Kent Rail

London Victoria

An Overnight Stay: Grosvenor Hotel

As earlier mentioned, a year and a half separated the opening of ‘’Brighton’’ and ‘’Chatham’’ stations, and during the interim, construction of a hotel, intended for railway passengers, was undertaken. This was a separate venture, completely independent of the railway companies, and saw the erection of a colossus of a building on a 75-foot-wide site sandwiched in-between Buckingham Palace Road and the western elevation of the ‘’Brighton’’ station. Construction formally began on 13th April 1860. The structure was designed by James Thomas Knowles, in sympathy with existing buildings in the area, and building work was subcontracted to Mr Kelk (of whom was also responsible for the ‘’Brighton’’ station). Italianate in style, the building rose up eight storeys to a height of 150-feet, was topped off with a French Renaissance-style roof, and extended down the side of the station for 262-feet. Suffolk White Brickwork was used throughout in construction, and this in turn was frescoed externally with stone carvings, semi-circular-shaped windows, and iron railings. On entry, customers were immediately presented with a spacious and elaborately decorated foyer, which contained a symmetrical staircase leading to all eight floors. To the relief of those staying on the upper floors, a hydraulic-powered caged lift was available, which was 8-foot square. The hydraulic system was installed by contractors Messrs. Euston and Amos, and the lift was capable of taking ten people at a time.

The hotel comprised 300 rooms, and there was a direct entrance to the building from the ‘’Brighton’’ station concourse. The hotel agreed to pay a sum to the LB&SCR for every passenger which used the concourse entrance. Within the building were 1500-feet of narrow stone corridors, and an interesting range of communal rooms:
 

 

It was noted at the time that a common feature the hotel lacked was a billiard room, but that the smoking room was one of the finest ever seen. The hotel formally opened its doors on 14th April 1862.

Independence and Connections with the Great Western

1860 had been an important year for the LC&DR, and not just because of the commencement of through running between the capital and Canterbury. The company had also seen the ‘’Metropolitan Extension Act’’ pass successfully through Parliament, which held the key to independent access to Victoria. The Act authorised a completely new route between Beckenham and Battersea via Herne Hill, and its advantages were two-fold: not only would the line allow the LC&DR to avoid costly track access payments to the LB&SCR, but it also gave rise to a new double-track spur to the City of London. For 2½-years, the LC&DR was subject to LB&SCR tolls over those metals originally opened under WEL&CPR auspices. This eventually came to an end in 1863 when, on 1st July of that year, the avoiding line via Herne Hill came into regular use. This had opened piecemeal:

 

 

Full opening of the line had been delayed by the Board of Trade, which decreed that spikes in the permanent way had to be replaced by wooden trenails. It was followed on 1st September by the LC&DR taking over the lease of the Mid-Kent Railway, which had previously been assigned to the SER. The double-track spur to Blackfriars came into use later, on 1st June 1864. Even the LB&SCR abandoned much of the original WEL&CPR line, save for local services, when it commissioned a shortened route between Balham and East Croydon on 1st December 1862.

The GWR’s existence at Victoria lasted for a fifty-two year period, ending in the midst of the Great War. The company paid the VS&PR a sum of £1,500 in 1860 (about £110,000 at 2007 prices) to compensate for the additional works required to lay Broad Gauge track. The GWR’s decision to operate a proportion of their services from Victoria derived from the potential revenue generated from the West End, an area from which Paddington was remote. One criticism of Paddington was that it was cut off from the City of London and the Houses of Parliament, thus the opportunity to operate into Victoria was one not to be missed. The company was also keen to highlight the useful through line connections with the Brighton and Dover routes, indicating the future importance of these for the conveyance of continental and general traffic between the railway systems.

The GWR was to reach Victoria by means of the ‘’West London Extension Railway’’, a joint undertaking between the LNWR, GWR, LB&SCR, and LSWR. The line formed a junction with the West London Line at Wormwood Scrubs, and took a course through Kensington, before being taken over the Thames upon Battersea Railway Bridge (or, alternatively, ‘’Cremorne Bridge’’). The latter was a product of the LNWR, designed under the guidance of the company’s Engineer in Chief, William Baker. The bridge accommodated a double-track and sported five wrought-iron arches, each spanning 120-feet. Finally, on the south side of the Thames, the line joined the networks of the LSWR and LB&SCR in Battersea, at what became known as ‘’Falcon Lane Junction’’. This was where the Richmond branch joined the LSWR main line, the latter of which ran alongside the LB&SCR’s line to Victoria.

The ‘’West London Extension Act’’ emerged in 1859, and the ‘’West London Extension Railway Bill’’ passed through Parliament on Thursday 1st August 1861, after a third reading. The line was seen as being of great importance, for it formed the first metropolitan junction between the main lines north and south of the Thames, on the west side of London. On Tuesday 20th August 1861, it was reported in ‘’The Times’’ that ‘’Every exertion is being used to ensure the opening of the West London Extension Railway for the traffic of the International Exhibition of 1862’’. Also stated was that ‘’the works of the West London Extension Railway and of the Victoria Station in Pimlico have been carried on with considerable spirit, and it is believed that both will be ready for opening early in the summer’’ and the ‘’junction with the West London Railway at Wormwood Scrubs is advancing satisfactorily’’. The opening of the West London Extension Railway did not occur until 3rd March 1863, and at the time, it was reported that the line was of peculiar background – the company name under which it was promoted had no shareholders, capital instead coming from the aforementioned group of railway companies.

A Victoria to Southall GWR Broad Gauge service commenced on Wednesday 1st April 1863. Trains called at Hanwell, Ealing, Kensington, Chelsea, and Battersea, which, according to the GWR, afforded ‘’direct communication between all stations on the Great Western Railway and stations on the London Chatham & Dover, and London Brighton & South Coast Railway.’’

 

GWR Departures: June 1863

 

 

 

 

 

GWR Arrivals: June 1863

 

 

 

 

 

 

February 1875 was a time of cutbacks. In the previous month, J. Grierson, General Manager, Paddington, announced a number of service withdrawals.

 

GWR Discontinued Departures: February 1875

 

 

 

 

GWR Discontinued Arrivals: February 1875

 

 

 

 

Conversely, on Saturday 26th June 1897, a considerable service improvement was announced by the GWR, to commence that July.

 

GWR Departures: July 1897

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GWR Arrivals: July 1897

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The LB&SCR station was not without its ‘’alien’’ traffic, and the LNWR started a Broad Street to Victoria service on 1st January 1869, using the same West London Line connection at Clapham Junction as GWR trains. From 1st February 1872, the Broad Street service ceased, but was replaced by another train only emanating from as far as Willesden Junction.

In the meantime, the ‘’Chatham’’ station had amassed a collection of services originating from ‘’foreign’’ territory, of which those of the GWR have already been mentioned. The LC&DR had maintained a physical connection with the metals of the Metropolitan Railway since the completion of the former’s Metropolitan Extension through Ludgate Hill, on 1st January 1866. The Great Northern Railway had contributed £320,000 (about £21,872,310 at 2008 prices) to the construction cost of this line from Herne Hill to West Street Junction (where the route connected with the metals of the Metropolitan Railway), and in return, the company was granted running powers. On 1st March 1868, the GNR began running between Barnet and Victoria via Loughborough Junction, an operation which was to last nearly forty years. This service was joined in the following year by the trains of the Midland Railway, which ran through between Victoria and Hendon/South Tottenham from 1st July 1875. On the same date, the LC&DR also commenced its own service to Hendon – six years previously, the company had started a Victoria to Finchley Road train.

 

London Victoria: 2004

 

London Victoria layout, as of 2004. Click the above for a larger version. Drawn by David Glasspool

 

9th June 1984

 

Class 73 No. 73122 is seen fronting the Gatwick Express service at a time when there was no dedicated pool

of locomotives for this working. Much in evidence is the section of LB&SCR trainshed which was situated

in-between Ecclestone and Elizabeth Bridges. © David Glasspool Collection

 

May 1985

 

2 EPB No. 6309 leads out a 4 EPB unit from the Central Section's platform 9, on a service to Purley. Alongside

can just be seen Class 47 No. 47513 ''Severn'', fronting a British Pullman service to Aintree, for the Grand

National. © John Horton

 

May 1985

 

An Eastern Section service this time, with 4-VEP No. 7843 departing platform 5 with the 09:12 Margate via

Ashford working. As can be seen in both this and the previous photograph, the northern halves of the Central

Section platforms have already been built on, but the trainshed south of Ecclestone Bridge was still standing.

© John Horton

 

May 1985

 

An 8 CIG formation, headed by 4 CIG No. 1263, departs Victoria's platform 9 with a service to Littlehampton.

In the background can be seen the rear of the 1908-opened Grosvenor Hotel extension. © John Horton

 

 

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