Letter from London
KENDRICK STRUTHERS-WATSON
The traditional destination of Scots in London
is being transformed by mega bucks
For many of those arriving from Scotland by rail, the final destination is King’s Cross Station, not the most salubrious area of London. The station was originally designed and built as the hub for the Great Northern Railway and terminus of the East Coast line. It was designed by Lewis Cubitt (whose family forebears built most of Pimlico south of Victoria Station) and was constructed between 1851 and 1852 on the site of a former fever and smallpox hospital. Not much has changed as the King’s Cross patch is notorious as one of London’s ‘red light’ areas.
A service to link London and Edinburgh was started in 1924 with the officially named ‘Special Scotch Express’ which made it sound like the name of a cocktail bar. In those days, the journey took eight hours and 15 minutes to cover 392 miles and locomotives of competing railway companies were desperate to beat each other. When Sir Nigel Gresley designed his A1 locomotive which had reduced coal consumption through modified valve gear modifications, it was found that the run could be done non-stop with a heavy train and just one tender holding nine tons of the fossil fuel.
Additionally, locomotive 4472, the Flying Scotsman, had another couple of aces up its sleeve. It had a special ‘water scoop’ that could be lowered from the engine so it could scoop up water from specially prepared ‘troughs’ in between the rails to avoid stopping to top up the tank. Secondly, the tender holding the coal had a ‘corridor’ built through it so the driver and stoker could walk through it to a special compartment in the first carriage, allowing a relief crew to take charge.
For reasons that are not clear, there was a speed-limiting agreement between the railway companies and when this ceased in 1932, the Flying Scotsman got the London to Edinburgh journey time down to seven hours and 20 minutes by 1938. Nowadays, the Flying Scotsman is owned by the Science Museum, has almost completed a total re-build and is due to emerge on the tracks sometime next year.
Wheels and speed seem to be connected to King’s Cross, although not necessarily on railway tracks. It is purported that the station is built on the site of Boudicca’s final battle and that her body is buried under one of the platforms. The original King’s Cross was a monument to King George IV but it has maintained its historical status in J K Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ books: it is the point from which the Hogwart’s Express departs.
In reality, a considerable amount of regeneration money and effort has gone into the area over recent years and the current re-development of the station surrounds offers more than 4.3 million square feet of office accommodation. In these times of recession, it is not clear when it will all be fully let. Even more regeneration money has been spent on King’s Cross station’s ‘cheek by jowel’ neighbour, St Pancras. After managing to avoid demolition in the mid-1906s, this Gothic edifice was renovated and expanded at a cost of £800 million. As well as boasting the world’s longest champagne bar and a beautiful bronze of the well-loved Poet Laureate, John Betjeman, St Pancras International is London’s ‘security sealed’ terminal for Eurostar services to continental Europe via the Channel Tunnel. The grandiose St Pancras facade is being turned into a high-grade hotel complex aimed at well-heeled travellers.
17.09.09
Issue no 142
MOTHBALLS
The bizarre story of a
Harris Tweed jacket
Kenneth Roy
[click here]
INDIAN SUMMER
IN THE CITY
Photo-essay
Islay McLeod
[click here]
BRASS NECK
It’s about to be sculpted
But whose is it?
Stewart Kenneth Moore
[click here]
TO THE LIFEBOATS
We are indifferent to
over-population
Nick Lyth
[click here]
THE STRANGE CAREER OF DEMOCRACY
Andrew Hook
[click here]
BIN LADEN IS BACK
International diary
Alan Fisher
[click here]
SR WEEK
Catch-up on our Tuesday and Wednesday editions
[click here]