Railways

[Nemesis]

For those of us who are keen on all things connected with history and railways (architecture in my case) this is a great site, apart from the sad pics of the now demolished listed coal drops at Hexham Station.

That's Tynedale for you...

http://erniesphotos.fotopic.net/

The North Eastern Railway Association site (of which I am a member):

http://www.ner.org.uk/

 

[Penners]

Do you colour-code your anoraks?

 

[Nemesis]

I think these days we call them hoodies.

http://engrail.community.fotopic.net/

 

[caliwag]

Ah Nemesis...good to see this...some interseting snaps.
As an architect, i have just spent much of the last ten years...ahem...doing St Pancras...most would say "screwing it and the surroundings up" I have to leave that to others to judge...but there you go I am one of the railway architects that has turnrd St P into an international gateway!!! hope you like the result. The train shed looks superb...I await the odium

Caliwag

 

[Nemesis]

I'm afraid I spent much of the last few years involved with the struggle to stop the demolition of Span Four at Paddington... St Pancras hasn't loomed too large on my horizons, haven't been for a couple of years. Euston and Kings Cross are the ones I tend to use.

Will visit soonish and report back...

http://www.stpancras.com/content.asp?ContentId=5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Pancras_railway_station

Pic from:
http://railscenelondon.fotopic.net/p31877534.html




Newcastle Central. One of the finest stations anywhere.

 

[caliwag]

Indeed the original clock has been found, but was considered to be beyond recovery...however serious money has been invested in the fabric restoration of the wonderful train shed...you can see it now just by boarding a Midland Mainline train...so impressive, back to its original colour and pre-war glazing...won't spoil it for you, just appear and enjoy...London's secret.

Caliwag :wink:

 

[Nemesis]

Sounds terrific! I love train sheds... hoping Paddington will be done properly, it's been quite a battle to save it!

http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/spanfour.html


http://www.savebritainsheritage.org/casework%20nov%202006.htm

 

[caliwag]

Don't think we cut much ice there Nem.
Well I still think St P is the wee secret...I defy anyone to to say we have messed it up...I know architects have a terrible reputation, but we have worked hard to make this one work...OK the Stanley flats were seriously buggered, not to mention the gas holders, but??? the water point was moved etc...jeso, I sound like a terrible apologist, tell me how the new architecture could be better. Thanks Peeps...Caliwag (10 years on St P)

 

[Nemesis]

Ah yes the gas holders... hmmmm.

http://www.britarch.ac.uk/ba/ba15/ba15news.html

OK I'll go see next time in Lunnon.

http://www.glias.org.uk/walks/kgx.html


As long as there aren't sock shops...

http://www.urban75.org/london/st_pancras.html

And the Stanley - and Culross...

Thankfully the German Gymnasium was spared, listed and now re-opened and re-used.

 

[caliwag]

Yeah German Gym, the latter front was knocked out, and a new front built...bit dreary now as a sort of meeting place...no real sense of the place.
Anyway, the problem with the station is that it is still full of diesels...OK I love 125s like the next guy, but, jeso the mess...not to mention the fact they don't have captive tanks. MML will have em for, what, 20 years FFS
Caliwag (perhaps cptn Deltic has some thoughts)

 

[Nemesis]

I'm sticking to Pendolinos from now on, even if that means Euston forever.

The German Gym was bomb damaged during the war I think - I've just come across that this week when researching something else! Now where was it...

Has nice laminate timber though. But at least not demolished.

 

[caliwag]

Well if it was hit, the timber trusses stayed in place. St pancras was hit...badly at the south end and bombs blew out the north screen. The roof has now been put back to it's pre-war arrangement of glass top, slate lower segments..wonderful, might lead to a bit of glare though!
Of course the massive change is that the undercroft (beer barrel depot) is now the international arrivals/ departure hall...how the beer arrives?, I have no idea.

Caliwag

 

[Nemesis]

Bomb:

http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10319369&wwwflag=3&imagepos=1



Hoping that Paddington can have the roof repaired properly also - at the moment it too is placcy.
I have a friend who lives nearby - I'll send him on a recce... he wrote an article for Grand Designs mag about the Stanley and Culross buildings.

 

[Matt Green]

Has nice laminate timber though. But at least not demolished.

And rightly so. The timber there is fantastic quality, we had real trouble finding anything to note. The flat roof over the stairwell was a bit dubious in memory serves me though, and a few weevils in the ground floor.

The ticket hall roof at St Pants though, now that's a mighty fine roof. Belfast trusses, you know. Of course, it's not the biggest Belfast truss roof I've seen, although an interesting thing about them....


Matt
-curing insomnia since 1976.

 

[caliwag]

The Belfast trusses were put in before the second world war to replace a fine hammer beam affair (see photo on Symmonds). Because the gutters were all against walls and other roofs, I assume maintenance wasn't of the highest order and I guess the ends of the roof timbers rotted. I have no evidence of any other reason why the original was dismantled.
The Belfast roof was taken out with the same bomb, illusrated above, and rebuilt.
You cannot see it at the moment but as the tcket hall was the last thing to be built (after trainshed, west side buildings and hotel, it has been rather "shoehorned-in" creating some very odd junctions of pointed arches to existing walls...something you could only get away with with Gothic, I guess. Apparently there was a recession around that time, so they just built what they could...you certainly wouldn't draw it as it built. You'll have to wait till November to see it.
The same recession resulted in the hotel being built two floors lower (originally planned as the Midland Railway London base).
When we researched the original drawings, there were very few definitive drawings of the building...a few Scott watercolours outlining the theme of the Gothic, and perspectives of course. The East side offices, which were much modified to create Harwich ferry trains in the twenties, threw up some early "plans". But the finest drawings were every conceivable detail, casting and junction for Barlow's roof ironwork...all erected in about a year. Incidentally the moving centring/ cradle was subseuqently sawn up to provide the platforms...

Symonds book documents it all

Caliwag

 

[Penners]

I'm sticking to Pendolinos from now on

Isn't "pendolino" Italian for something like "well hung"?

Could explain your apparent enthusiasm.

 

[Nemesis]

My enthusiasm is because in the recent awful accident near Kendal the Pendolino stood up to the derailment very well.

Here's the first one to ever do Carlisle to Euston in under three and a half hours (I was on it):

 

[Nemesis]

I gather that the whole railwaylands debacle is currently being Judicial Reviewed

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/content/camden/hamhigh/news/story.aspx?brand=NorthLondon24&category=fskingscross&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=fskingscross&itemid=WeED16%20Mar%202006%2018%3A45%3A37%3A197

(English Heritage - guardians of our heritage? Hmmm.)

And co-incidentally the splendid James Steven Curl had a letter in Sats Times about it all:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/debate/letters/article1464439.ece

Farewell to old King's Cross
Sir, The redevelopment of 67 acres of the King’s Cross railway lands has been planned for some 20 years, and has featured several schemes of varying quality. The current proposals (by Argent) were granted outline consent last March, even though the land involves two conservation areas.

Listed buildings under threat include the remaining Stanley Buildings, below, described in London 4: North by Bridget Cherry and Nikolaus Pevsner (1998) as “an atmospheric group, much beloved by film-makers”. They comprise some of “the oldest surviving working-class flats in London”, and are five-storey blocks erected in 1864-65 by the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company on plans derived by Sydney Herbert Waterlow. These sturdy and handsome buildings compare very favourably with modern so-called affordable housing, in an area where such housing is desperately short. One block is likely to be demolished, the other will suffer “embedment”, a hideous word disguising a ghastly fate.

Also under threat is Culross Buildings, Battle Bridge Road, within the conservation area, built 1891-92. Designed by the GNR Engineers’ Office, and very much in keeping with the Grade I listed station, it too had several innovative design features.

Last month a court order was made preventing demolition of any listed building pending the outcome of a judicial review of the way in which Camden council has handled the application. But what is needed is a plan which will retain and sensitively conserve these works, incorporating them within a scheme worthy of the site and of the great Victorian buildings that adjoin it.

JAMES STEVENS CURL
Architectural Editor, Survey of London, 1970-73





Embedding:

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/content/camden/hamhigh/news/story.aspx?brand=NorthLondon24&category=fskingscross&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=fskingscross&itemid=WeED23%20Mar%202006%2017%3A31%3A35%3A360

 

[Nemesis]

Anyhow - back to trusses - Matt trusses interest me, I've done a fair bit of thinking about them in recent times (with regard to Smithfield, which markets also have timber trusses... as well as metal girder ones...)

 

[Nemesis]

And back to Kings Cross railwaylands - for those who take the Times I gather there is a follow up letter from me mate Adam to the JS Curl one in today.

Can't post link yet as it's not yet on the Times Online site.