The Great British Railway Station: Kings Cross (IR147)

Product No.: IR147
Title: The Great British Railway Station: Kings Cross
Author(s): Hawkins, Chris
Illustrator(s): N/A
Publisher: Irwell Press
ISBN: 1871608147
Condition: New
Binding: Hardcover
Dust Jacket: New
Edition: 1st Edition
Publication Year: 1990

Features: 92 Pages with Black/White Photos.

King's Cross was originally designed and built as the London hub of the Great Northern Railway and terminus of the East Coast main line. It took its name from the Kings Cross area of London, which itself was named after a monument to King George IV. The monument was demolished in 1845.

Plans for the station were first made in December 1848 by and under the direction of George Turnbull, who was the resident engineer for construction of the first 20 miles of the Great Northern Railway north out of London.The detailed design, by Lewis Cubitt, and construction was in 1851 - 1852 on the site of a former fever and smallpox hospital. The main part of the station, which today includes platforms 1 to 8, was opened on 14 October 1852. It replaced a temporary terminus at Maiden Lane that had opened on 8 August 1850.The platforms have been reconfigured several times.

Originally there were only one arrival and one departure platform (today's platforms 1 and 8 respectively), with the space between used for carriage sidings. In later years, as suburban traffic grew, space for additional platforms was added with considerably less grandeur. The secondary building now containing platforms 9 - 11 (and the fictional Platform 9 3/4) survives from that era.