Paddington Station - wow factor

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

I, too was at Paddington this afternoon. Nice to grab a swift half in The Isambard with natural light flooding in and no banging and crashing going on overhead!

Now, when I find that pesky USB lead for my camera I'll upload some of the pics I took of the 4th Span.....

[Electric train]

This afternoon I returned to  Paddington on the H&C line.  Coming down the steps onto Platform 8, I was struck by the sense of space to my left. What a difference I was disorientated for a moment. 

Also removed was a couple of temporary cabins by the stairs to the subway originally placed for the GPO^▸ (Government Printing Office, or possibly General Post Office - now referred to POT^▸ (Post Office Telecommunications) - depending on context) in the early 80's the other thing that gives the impression of more space is the overall French limestone paving which has replaced the bitumen and the roadway layout

As I caught the 16:30 from Platform 10 I had my first amble up Platform 9/10 since the Scaffolding came down.  I had not realised how wide it is.  There is room for another two platforms in there if you could get then through the throat.

This was Railtrack's intention to have achieved it span 4 would have been raised to the ground

[Worcester_Passenger]

Yes but...

Walking along platform 12 on Tuesday, I was not so impressed by the large number of buckets, old litter bins and the like that had been deployed to catch the rain where it comes in through the roof.

Platform 12 isn't really under span 4, but under what I think will become the new taxi rank. Either way it leaks. Badly.

[IndustryInsider]

Platform 12 isn't really under span 4, but under what I think will become the new taxi rank. Either way it leaks. Badly.

Yes, Platform 12 is partly under the new taxi rank and partly under the strangely named London Street.  Major works continue there in preparation for the new taxi rank and northern entrance (and the new H&C Line station), so there will be leaks, noise and barricades for some time to come.

[paul7575]

I believe (from planning stuff downloaded earlier) that the straight part of the track bed of platforms 11 and 12 is actually aligned with the original London St - which as built was a parallel ramp alongside the present arrivals side approach ramp - it would have provided access to the early goods yard.  The current 'dog leg' alignment of London St just outside the station boundary - the reason for the cut off corner of span 4, dates from around 1910 or so, building a deck over the southern end of P11 and P12 allowed for a continuation of London St over the new platforms.

Hence the 'London St deck', which eventually became known as the Red Star deck, when the parcels shed was built, demolished as part of the current works.  The deck wasn't all built at once though, there's a number of phases to the structures in that area.

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

Continuing my tradition of providing some before and after shots of major works in the region, here's 4 comparisons of Paddington station's Span 4 refurbishment works.  Before shots are what the public saw, with little or no variation, for the last 15 years, and they are compared with the current views.

The difference, I'm sure you'll agree, is incredible!



1)  View along platforms 9 and 10 from behind the buffer stops.  Note the new left luggage and lost property building replacing the facilities on Platform 12




2)  View along platforms 11 and 12 from behind the buffer stops.




3)  View along platforms 10/11/12 from the end of platform 12.




4)  View along platforms 9 and 10 taken from western end of Span 4.

[inspector_blakey]

Thanks for the photos II - it's almost unrecognizable now, at least to someone who hasn't been to Paddington in over a year!

[anthony215]

Thank you for posting those pics. Certainly changed since I was last there back earlier this year

[paul7575]

When I was last there a couple of weeks back it struck me that the original idea of a ramp for taxis down onto the arrival platform was a very uneconomical use of the space available. 

The surface area enclosed under span 4 really ought to allow for at least two more reasonable length platforms - yet I expect if it came to a relevant planning application there'd be those who would object to the removal of the 'historic ramp' for little more reason than 'because they can'... 

Paul

[Surrey 455]

I seem to recall that this area under the hoarding (Is it called Span 4? I can't remember) was targeted by Ken Livingstone as Mayor. He wanted to demolish it, put up a skyscraper with new platforms underneath and possibly move the H+C platforms down to the concourse area. One or more of the bodies that advise on listing issues (English Heritage?) decided that they had no problem with that because it was a later addition to the station and was not as architecturally important.

Alighting from a train on a Saturday evening recently I was struck by just how impressive it is visually now when illuminated and how dark and dismal the main station roof is. Suggests to me that Ken got it wrong. Perhaps it's time for 15 years of scaffolding to clean and better illuminate the rest of the station! 

[Electric train]

I am not sure that Ken Livingstone wanted to demolish it and put a skyscraper up, I do know that was Railtrack's plan principally to generate cash by selling the air space.  Platform space at Paddington will be come less of an issue with Crossrail as most of the TV^▸ (Thames Valley) locals will be Crossrail.

[IndustryInsider]

The hoardings along Platform 12 have now come down, revealing the new gateline and escalators leading to the taxi rank and, eventually, new northern entrance.  Platform 12 suddenly looks spacious and modern!  The new taxi rank opens this Sunday.

[inspector_blakey]

Nuts! For the first time in over a year I passed through Paddington on Saturday but was in a hurry to make a tight-ish connection from Marylebone so didn't have a chance to take a look at the north side of the station. Oh well, next time I suppose

[Electric train]

Nuts! For the first time in over a year I passed through Paddington on Saturday but was in a hurry to make a tight-ish connection from Marylebone so didn't have a chance to take a look at the north side of the station. Oh well, next time I suppose

Not sure you would have seen much on Saturday, Plat 12 would have been closed while they did the reveal

Plat 12 does look smart a far cry form the day when I was on the ODM at Padd and did maintence of battery trucks down there

[JayMac]

ODM?

Was there once a branch of Kenya's Orange Democratic Movement at Paddington?