Run forever

Seen taking a rest from their respective duties, a pair of InterCity 125's, at the buffers of the mighty King's Cross Station in London, perhaps one of the most beautiful stations in Europe, and a terminus that managed to weather the storm of neglect under British Rail much better than many of its fellow London stations.

Construction of King's Cross took place between 1851 and 1852, and was undertaken by the Great Northern Railway and their desire to have a terminus in the Capital, rather than their previous 1850 terminal at Maiden Lane, located on what is now the North London Line. The name of King's Cross is derived from the surrounding area, named after a monument of King George IV that was demolished in 1845. Like other London terminals, including Liverpool Street, the station was built on the site of a Smallpox and Fever Hospital, and design of the station was handed to George Turnbull, the engineer who had helped create the first 20 miles of the Great Northern Mainline out of London. Styling of the structure was done by Lewis Cubitt, who created a grand frontage to the structure, as well as the 246 metre long trainshed that led to the north of the station building.

The first part of the structure, the two barrel roof trainsheds, opened on October 14th, 1852, added to in the late 1860's with a three platform box station to the west to provide extra capacity for suburban trains. To the northeast of the station was also King's Cross York Road station, opened in 1863 to provide through platforms for trains heading south on the City Widened Lines to Farringdon and Moorgate, a route which is now used by Thameslink. Thameslink however uses a new alignment under the adjacent St Pancras station, and York Road, as well as the problematicly sharp and steep tunnel, were closed in 1976.

The prime years of King's Cross truly began following the Grouping Act of 1923 that merged the Great Northern Railway with the Great Eastern, Great Central, Great North of Scotland, Hull and Barnsley, North British and North Eastern Railway to form the London & North Eastern Railway. It was during this company's tenure that major investment was made to increase the speed, service and prestige on this route by introducing a wide variety of top-brass services and Pacific Class locomotives. During the 25 years of the LNER, now legendary locomotives including 'Flying Scotsman' and 'Mallard' adorned this station with their presence, as well as first-class express trains such as the Tees-Tyne Pullman, the Silver Link, the Coronation and the Elizabethan. These top-line expresses became a major part of the railway's flamboyant image, an attempt to beat their rivals, the LMS, and their services from Euston, only half a mile down the road! Maintenance for these trains was also a major part of the station's function, as to the west of the approach tracks from Gasworks Tunnel, it sported a large depot to look after steam and later diesels using the terminus.

However, the outbreak of World War II in 1939 crippled the already financially unstable LNER, and thus British Railways was formed by nationalising all of the main railway operators in 1948. Under British Rail, King's Cross, like many other stations, fell into a state of neglect, and gradually the Modernisation Plan of 1955 did away with the classic streamlined steam locomotives, replacing them with the extremely powerful but comparatively hum-drum Type 5 Deltic diesel locomotives. The glass of the barrel-roof became stained with diesel soot, and to add the ultimate insult, a 'temporary' canopy was yoked onto the front of the station to cover the taxi-rank and concourse, but would sit in cast-iron misery for 40 years until its removal in 2012.

During its time under BR though, the station, in terms of services, when through many changes. The 1978 saw the introduction of the InterCity 125 HST sets to replace the Deltics, and brought about a new era of speed on the East Coast Mainline that practically saved the nearly bankrupt British Rail. From 1976 the line was electrified from King's Cross to Hitchin, then later to Peterborough and Cambridge in 1984. The route was electrified in its entirity to Edinburgh in 1991, after which the brand new Class 91's and their InterCity 225 sets were introduced. 1987 saw the introduction of Thameslink services from the former City Widened Lines station at King's Cross Thameslink, located rather inconviniently across the Pentonville Road and only accessable through a long tunnel (I once did that walk, it took forever!). King's Cross was also proposed to be the terminus of High Speed One when original plans for a High Speed Railway to the Channel Tunnel were first drawn up in 1991. This station would have been located underground and consisted of four platforms, but the High Speed Railways Act of 1987 prohibited its construction. HS1 would eventually be built to the nearby and long neglected St Pancras, breathing a new breath of life into the ailing structure.

In recent history though, King's Cross has been known for some turbulence. The station has been attacked twice, once by the IRA on September 10th, 1973, where a small explosive device was detonated on the concourse injuring 6, and again on July 7th, 2005, when a suicide bomber detonated himself on the Piccadilly Line as part of a carefully co-ordinated terrorist attack that would involve three other bombers and kill 52 people, 27 of which were at King's Cross. In 1987 the station was also the site of the King's Cross fire, where a small fire on one of the wooden escalators on the Piccadilly Line was fanned by the wind of passing tube trains below it, causing a huge fireball to surge up and into the ticket hall, killing 31.

Today however, the station has undergone a major refurbishment to help clean up the years of grime and dirt. In 2005, £500 million was dedicated to the renovation of the station, including a new footbridge, replaced glass-panels on the barrel roof, refreshed platforms, the removal of that ridiculous canopy out front and construction of a gigantic semi-circular concourse which is 54 metres in radius and consists of over 2,000 triangular roof-panels. The former depot and goods yards to the north west have now been redeveloped into luxury flats and office blocks as part of the King's Cross Central project, and the Underground Stations between King's Cross and St Pancras have been heavily modified and restored to make travel on these vital routes more functional and efficient.

The station also re-entered modern culture following its appearances in the Harry Potter books and films, where the Hogwarts Express would depart from the mystical Platform 9¾. Nowadays, the station is a vital part of the London transport network, and is served by the incumbent franchise holder, Virgin Trains East Coast, as well as several open-access operators including Grand Central and Hull Trains, with proposals for further operators in the future, whilst commuter trains have now been amalgamated into the new Thameslink & Great Northern franchise. King's Cross is still a busy place today, and it shows no signs of letting up!