Answers And Appropriate Additions
Paddington.
Well, it has always been called "The Lawn" although it did not remain a proper lawn for very long. The name is now used for the catering and shopping area,
There are plenty of places to spend your money whilst waiting for your train!
It is officially called The Lawn which must baffle newcomers!
Reputedly, the area was once the lawn (i.e. grass) belonging to the Station Master's house. If so, it was a gurt big lawn.
As the station expanded this open space between platforms and hotel was roofed 0ver and became a circulating area ...
... but with not a blade of grass in sight.
Maybe the station master grazed a flock of sheep on his "lawn"?
Marylebone.
The former Great Central line from the north had closed, leaving a moribund collection of diesel suburban services.
It is worth remembering that, as well as a proposal to close Marylebone, there was also a considerable campaign in the mysterious corridors of not much power, to turn railways into roads.
... from a Brigadier; and we all know how good brigadiers are at understanding what railways are and what they do!
There was a scary campaign group ...
... which, believe it or not, believed that ALL railways in the UK should be converted to roads.
There were a few snags with the idea. The campaigners did not seem to grasp that "high speed" roads would take up more width than a two track railway. Even four tracks were not wide enough for a modern dual carriageway.
The Marylebone plan was equally flawed. Using the former tracks to route coaches into the station from the north would have been helpful, but no one seemed to consider the approaches from the east, south and west.
You can understand the Marylebone coach station plan back in the gloomy days of a poor DMU service.
But today, the station is very different and, as the youff is wont to opine, "buzzin"!
But we should never let a plan fade into obscurity. Someone will surely resurrect it.
The proposal is for a new busway using kerb guidance just like the busways in Cambridgeshire and Luton to provide a fast and congestion-free route for buses and coaches from the M1 motorway and the North Circular Road near Staples Corner to Central London at Marylebone Station.
The proposition is to use the land next to the railway between Marylebone Station and Finchley Road and alongside the Midland Main Line (MML) between West Hampstead and Brent Cross to construct a two-way kerb guided busway.
There will be connections to the local road network at Marylebone to enable buses and coaches to continue their journeys to the West End and the City. One possible addition to the proposed scheme is the creation of a new coach terminal over the railway at or near Marylebone Station.
Readers may spot a snag with the scheme. How many National Express (other coach operators are available) vehicles would need guide wheels fitted? And how many gazillions of London Buses would need similar equipment added?
And how would TfL feel, in their parlous financial state, about losing revenue between the North Circular Road and Marylebone?
It'll probably never happen!
Euston.
The Great Hall of the old Euston was a real treat. When a schoolboy fbb passed through with granny, he felt that he and she should not be in there just "waiting" - perhaps you had to have a first class ticket?
But like the Doric Arch, it was razed to the ground for the very disappointing and rather boring new Euston for the electrification.
It was certainly characterless.
The old Euston was a mess, off-putting to passengers, dark and dismal - but it had character.
But a new new Euston is promised.
What might High Speed 2 bring?
And what will be done wth the present Euston structure?
Certainly the initial graphics for the HS2 bit look good - but will it ever happen?
It would appear that this "pause" will not save a single penny. In fact it will put the cost up OR cause the project to be cheapened. 
It's all going jolly well, a fact recognised by a key parliamentary committee.
Now that is such a surprise!!
As this terminus was a late-comer to the London scene, it had to be built on "stilts" to allow the approach tracks to pass over canals etc.
The tale was that the poles were spaced just at the right distance apart to give the exactk width for beer barrels.
Were beer barrels that huge? Doubtful. But certainly beer was one of the goods stored in this huge undercroft area.
Now opened up, that beer store basement has become the St Pancras retail and catering emporium. And glorious it is - if you like spending loads money on stuff you don't need or on pricey snacks and bevvies!
Can you get a cuppa and a wad? Not any more.
More tomorrow!
P.S. It would appear that the largest barrel is a "tun" which contains either 250, 252 or 256 gallons depending on sources on-line.
Despite hours of patient research (well, about 5 minutes) fbb could not find any dimensions (height, width) of a tun. But it surely isn't big enough to fill the gaps between the St Pancras stilts. If a tun were big enough, no one could move it!
Next Quiz Answers & Comments blog : Tuesday 22nd August
fbb will be pleased to know that elsewhere in the St Pancras undercrofts is a branch of Greggs.
ReplyDeleteIn the late 60s or early 70s, part (at least) of the undercroft was used as a station car park. I remember it as being very dark, and not easy to make one's way through the forest of pillars.
ReplyDeleteBTW they must have done some fancy engineering when they cut into the station's floor, as basically the floor acts as a "tie", in tension and counteracting the outward thrust of the roof. The whole structure then sits on the columns which presumably have vertical force acting on them. It's far more sophisticated than King's Cross where the station walls themselves have to take the outward "push" of the roof - it wasn't long after the station was built that major remedial work has to be done. I think this involved replacing wooden wood trusses with metal ones.