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Post by Sam Tyler on Sept 9, 2019 20:59:16 GMT
Sadly you don't know what you've got till its gone!
£10 million to rebuild it? Seems a small sum in comparison to HS2 but what's the betting it would be a half-arsed attempt built of poured concrete and rebar with an outer stone façade and then sponsored by some foreign conglomerate to have their name prefixed ahead of "Euston Doric Arch"?
Sam.
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Sept 9, 2019 21:18:15 GMT
Great picture of the arch. What a structure!
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Post by Dirty Epic on Sept 10, 2019 16:41:29 GMT
Wow when looking at these old films and pictures of Euston hard to believe it was like that then. To me sort of looks a bit of a cross between Victoria, Paddington and Marylebone there.
Sadly the original station wouldn't cope with the passenger and journey numbers it has now and do quite like a bit of Brutalist but can see the point of view why people hate what replaced Euston in the late 60's.
Suppose HS2 or not the station is need of another upgrade these days too.
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Villain
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Post by Villain on Nov 29, 2019 20:42:18 GMT
Great idea for a thread! The problem with the original Euston station was that it was built in stages, piecemeal over several years. The original mainline to Birmingham (known as 'The Premier Line' to those of us who work on it) was just two tracks from the outskirts of London all the way to Brum, but as traffic grew the mainline was quadrupled and extra platforms were added, leaving it looking like two sperate stations with another smaller one squeezed into the middle. The rebuilding took almost five years, from '63 to '68 and trains were kept running throughout, most of the area looking like a building site with large 'Taylor Woodrow' signs on almost every platform. Mid way through the rebuilding parts of it were left out in the open with no pedestrian cover on the platforms, the large concrete shell was then built over the top of some of it and the older existing infrastructure underneath removed afterwards. Don't forget that the lines in and out of the station were electrified at the same time, plus all the related resignalling taking place made it a massive project. Villain
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Post by Dirty Epic on Nov 30, 2019 15:42:07 GMT
I suppose when/if HS2 get's built and if it's built as it's intended to be it'll be interesting to see how different Euston will be from what it is now and like with the pre 60's station they'll be some who will be saddened to see it go. For the moment at least it does need a redevelopment from what it is at the moment as it seems very care worn and past it's best and as Kings Cross has got redevelopment over the years some of what used to be around there seems to have moved on to Euston too. I'm surprised Old Oak Common/idea isn't still touted as an idea even if it's just to relive congestion at Euston.
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Villain
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Post by Villain on Nov 30, 2019 17:01:40 GMT
HS2 is of course very pertinent to this, whatever anyone's opinion on of it - even with Euston's undoubted need to be revamped or at the very least cleaned up, more capacity and better use of the available space in and around it is definitely needed. I should admit some bias here - I work on the railway, my bread and butter work is driving trains on the WCML but this gives me a daily insight into why HS2 is definitely needed, the southern half of the WCML's capacity is full to bursting at present, laying additional lines alongside the existing route is a non starter, the room to do this at crucial points along the line just isn't there (ie: through the towns and cities it already serves) and in any case would cost far more than HS2 itself and cause far more upheaval into the bargain. The only way to efficiently produce more capacity is to build a new line away from the existing one, hence the chosen route for HS2 s it stands now. Once up and running, the entire WCML timetable can be recast, the faster traffic will use HS2 leaving the WCML able to run more efficient medium and stopping passenger services as well as the existing and newer freight traffic. The biggest cause of traffic flow / capacity problems is the speed differential between passenger and freight services, removing the high speed stuff from the WCML and putting it on the new HS2 route frees up easily managed train paths on the existing four track route from London to Rugby, Crewe and beyond - more of the stopping services will be able to use the two fast lines while the slower freight traffic can use the two track slow lines at consistent speeds. Hope that makes sense! Villain
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Nov 30, 2019 17:14:58 GMT
Interesting villain, thanks. I'm in two minds about HS2, I tend to think of it being hugely expensive and aimed at business travellers and the need to travel to and from London being reduced by Skype and the like, but on the other hand, there is the very valid point about capacity on the west coast route.
Reopening the GC route which closed in 1966 was suggested as a lower cost alternative, but that didn't go anywhere near Birmingham or Manchester, apart from the Woodhead route which also closed and would be a long way round.
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Villain
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Post by Villain on Nov 30, 2019 17:26:08 GMT
A major problem with HS2 is the way it's been promoted as purely a high speed link for business customers (giving many people the wrong impression of its real intended purpose) rather than for the additional capacity it unleashes elsewhere, they should have done this from the start really. As for the GC, well, where do I start, it should never have been closed in '66 in the first place, a Labour decision despite promises by them to keep it open as it happens, but I don't want to get banned for spouting political stuff so I'll say no more! Time for tea! Villain
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Nov 30, 2019 17:46:49 GMT
Yes villain, I'm not sure if the GC was mentioned in the Beeching report or not. The Waverley route was another controversial late closure which has now been partly reopened. At the risk of touching on politics, Beeching was appointed by the Tories in 63, Labour, in opposition said they would ditch it if elected. They won the 64 election, Beeching was one of the factors contributing to the Tory defeat, Labour now in government, proceeded to implement most of it!
Politicians eh!
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