The South-Eastern Railway City Terminus: Cannon Street

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Continuing his survey of the main railway termini in Imperial London in 1901, Arthur H. Beavan had this to say about Cannon Street:

The City terminus at Cannon Street soon followed after the building of Charing Cross, and has proved its usefulness; for many more than 50,000 passengers, and more than 1000 trains and engines go in and out every day.

In appearance this station is very much like Charing Cross, the interior of each consisting of a single glazed and arched hall, with a big hotel in front.

There is only one place from which properly to see Cannon Street station, and that is the signal-box.

It is, therefore, to this structure, which almost spans the bridge, that the visitor is taken.

From its windows, a bird's-eye view of all the "roads" is obtained.

There are eight running roads, two sidings, and nine platforms; but the network of rails is complicated by "cross-over roads" to enable a train to get from one side of the bridge to the other.

To keep the trains from colliding, there are some half-dozen signalmen in the great signal-box who work 243 levers for eight hours daily.

They are assisted by the best apparatus, including that of the block system, and the automatic locking, which is done by the engine itself when standing in a dangerous position in the station.

Every day some 25,000 movements of the levers are made, and in one case as many as thirty-eight making up a single "combination" necessary to signal a certain train into the station; whilst, in another case, to get a train in and out of Cannon Street, seventy-five movements on the part of the ever-vigilant signalmen are required.

Next: Locomotive London in 1900: London, Chatham and Dover Railway: Victoria Station.