. I can produce the hand-bag at any moment. It is in my dressing-room at home. I really think that should satisfy you, Lady Bracknell.
LADY BRACKNELL. Me, sir! What has it to do with me? You can hardly imagine that I and Lord Bracknell would dream of allowing our only daughter - a girl brought up with the utmost care - to marry into a cloak-room, and form an alliance with a parcel? Good morning, Mr. Worthing!
The station desperately needs a full rebuild. The recent tinkering with longer gate lines is still inadequate. And you can see the join!
You can clearly see the separate station structures from above. Jack Worthing's Brighton Line is on the left!
And finally!
Kensington Olympia
The station name has been expunged by fbb! In 1976 British Rail Inter City burst forth in a paroxysm of publicity for new services that would run THROUGH London from northern cities to south coast destinations.
Initially, there were several services ...
... with good printed publicity.
Sadly, the services were not very successful, perhaps because they were slow as they crawled round the Capital; and better frequencies were available by crossing London swiftly by Underground.
But, fbb hears you cry, these were
though services, not terminating. fbb cannot remember (he probably never knew!) if any trains finished their day at Kenny O. But even if they didn't, Motorail would count.
fbb guesses that you didn't always get Scottish Dancing to see you on your way to "foreign parts"! But the shed is still there ...
... and the brand is remembered in the car park name!
Of course, there are several inner London terminus locations for the Underground.
Maybe another time.
Next Variety blog : Saturday 26th August
Kensington Olympia was also the terminus of the "Kenny Belle", a peak-time only shuttle to and from Clapham Junction which the Southern operated for many years using latterly a diesel-electric unit. It was often cancelled if no unit was available - on more than one occasion, the unit was pinched to operate a Shepperton-Kingston shuttle when electric units could not operate due to flooding.
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