Kings Cross - St Pancras

A walk around the stations and former goods yards of Kings Cross and St Pancras

The grand facades of St Pancras and Kings Cross stations are well known, not so well known are the vast goods yards that stood behind them. The former goods yards have been redeveloped recently incorporating many of the surviving buildings.

KINGS CROSS

Below - Kings Cross station. Recent restoration has seen later buildings removed from the front of the station back to the original facade, also creating a plaza in front of the station. 

NLS Side By Side Maps

Google Maps

Unfortunately the area is covered where the corner of four maps meet. These are below with the links arranged in order of the area covered.

1875 Map  1875 Map

1916 Map  1877 Map

Originally St Pancras Road met Euston Road and Pentonville Road to the right of the above photo. The landmark "Kings Cross" that gave the station its name would have stood at the junction, the monument was not in fact a cross but a statue of King George IV. It was demolished in 1845, before the station in 1852. St Pancras Road would have cut across where the current plaza is now across the front of the station before curving to run alongside St Pancras station.

ST PANCRAS

Below - St Pancras Station on the left. On the right is the former Great Northern Hotel, the curve of the building would have fronted on to the alignment of St Pancras Road at the time.

 

Below - The grand hotel on the front of St Pancras station. The arch would have given access to the cab road, taxis could have picked up and dropped off next to the platforms. This was once a common practice but in recent years cab roads on most stations have been moved to ranks outside the station front to create more platform space. Here platforms for Eurostar services have been built where the original Midland Railway platforms and cab road used to be. The Midland Mainline is now served by a quite inadequate four platform terminus to the north of the original station roof.

Below - The cab road arch from the station concourse side.

Below - A statue of John Betjeman peers up at the station roof which is now restored close to how it was built. John Betjeman campaigned to save St Pancras following the demolition of the historic Euston station, the fear was that other London termini would similarly be replaced with modern low-maintenance concrete buildings or that many would be lost altogether as dwindling services were consolidated on fewer stations.

Below - Beneath St Pancras was a series of vaults that handled goods traffic, particularly beer from Burton on Trent that supplied the London pubs. When St Pancras was rebuilt to serve as the Eurostar terminal the vaults were opened up to provide concourse space beneath the platforms as well as check in facilities for Eurostar.

SOMERS TOWN GOODS

The map I picked to cover the Midland Railway's goods yards alongside St Pancras is later than the others as the goods facilities alongside the station were added later. A large area of housing, known as Somers Town, was cleared alongside the station to build the new goods shed when the amount of traffic had out grown the Midland Railway's original goods facilities to the north of the passenger terminus.

Below - Nothing remains of Somers Town Goods Yard, the British Library complex seen here and the Francis Crick Institute now occupy the site.

Below - Between St Pancras and Kings Cross stations the Gymnasium building shown on the old maps survives. It is now the German Gymnasium restaurant.

GNR GOODS DEPOT

Below - The buildings between the former Great Northern goods sheds and the Regents Canal. The picture is taken from Esperience Bridge, a footbridge on the abutments of the former railway lines in to the retort houses of the large gas works that was situated between the approaches to St Pancras and Kings Cross stations.

Below - The same buildings from the railway side, note the enamel railway sign saying "Drive Slowly" above the side door of the three storey building.

Below - Map of the site as it is today (click to enlarge)

Below - The main goods shed buildings showing the scale of the goods complex. This building not only covers a larger area than Kings Cross passenger station but was also fronted by a six storey warehouse.

The plaza in front of the goods shed, Granary Square, was previously a basin from the canal, though it is not clear on the old maps how it connected to the canal.

Below - The East Coal Drops, now part of the Coal Drops Yard retail development.

Below - The Coal Drops Yard site, the artistic meeting of the roofs in the middle of the complex is part of the modern redevelopment. Tracks through the middle of the site also continued on a bridge over the canal to coal drops on the other side of the canal. The site of these coal drops has been thoroughly returned to nature as it is now Camley Street Nature Park. 

Below - St Pancras Lock

Below - Victorian water tower next to the approaches to St Pancras station.

Below -  Canal basin alongside the lines in to St Pancras. The old maps show three tracks crossing over the basin in to the coal drops that used to be on that side of the canal. 

Below - The gas holders of the large gas works that stood in this area. It would have been situated here due to the access to supplies of coal. These were a well known landmark on the approach to St Pancras station so some of them were saved as part of the redevelopment with a few repurposed as office buildings and one as a small park. The ironwork was dismantled and refurbished during the redevelopment work and looking at the old map it seems they have been re-located to allow for the expansion at St Pancras station. The old maps show another GNR goods shed at this site.

Below - Remnant of a canopy on the west coal drop building. The sign with the number 15 on it is also a remnant of the later days of the goods yards, reading "North London Freight Depot, 15, West Bank".

Below - The north end of the east coal drops.

Below - The north end of the coal drops.

Below - The north end of the main goods shed.

Below - Remains of an adjoining office building on the north end of the main goods shed (which can be seen on the old maps) with a fireplace and flues.

Below - Canopies of the Potato Market, supplies of potatoes would have largely come to London along the Great Northern Railway from Lincolnshire.

MAIDEN LANE

Below - The earliest of the goods shed buildings on this site. Around this site the Great Northern established a temporary passenger terminus while Kings Cross station was under construction. Kings Cross opened in 1852 but of course the previous year was the Great Exhibition, drawing huge numbers of passengers to London. Maiden Lane served as the London terminus for just over two years, becoming part of the goods facilities once the Kings Cross station was opened. The temporary passenger station was demolished as the goods yards were expanded some time after 1874 but it is possible some of the ironwork was reused around the Potato Market area.

Below - Queen Victoria at the temporary Maiden Lane terminus in 1851 (Public Domain photo from Wikipedia)

Below - The lines in to Kings Cross pass under the Regents Canal in a tunnel, here the roof of the station can be seen across the canal.

Below - Another view of the main goods shed, the tracks can be seen in the paving and although the wagon turntable has been removed it has been marked in the paving where it was.

Below - The offices building, now the Queer Britain museum.

 

YORK ROAD (UNDERGROUND)

1916 Map (bottom left of map)

Across York Road (now York Way) from the Potato Market on the corner of York Road and Bingfield Street was York Road station on the Underground. It opened in 1906 on the Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway, now the Underground's Piccadilly line. The station closed in 1932 but is retained as an emergency exit from the tunnels.

Below - The Leslie Green designed station buildings with its trademark Leeds Fireclay Co terracotta tilework.

Euston

A visit to some of the abandoned remains of Euston station from before the 1960s rebuild on a Hidden London Tour.

1916 Map

Open Street Map

Euston was London's first inter city railway terminus, opening in 1837. London would go on to have several railway termini built around the edges of the city where land was more readily available. They went on to be connected by the Underground railway system, originally built as several independent lines. Euston had two lines on the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (now the Northern Line Charing Cross Branch) and the City & South London Railway (now the Northern Line Bank Branch). Each had its own station building above ground and lifts to the platforms below as well as an underground passage connecting the two lines and an entrance from the mainline station. On the old map above both of the underground stations can be seen either side of the mainline station, marked at "Euston Sta. (Elec. Ry.)." Naturally most passengers entered and exited the underground stations at the entrance from the mainline station itself rather than across the roads outside and the separate station buildings were closed in 1914. In the 1960s Euston station was rebuilt and the Victoria line was added to the Underground network. Euston underground station was rebuilt with one big ticket hall and escalators accessed from beneath the new mainline station concourse. Some of the abandoned parts of the old stations have been largely untouched since the redevelopment and I visited on one of the London Transport Museum's Hidden London tours.

After meeting the tour group next to the mainline station we were taken to the former CCE&HR station building on the west side of the mainline station. 

Below - The former CCE&HR station building built to the distinctive Leslie Green design with its trademark terracotta tiles. It stood on the corner of Drummond Street and Melton Street but is now within the site for the new station for high speed trains to Birmingham on HS2. The building survived as it was reused for an electrical substation. It will likely be demolished for the HS2 works, though at least there are several other examples of buildings of this design with it being a standard design.

We entered the underground station from the Bank Branch southbound platform (which actually runs west to east under the mainline station). 

Originally the Bank Branch lines had an island platform between the two lines, as passenger numbers grew this became quite dangerous if there was crowding on a platform with a running line on either side. When the station was rebuilt in the 60s the northbound line was re-routed and each line had its own platform. The Victoria line was built between the Northern line platforms allowing easy connection between the two routes.

On the west end of the platform there used to be an exit towards the lifts for the mainline station and connection to the Charring Cross branch platforms. This and a stub of the original northbound line tunnel are concealed behind doors at the end of the platform. 

Below - Map on display after entering the abandoned tunnel showing the original layout of Euston underground station, we have entered the disused tunnels from west end of the platform running west to east around the centre of the map.

Below - The former northbound Bank branch line, occasionally sleepers could be seen in the floor.

Below - A cavern where the north and south bound running tracks met, the roof of a southbound Bank branch train can be seen passing. The northbound tunnel is blocked off, beyond here the diverted tunnel joins the original alignment.

We returned to the active southbound Bank branch platform and next door to the panel concealing the former northbound track another panel conceals the former exit from the old island platform towards the mainline station and connection to the Charring Cross branch platforms.

Below - The disused steps up from the platform. 

Below - The disused passage towards the Charring Cross branch platforms.

Below - Several posters from the time can still be seen on the walls.

Below - Poster announcing the reconstruction work that would see this passageway abandoned.

Below - With the Bank and Charring Cross branches originally being run by different companies people originally needed separate tickets for each route, on the passageway connecting the two lines there was a ticket window.

Below - Inside the little ticket kiosk between the two routes.

Below - Some more of the posters along the tunnel walls.

Below - Former exit to the east end (north direction) of the Charring Cross branch platform. The Charring Cross branch was nearer the surface than the Bank branch so there have been a few sets of stairs between the two.

The entrances at the west end of the platforms would have led to the lifts up to the station building we saw above ground earlier. In 1914 when that closed all passengers would have used this entrance and another one nearby which led directly to the lifts to the station, which we will come to later.

We returned to where the passageway to the Charring Cross branch platforms met the passageway to the lifts to the mainline station.

Below - A couple more posters.

Below - The plan of the original station shows a room on the east side of the passageway to the lifts. This was a second world was bunker for the London Midland & Scottish Railway's offices that had been built on the site of the C&SLR (the later Charring Cross branch) station building in 1934. The tunnel for this bunker was later used to connect ventilation passages from above the Victoria line platforms to the old lift shafts which became ventilation shafts. This was a doorway to the southern end of the bunker.

Below - Entrances to the lifts up to Euston mainline station.

Below - The lift shafts, since used as a ventilation shaft. When the underground network was built it was thought that electric trains wouldn't need ventilation like steam trains did. Electric trains create quite a bit of heat though if it isn't ventilated. What happened at a lot of stations was that the lifts were replaced with escalators which were invented later and were much better for moving large numbers of people. The former lift shafts were than used as ventilation shafts.

Below - The east side of the lifts. The filled in passage would have led directly to the Charring Cross branch platforms, forming a triangle of passageways.

Heading south from the lift shafts we pass the former WW2 bunker and in to tunnels added in the 60s to ventilate the new Victoria Line platforms.

Below - Looking down to the platform as a train passes.

Below - On the west side of the lift shafts people would have passed this poster exiting the lifts and heading for the Charring Cross branch platforms. It advertises the Midland Pullman, a prestigious service from Manchester that went to St Pancras rather than Euston. This was a key link while work to modernise Euston and electrify the West Coast mainline was carried out. 

Below - An Information board near the blocked off passage from the lifts to the Charring Cross branch platforms.

Below - A couple more posters in a stub of the route towards the Charring Cross branch from the lifts from the mainline station.

We returned to the Bank branch southbound platform and out through the escalators and large underground ticket hall of the 1960s version of the underground station. This itself is now getting overcrowded and will probably need further improvements if or when whatever is left of the HS2 program is completed. Back in day light I checked out a couple of remnants of the mainline station from before the 60s rebuild.

Below - One of the last remnants of the original station is the Lodge Houses on Euston Road. Looking at the old maps these flanked Euston Grove which approached the station and entered the station through the famous demolished Euston Arch, roughly where the 1960s building over the modern concourse can be seen. A couple of streets of houses stood between here and the station, since cleared for the bus station. On the right hand side a list of destinations of the railway can be seen on the corner of the building.

Below - Between Lancing Street and Doric Way is Euston House, the 1934 built head offices of the London Midland & Scottish Railway. The building is now in non-railway use. Doric Way was previously the eastern end of Drummond Street which was severed when the station was rebuilt in the 1960s, it ran roughly where the northern edge of the concourse leads to the platforms today. On the corner of Eversholt Street and Drummond Street / Doric Way was the street level building of the C&SLR tube station, the left corner of the building below, built on the site of that and various shops and houses. 

 Visiting Euston today the concourse is hectic, though much more circulating space was created in the 1960s rebuild. A reminder that however sad the loss of the old station and the arch was it was necessary to meet the needs of the time just as the even more controversial HS2 is needed to meet the needs of the time now.