One station becomes four
St Pancras Station
St Pancras has been the venue for ambitious engineering projects since the mid nineteenth century.
St Pancras tomorrow
From 2007 St Pancras Station will offer train services which are as grand and important as the station itself.
The modernised, original station will be the London terminus for the high speed trains to Paris and Brussels.
New platforms 1 - 4 already serve the Midland Mainline services to cities such as Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield,
New platforms 11 - 13 will offer a high spped service through the tunnel to Stratford and north Kent. This is the service that will run trains to the main Olympic sites in 2012.
Later St Pancras will replace the existing King's Cross Thameslink station with a station underground that has been hollowed out under the old station.
St Pancras in its glory days
The magnificent train shed arches over the platforms of St Pancras Station. When built in 1863-5 the roof covered the widest and largest undivided space in the world. The architect was W. H. Barlow who had helped Paxton with his design for the Great Exhibition building.
The brick hotel with its granite pillars was added in 1868-76. The architect was George Gilbert Scott who also designed the Albert Memorial.
In the passages around the main entrance to the station and in the ticket hall look out for decoration on the columns which includes a range of dragons and bearded railwaymen.
Submitted by: Andrew Hunt, 24 January 2007
