A brief time-travelling excursion to London St. Pancras

This page has been created primarily to share a set of photographs from the 'Science Museum Group Collection Online' that span a period of around 80 years, from the station's construction in 1866-1876 to the first year of British Railways in 1948.

All of these images are fascinating in their own right, but the photographs taken during the construction period are especially valuable as they provide an insight into some of the equipment, construction methods and worksite conditions that would have been associated with the building of the Settle & Carlisle Railway (1869-1876) and the current stations at Hellifield (1880) and Carlisle (1878-1880).

The images are split into sections based on their source, captions have been added for the construction-era images and a short introduction has been provided to put the images into context and aid interpretation. Where appropriate, the catalogue descriptions and original filenames are provided in italics.

Introduction

St. Pancras station was built by the Midland Railway to provide a London terminus for its extensive and rapidly expanding network of passenger routes. Constructing the station was an incredibly complex task.

  • Parts of the site lie above the Fleet Sewer and this had to be rerouted and transferred into a new iron tunnel.
  • A new tunnel had to be constructed for the second line of the Metropolitan Railway (at the front of the site, parallel with the Euston Road and beneath what would become the front approach ramp for the station, Midland Railway offices and Grand Hotel).
  • A double-track tunnel had to be constructed for the St. Pancras branch (a new section of railway linking the Metropolitan and Midland lines) and this had to pass below the Midland's approach lines, the Fleet Sewer and the Midland's station .
  • The Midland's approach lines had to cross the Regent's Canal (just beyond the station) without obstructing boat traffic.

Taken together, these complications dictated that the height of the rails within the station needed to be 12 to 17 feet above the level of the adjacent roads. Rather than build-up the ground with earth and broken rock, the decision was taken to construct an undercroft as this created valuable extra space for goods handling, warehousing and retail units.

A brief look at the two plans below should help to clarify how the key features of this complex site fit together.

Figure 1

ALT-TEXT
Original contract plan (Working Drawing No 1) for St Pancras Station showing the originally proposed excursion departure platforms and the excursion booking office. Undated, photocopy of a copy. MRSC item number 26313[*]. This plan is especially helpful when seeking to understand the relationship between St. Pancras Station, Euston Road, the St. Pancras branch and the second line of the Metropolitan Railway.

Figure 2

ALT-TEXT
Plan showing water mains at St. Pancras station, dated 1895. MRSC item number 12472[*]. This plan is especially helpful when seeking to understand the relationship between St. Pancras Station, St. Pancras Cellars, the alignment of Old St. Pancras Road, the site of the 46ft engine turntable and the gas holders.
[*] License & acknowledgement: These two plans are used courtesy of Midland Railway Study Centre, Derby (MRSC) and they are shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence - see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0. In both cases, the original image has been cropped, reduced in size and the contrast has been increased. For Figure 2, the colour balance has also been adjusted (to reduce the yellowing). The original versions can be accessed by searching for the item number in the MRSC catalogue at https://www.midlandrailwaystudycentre.org.uk/catalogue.php.

Site clearance and preparatory works commenced in 1866 but, due to the complexity of the ground works, it was January or February 1868 before the Butterley Company could begin installing the cast iron columns to support the train shed floor (starting from the north end). The train shed roof was substantially complete by September 1868 and the platform areas of the station opened to passenger traffic on October 1st, 1868. In his well regarded history of the Midland Railway [E],  F.S. Williams furnishes us with some impressive statistics for the project:

For its passenger station alone it swept away seven streets of three thousand houses, and a church; Old St. Pancras Churchyard was invaded; and Agar Town was almost demolished.

... The work of 100 steam lifts, 1000 horses, and 6000 men, tell their tale.

... Of the magnitude of the work generally, some idea may be gathered from the fact that in the station and its approaches some 60,000,000 of bricks, 9000 tons of iron, and 80,000 cubic feet of fourteen different kinds of dressed stone have been employed.

It may be interesting to add that the twenty-four main ribs, with bolts, ornamental spandrils, etc., cost something more than £1000 apiece.

Work on the hotel and station offices progressed at a much slower pace and the hotel was not completed until the summer of 1876. According to F.S. Williams [E], the delay was a consequence of the 'Black Friday' financial crisis (11th May 1866) combined with the cost and timescale implications of George Gilbert Scott's lavish design.

Between 2003 and 2007, the operational areas of the station and its approaches were significantly altered as part of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link / High Speed 1 project. The £800m redevelopment programme included the restoration of Barlow's train shed, the construction of a 240 metre long extension to the northern end of the train shed, the complete rebuilding of the west wall and the conversion of the undercroft into a new station concourse and shopping centre. At around the same time, Scott's combined hotel & station building was the subject of a separate £200m redevelopment project and it now accommodates 68 luxury apartments and a luxury hotel - the latter opening for business on May 5th, 2011.

Photographs of the Works in Progress of the Midland Railway

The images in this section are photographs sourced from the Science Museum Group Collection Online on July 27, 2022 (collection reference 1998-8759). All of these images have been edited to increase contrast, reduce the glare introduced during the digitisation process and thereby significantly increase the amount of visible detail and they are shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence - see
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0.

Image 1

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To the north of the station, the trackbed is supported on a series of brick arches known as the St. Pancras Cellars. The tops of some of these arches are clearly visible in this southward-looking view. Note the timber centring (bottom-right and beneath some of the arches). The circular brick feature beside the crane is probably the site for the 46ft engine turntable. The gas holders (top-left) appear in several of the photographs and they provide a helpful reference point for orientation purposes.
St Pancras cellars, 1867.
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Image 2

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The St. Pancras Cellars take the form of a series of parallel brick arches, connected by a central passageway. In this view, the camera is directed along the latter, with the arches crossing from left to right. Where the arches meet the passageway, attractive brick vaulting was constructed to support the ground above. This area is clearly being used for temporary storage as the ground is littered with trestles, centring, wheelbarrows and wheels for railway trucks.
St Pancras cellars, 1867.
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Image 3

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A cross-sectional view through one of the brick arches of the St. Pancras Cellars, with some of the contractor's staff posing for the camera. Compare the thickness of this arch (which would be perfectly capable of carrying the weight of the trackbed and fully loaded trains) with the thickness of the arch for the St. Pancras branch in Image 16. The people are all wearing jackets and most are wearing a top hat or bowler, so they are almost certainly 'management'.
Railway contractor's staff, about 1867.
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Image 4

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A pair of temporary bridges over the Old St. Pancras Road at the point where it crosses from the east of the railway alignment to the west. The St. Pancras Cellars are to the left and the station is to the right. The row of gas lanterns probably indicate the alignment of the original highway.
Bridge over Old St Pancras road, about 1867
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Image 4a

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A new pair of girders, temporarily positioned over the Old St. Pancras Road for the first of the new bridge spans. The huge trench in the foreground is part of the 'cut-and-cover' cutting for the St. Pancras branch tunnel: the top of the new iron tunnel for the Fleet Sewer is visible towards the right hand side.
Incorrectly described as Works crossing the Old St Pancras burial ground
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Image 5

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The cutting and northern tunnel portal for the St. Pancras branch. Note the wheelbarrows & shovels (for moving spoil, etc.), the temporary railway tracks (for removing spoil and bringing-in materials & equipment) and the simple raised walkways (made from timber planks resting on stacks of timber & simple trestles). The first rib segments for the train shed roof can be seen in the distance.
Construction of St Pancras railway station, 1867.
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Image 6

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This image shows the deep trench excavated for the second line of the Metropolitan Railway, which was constructed by the 'cut-and-cover' method. The trench runs parallel to the Euston Road, which is behind the hoardings (top-left). Note the neat stacks of bricks at the top of the cutting (top-right), waiting to be used to form the tunnel. Note too the steam crane with attached bucket (top-centre) and the horse (bottom-right).
Construction on the Metropolitan Railway, about 1867.
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Image 7

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Another view of the excavations for the second line of the Metropolitan Railway, showing more detail from the area in the central part of the previous image. The sides of the trench are supported by temporary timber bracing & shuttering. The workmen seem to favour light-coloured shirts (with rolled-up sleeves), dark long trousers, boots and informal headwear. No high-visibility jackets or hard hats in the 19th century.
Metropolitan Railway, about 1867.
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Image 8

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The northern end of the excavations for the train shed undercroft, looking north. Two of the perimeter retaining walls (with relieving arches) are clearly visible (left & centre). The first sets of 'feet' (bases) for the ribs of the train shed roof have been installed above the retaining wall (left) and the first group of supporting columns for the train shed floor have been erected (centre). The horse-drawn wagon in the foreground has a load of full sacks: perhaps either coal for the steam cranes, etc. or graded rubble for footings.
Site of St Pancras station, about 1867.
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Image 9

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Looking northeast across the station site, part one. Foreground: The liveries of the three spoil wagons on the temporary siding indicate that they were owned by 'Waring Bros' (the main contractor for the groundworks & brickworks). Middle ground: Some of the columns & girders to support the train shed floor have been erected. Background: The tops of buildings on the east side of St. Pancras Road.
"Construction of St Pancras station, about 1867."
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Image 10

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Looking northeast across the station site, part two. This shows more detail from the area to the left in the previous image. Note that the temporary rails are held in place by widely spaced split logs. As with many of these photographs, the people are posing for the camera, keeping as still as possible to avoid becoming a blur (or disappearing altogether). Based on their headwear, three of them appear to be 'management'.
Construction of St Pancras station, about 1867.
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Image 11

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'The lower floor contains seven hundred and twenty cast-iron columns set with stone bases on brick piers.' [1]
In this photograph, the upright (13" diameter) columns have already been set on their stone bases in perfectly aligned rows, ready to support the train shed floor. Other columns and stone blocks are lying haphazardly on the ground, awaiting their turn for installation. Note the wheelbarrow tracks and boot prints in the mud (foreground).
Construction of St Pancras station, about 1867.
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Image 12

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In this view looking north, what appears to be a shed on rails is actually a 'steam lift' (mobile steam crane). Short sections of lightweight temporary track would be laid wherever they were needed and examples can be seen in several of the photographs. Note the following in the foreground: a pickaxe standing upright on the ground beside a water tank (with adjacent muddy puddles), three buckets, two wheelbarrows (neatly loaded with bricks) and what appears to be a water pipe, snaking into the distance.
Construction of St Pancras station, about 1867.
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Image 13

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The process for installing the 'feet' of the ribs can be seen in this photograph. They "were first set temporarily in position, the brickwork underneath them being kept about 3 feet below its intended height. The feet were then accurately adjusted by timber-packing and wedges, and riveted to the ends of the floor girders." [1] In the bottom-left corner, there is a wooden barrel / cask and what is probably the roof of a steam crane. The latter is almost certainly in the St. Pancras branch tunnel.
Construction of St Pancras station, about 1867.
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Image 14

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The two lower portions or 'principles' of each rib were manufactured from solid plate (centre middle ground). To reduce weight, the other segments were 'open work' (a.k.a. 'lattice' - background, top-right). The brickwork in the foreground has been covered with weighted planks, probably to protect the mortar from rain and / or frost.
Construction of St Pancras station, about 1867.
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Image 15

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'Staging' has been erected on the first section of fully-framed train shed floor. When complete, the latter will cover an area of approximately four and a half acres. The staging takes the form of two rail-mounted travelling scaffolds, each comprising three separately moveable sections. Each stage is 40 feet deep (sufficient to span the distance between two adjacent ribs). One of the 'open work' rib sections is being lifted into place (top-left).
Construction of St Pancras station, about 1867.
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Image 16

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The brick arch (centre) is a part-finished section of the new tunnel for the St. Pancras branch. Note the thickness of the arch (by comparing it to the height of the standing man): it will need to be strong enough to support the weight of the hotel & station buildings above. Note too the part-built brick foundation pad for the southernmost rib of the train shed roof (to the right of the seated man).
St Pancras station construction, about 1867.
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Image 17

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The 'ingeniously contrived engine, which worked ropes to derricks placed on the stages' [1]
This steam-powered winch was used to lift and manoeuvre the component sections of ironwork into place so that they could be riveted together to form the ribs.
Construction of St Pancras station, about 1867.
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Image 18

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To move the staging, a man armed with a crowbar was placed at each wheel. On hearing an agreed signal (e.g. an iron plate being hit with a hammer), the men would use their crowbars as levers to rotate the wheels slightly, thereby moving the structure approximately one and a half inches at a time. Some of the wheels are just visible on the extreme right hand side of the photograph.
Construction of St Pancras station, 1868.
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Image 19

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The north end of the train shed, looking south. The first section of train shed roof has already been glazed & boarded. The first of the three horizontal girders has been installed for the gable end screen and the staging is gradually moving southwards. The area in the foreground is being used as a stone yard and it appear to be served by a pair of temporary rail sidings. Note the finished stone (bottom right).
Construction of Midland Railway extension to London St Pancras, 1867-1868.
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Image 20

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A view of the station frontage and train shed from the Euston Road (looking northeast) in 1868. The train shed is nearing completion. The basement & ground floor of the station frontage have been constructed and work has just begun on the first floor. The site hoarding is almost entirely covered with advertising posters.
View of St Pancras station from Euston road, 1868.
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Image 21

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"The ribs project in front of the piers of the walls and the piers project from the line of the wall. The radius of curvature was diminished at the haunches, to give increased headroom near the walls." [1] Additional height was gained by altering the pitch of the roof: note the ornamental spandrels supporting the shallower section.
St Pancras station, 1868.
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Image 22

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The shafts of sunlight pouring through the quatrefoil openings and the patterned masonry make this a dramatic and attractive image. The platforms have been been constructed with brick walls, stone coping / edging and timber decking. The long ladder and temporary boards below the train shed roof are probably to facilitate (re)painting.
St Pancras station, 1868.
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Image 23

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A view of the train shed interior (looking south), either shortly before or just after trains services began on October 1st, 1868. The basement, ground and first floors of the station frontage have been constructed, but work does not appear to have started on the upper floors. Note the enormous gas lights suspended from the train shed roof.
Construction of St Pancras station, 1868.
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Image 24

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A view of the train shed interior from just below the apex of the roof (looking north) shortly before trains services began. Some of the platforms are still being constructed and the method used to construct them is clearly visible on the right hand side.
St Pancras station, view from the roof towards the platforms, 1868.
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Image 25

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A view of the train shed interior (looking north) shortly after trains services began (and taken from a slightly lower vantage point). There is an interesting collection of passenger and freight rolling stock within the train shed. The area between the train shed walls is 18,823 square yards (15,736m2).
Construction of Midland Railway extension to London St Pancras, 1867-1868.
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The original images can be viewed at:
https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co442043/photographs-of-the-works-in-progress-of-the-midland-railway-photographs.

Miscellaneous

The image in this section is a coloured lithograph sourced from the Science Museum Group Collection Online on July 27, 2022 (object number 1946-303). This image has been edited to increase contrast and improve the readability of the text and it is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence - see
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0.

Image 26

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St.Pancras Station. Lithograph made: 1868-1870.
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The original image can be viewed at:
https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co66093/coloured-lithograph-st-pancras-station-print.

Derby Works Collection

The images in this section are photographs sourced from the Science Museum Group Collection Online on July 27, 2022 (collection reference 1997-7397). All of these images have been edited to increase contrast, reduce the glare introduced during the digitisation process and thereby significantly increase the amount of visible detail and they are shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence - see
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0.

Image 27

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St Pancras hotel, about 1910.
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Image 28

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St Pancras station booking hall, 1912.
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The original images can be viewed at:
https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co423004/derby-works-collection-collection-of-photographs.

London Midland & Scottish Railway Collection

The images in this section are photographs sourced from the Science Museum Group Collection Online on July 27, 2022 (collection reference 1997-7409). All of these images have been edited to increase contrast, reduce the glare introduced during the digitisation process and thereby significantly increase the amount of visible detail and they are shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence - see
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0.

Image 29

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St Pancras station, London, 1925.
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Image 30

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Decorations at St Pancras station, 1945.
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Image 31

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St Pancras station, 1947.
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Image 32

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Olympic games decorations at St Pancras station, 1948.
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The original images can be viewed at:
https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co423016/london-midland-scottish-railway-collection-collection-of-photographs.

Images from other sources

Image 32a

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'Works of the Midland Railway Terminus, Euston Road.'
A full-page illustration from page 160 of the Illustrated London News dated Feb, 15, 1868.
Public Domain.
Compare this with Images 16, 20 & 27.

Image 33

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The Midland Grand Hotel, three-quarter view from Euston Road (date unknown).
Courtesy of the Midland Railway Study Centre, Derby (item number 61966).
This version has been desaturated (to remove a yellow colour cast) and resized.[**]
61966.jpg

Image 34

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St. Pancras Station eastern entrance gates, circa 1873.
By 1908, these incredibly ornate gates had been removed. Photo courtesy of the Midland Railway Study Centre, Derby (item number 66004). This version has been cropped (to remove excess card frame) and resized.[**]
RFB66004.jpg

Image 35

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The train shed interior on 23rd October 2013, six years after its transformation into St. Pancras International.
Barlow's train shed roof has been slightly modified, but it remains attractive, functional and hugely impressive.
© Mark R. Harvey (2013).
[**] The two images from the Midland Railway Study Centre (MRSC) collection are shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence - see
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0.
The original versions can be accessed by searching for the item number in the MRSC catalogue at https://www.midlandrailwaystudycentre.org.uk/catalogue.php.

Further reading

[A] For a very brief history of the station, including a scale drawing showing a cross-section through the train shed roof, see "The history of London St Pancras International station" at:
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history/iconic-infrastructure/the-history-of-london-st-pancras-international-station/

[B] For a slightly more detailed history of the station's construction and the role of George Gilbert Scott, see "The Construction of St Pancras" at:
https://gilbertscott.org/the-construction-of-st-pancras/

[C] For a comprehensive first-hand account of the planning and construction process (with reduced-size reproductions of scale drawings), plus a review of the costs, see the "Description of the St Pancras Station and Roof, Midland Railway" by William Henry Barlow, F.R.S., M.Inst.C.E. (the Midland Railway Company's consulting engineer). This paper also explains why the ironwork of the train shed roof was (and still is) painted blue. A short extract from this paper has been reproduced in footnote 1 below. A digital version of the full paper (dated March 29, 1870) can be downloaded from the online catalogue of the Midland Railway Study Centre by searching for Item Number: 21696 at: https://www.midlandrailwaystudycentre.org.uk/catalogue.php

[D] For a set of 33 architectural and engineering drawings relating to the construction of St. Pancras station and its approaches, see the "Drawings of the Midland Railway Extension to London (St Pancras)" collection at:
https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/documents/aa110002831/drawings-of-the-midland-railway-extension-to-london-st-pancras

[E] For a description of the interior of the Grand Hotel shortly before its opening, see pages 345-349 of "The Midland railway: its rise and progress. A narrative of modern enterprise" by Frederick Smeeton Williams, published by Strahan & Co London in 1876. Also, pages 332-345 provide a slightly verbose, but nonetheless interesting description of the station works (some of which will seem remarkably familiar if you've read Barlow's account [C]). A 42Mb pdf version of Williams' book can be downloaded from:
http://www.archive.org/details/midlandrailwayit00will.

[F] For photographs and information relating to the construction of the line to the north of the station, see section 'B: Bedford to London' in the companion article entitled 'Building railways in the 1860s: two Midland extensions'.

Footnotes & Acknowledgements

[1] In a paper presented to the Institution of Civil Engineers on 29 March 1870 [C], the Midland Railway Company's consulting engineer W.H. Barlow provides the following description of the train shed roof and the process that enabled it to be constructed so quickly. The relevant section has been transcribed in full and reproduced below as it significantly aids the interpretation of the construction-era photographs.

Description of the lower floor.
The lower floor contains seven hundred and twenty cast-iron columns set with stone bases on brick piers. There are forty-nine rows of principle girders across the station, and fifteen similar girders running longitudinally. These carry intermediate girders, and the whole is covered with Mallet's buckle-plates. The strength of the girders and plating is sufficient to carry locomotives all over the floor, of which the cost of the ironwork was £57,000, or nearly £3 0s. 6d. per square yard.

Description of the roof
The main ribs or principles are made of channel-iron and plate-iron, and are 6-feet deep, or one-fortieth of the clear span. The rib between the walls is of open work, but the extremities of the principles in the walls are of solid plates. ... the total weight of each rib is 54 Tons, 64 cwt. ...  The cost of each rib is ... £1,132 4s. 0d.

The ribs project in front of the piers of the walls, and the piers project from the line of the wall. The width, measured between the walls, is 245 feet 6 inches and the distance from centre to centre of the ribs is 29 feet 4 inches. The arch is slightly pointed at the crown, as this form apparently posses some advantages in resisting the lateral action of wind, while it improves the architectural effect. The radius of curvature was diminished at the haunches, to give increased head room near the walls. ... The glazing is ridge and furrow, ventilation being obtained along the whole length of each ridge, which is left open and protected from wet by a ventilator cover: the ventilation is thus very complete. The roof is also provided with gangways throughout so that any pane of glass can be taken out and replaced. The gable ends or screens consist of three horizontal lattice girders, 6 feet wide, united and carried by verticals of similar construction.

... The erection of the roof was effected by two large timber stages, each made in three divisions, so that each part of either stage could be moved separately. These stages were designed by the Butterley Company, who were the contractors for the roofing and for the lower floor, Mr. (now Sir) G.J.N. Alleyne being the manager. The stages were 40 feet in width, of great strength and solidity, and contained about 25,000 cubic feet of timber and 80 tons of ironwork. The weight of each stage was about 580 tons, and with two ribs on it, the weight on the floor-girders where it stood, including men and apparatus, was about 650 tons. The passage of these stages, which moved on wheels, along the floor of the building, constituted a good test of the strength of that portion of the work.

The process of erecting was as follows; the two lower portions or the feet of the ribs were first set temporarily in position, the brickwork underneath them being kept about 3 feet below its intended height. The feet were then accurately adjusted by timber-packing and wedges, and riveted to the ends of the floor girders; after which the brickwork was carried up in blue Staffordshire bricks set in Portland cement, and the whole secured to the underside of the ironwork, the timber packings being removed as the work proceeded.

The open work of the main ribs was commenced from the extremities on each side, in divisions of about 18 feet in length, and these were placed temporarily together, supported by the staging, until all the pieces were in position. The whole was then adjusted for line and level, and riveted together with the purlins and other ironwork.

The time required for putting up the pieces and riveting, after the feet were fixed, was six days for each rib, and the last fourteen principles were erected in seventeen weeks, including delays from weather, and occasionally failure in the supply of materials and other causes. The ironwork was lifted by an ingeniously contrived engine, which worked ropes to derricks placed on the stages. The supports were adjustable on the stage. Special arrangements were employed to secure the line, form, and level of the work; and, the whole of the ironwork having been fitted at the Butterley Works, it was put together without difficulty. The greatest depression of any rib when the centre was struck was only 1/4 of an inch, and the average was 3/16 of an inch.

The contract provided for testing the roof; but the extreme stiffness of the work, and the unavoidable tests to which it was from time to time subjected during erection, were sufficient to show that no formal testing was necessary. In consequence of a delay in obtaining face-bricks for the side walls, a considerable number of ribs were erected, boarded, slated, and glazed before the side walls were built, and in that state the roof endured several gales of wind, one of which was unusually heavy, without the slightest visible movement. The lines of the roof are remarkably well preserved.

The Butterley Company are entitled to great credit for the manner in which the roof has been constructed, and their managing foreman on the works, Mr. Clark, is deserving of special mention, for erecting the work and putting it together on the ground.

This article was conceived, researched and written by Mark R. Harvey. © Mark R. Harvey (2022), except where otherwise indicated / credited.

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