OTD - 29th January (1990) - closure of Holborn Viaduct station

[whole diary]

[grahame]

The London, Chatham and Dover railway brought passengers from Kent into London wanting to end up in both The City and the West End, and in Victorian times main line trains divided at Herne Hill, with portions headed in to Victoia (for the West End) and Holborn Viaduct (for the City).  The result was short trains into Holborn Viaduct, where a site close by the Old Bailey and near to Bart's Hospital, Smithfield and St Paul's was 6 platforms wide but desparately short.

With the arrival of 8 car electric trains into Holborn Viaduct, platforms 1, 4 and 5 were - JUST - long enough if the trains pulled right up to the buffers, with platforms 2, 3 and 6 (latterly just 2 and 3) being used for parcels traffic.   When that ceased the extra platforms were taken out leaving a great gap between 1 and 4.

The "Widened Lines", with traffic from the south past Blackfriars and Ludgate Hill plunged into a tunnel at Snow Hill then on through Farringdon and to King's Cross, closed to passenger traffic many moons ago, and at a later date to freight, and the tracks were pulled up.  Then, many years later the tracks were renewed and through service re-commenced, calling at Snow Hill Station and leaving Holborn Viaduct on a spur which saw its final train on 29th January 1990.

I commuted in and out of Holborn from 1972 to 1976 and have a sort of love that comes from familiarity with the place. Sad to see it go, but that's tempered with the appreciation that it's been replaced which is something much better for the future.

[RichardB]

I was on the last train, Graham.  It was a special that then went to Charing Cross and there was a bit of a do in the Charing Cross Hotel.

From 80 - 82, I worked in Charing Cross Travel Centre and would do overtime in various booking offices.  One of those was Holborn Viaduct and I did a few three - four hour stints covering the evening peak.  As you can imagine, the booking office wasn't very busy!

[grahame]

I was on the last train, Graham.  It was a special that then went to Charing Cross and there was a bit of a do in the Charing Cross Hotel.

From 80 - 82, I worked in Charing Cross Travel Centre and would do overtime in various booking offices.  One of those was Holborn Viaduct and I did a few three - four hour stints covering the evening peak.  As you can imagine, the booking office wasn't very busy!

I can imagine that it would have been quiet for booking - but not in terms of passenger passing through.  The same story I have heard in the past from certain seaside termini - I can't imagine even to this day that an afternoon shift on a summer Saturday afternoon in Weymouth booking office would even start to reflect the number of people passing through and on to trains!

[stuving]

There was a wonderfully enthusiastic article - positively lyrical in places - in the London Evening Standard of 28 October 1873, headed "New station at the Holborn Viaduct". It begins: "On the first of December one of the greatest improvements made for years in the railway accommodation for London will be thrown open to public, if by any possibility the contractors can get it ready in time."

The article is far too long to quote much of, but what it describes is the existing (but only for eight years) Ludgate Hill station with four platforms, two tracks leading up the slope to Holborn Viaduct and its six platforms, and two to Snow Hill tunnel. There is mention of a low-level station on the through lines, presumably the one called Snow Hill when it opened the next year.

One thing it says that I'm currently puzzled by is this: "Some two years ago a scheme was started for the formation of a great central station lying to the north of the Holborn Viaduct and available for the reception of the trains of nearly all the railway companies having terminals in London. The wisdom of Parliament, however, threw out the bill presented ad hoc, and now it may be doubted whether the scheme will be carried out for many years, although it is as sure to come as that the inner circle will be completed...".

I can find a bill being accepted in principle in July 1871, for a "Great Central (or Metropolitan) Station". But by November it has become a more grandiose version ("at least thrice as large as any in the United Kingdom") of Holborn Viaduct, with frontage on Farringdon Street, and I guess it was shrunk by land costs to the one actually built.

[grahame]

Lots of pictures at http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/holborn_viaduct/index1.shtml and http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/holborn_viaduct/index2.shtml including the last train - which looks like a 4CEP rather that the ubiquitous 4EPBs that are so much in my memory.

When I was using Holborn Viaduct, there were 2 services an hour on each of 2 routes - the 83 to Sevenoaks via the Catford Loop and Shoreham and the 06 (to be confirmed) to West Croydon via Herne Hill (change for Orpington - and they knew how to connect in those days), Wimbledon and Sutton.  Single EPB off peak, 2 x EPB at busy times, with city / commuter trains in the peak from the likes of Maidstone East, which I remember as multiple 2HAP units (there may have been the odd 4CEP there).

Public domain - Railway Clearing House map from around 1914:

[Reginald25]

Don't forget the commuter services from the Bexleyheath line and Dartford Loop line, just a few in each rush hour from Lewisham via Peckham.

[grahame]

Don't forget the commuter services from the Bexleyheath line and Dartford Loop line, just a few in each rush hour from Lewisham via Peckham.

Did they go into Holborn Viaduct, or Victoria?   What uses to terminate in the bays on the downriver side of Blackfriars?

[RichardB]

Don't forget the commuter services from the Bexleyheath line and Dartford Loop line, just a few in each rush hour from Lewisham via Peckham.

Did they go into Holborn Viaduct, or Victoria?   What uses to terminate in the bays on the downriver side of Blackfriars?

I think the Dartford - Victoria service didn't begin until the 90s.

[grahame]

Timetables - 80s, 90s, 00s ...