King's Cross Thameslink Opened: 10 January 1863 [this is (near enough) the site of King's Cross underground station, on the Metropolitan Railway, opened on the very first day of London's very first underground railway] Closed: 8 December 2007 [this station terminates today] Reasons for closure: Too small, too crowded, too inconveniently located, too old.
It's not a lovely station, this. It's a long hike from the main King's Cross station, either across several sets of traffic lights or along a very longpedestrian tunnel (the one where they painted "Smile" on the walls to try to cheer up commuters). The steps down to the platforms are narrow, and if you get stuck behind a family lugging a pushchair you're in trouble. The platforms are called A and B, not 1 and 2, so passengers don't get them confused with the mainline station across the road. Everybody waits at the westernend, clogging the platforms, waiting for the next service to Bedford, Brighton or Wimbledon to appear. Can you hear it? No, that's a completely different train chugging invisibly somewhere nearby. The Circle line runs past on the other side of a wall (although it used to stop close by until a new underground station was built up the line). For a quiet wait, walk past Gatwick-bound suitcases or gangs of Luton youths up to the far end of the platform, out in the open air. Waiting here's a risk, because most trains aren't long enough to stop this far up, but you might just get a bench or square metre of platform to yourself. Until escape arrives, up the tunnel, and whisks you away somewhere nicer. Somewhere with a future.
King's Cross Thameslink closes forever at the end of today, to be replaced tomorrow by a brand spanking new station directly beneath St Pancras International. This'll be far more convenient for international travellers and commuters alike, and a lot more spacious too. From a passing train the new station looks like a big grey box, charmless and featureless, and far easier to exit through. But in 24 hours time it'll be the old station that trains will whizz through, past empty benches and fading adverts, past a century and a half of history. All change please.
It's not a lovely station, this. It's a long hike from the main King's Cross station, either across several sets of traffic lights or along a very long pedestrian tunnel (the one where they painted "Smile" on the walls to try to cheer up commuters). The steps down to the platforms are narrow, and if you get stuck behind a family lugging a pushchair you're in trouble. The platforms are called A and B, not 1 and 2, so passengers don't get them confused with the mainline station across the road. Everybody waits at the western end, clogging the platforms, waiting for the next service to Bedford, Brighton or Wimbledon to appear. Can you hear it? No, that's a completely different train chugging invisibly somewhere nearby. The Circle line runs past on the other side of a wall (although it used to stop close by until a new underground station was built up the line). For a quiet wait, walk past Gatwick-bound suitcases or gangs of Luton youths up to the far end of the platform, out in the open air. Waiting here's a risk, because most trains aren't long enough to stop this far up, but you might just get a bench or square metre of platform to yourself. Until escape arrives, up the tunnel, and whisks you away somewhere nicer. Somewhere with a future.
