The Great Western Railway - Paddington Station

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Brass Sextant nautical kalvin & Hughes London nautical sextant -captain sextant
29 Jan 2012 at 11:39am
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MARITIME BRASS SUNDIAL COMPASS / ROSS LONDON COMPASS
7 Dec 2011 at 11:24am
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Arthur H. Beavan had this to say in Imperial London, published in 1901, about Paddington Station:

To Londoners the Great Western Railway is identified with the Paddington terminus, which Frith selected as the scene of his celebrated picture The Railway Station.

Though greatly extended and improved, the station in its principal feature - the transept roof - was just as impressive in 1854, when Queen Victoria, travelling from Windsor, paid her first visit there, and alighted on the down side, because the arrival-platform was not completed, and after glancing upwards with marked approval, walked through the booking-office to her carriage.

One deficiency at Paddington is the absence of a "great hall" for departing travellers, such as that at Euston, and the waiting-rooms are of the old type.

The refreshment department also is very cramped; but most of the passengers by the Great Western Railway are of a class that does not require waiting-rooms, and as the practice of dining, etc., on board the train increases, the necessity for station buffets may decrease.

Paddington is essentially a terminus where well-dressed and well-to-do people are in the majority.

Royalty frequently uses it, and there are always personages of more or less importance going to or returning from Windsor.

In the summer the upper Thames, touched at several points by the line, attracts thousands, and the early Sunday morning trains present the appearance of a series of picnic parties, the ladies in gay dresses and the men in boating costume.

The day excursions to Shakespeare's land are extensively patronized by visitors from the United States; but Paddington is at its best in Ascot and Henley weeks, when indeed it glows with colour; and from the central office window just below the departure platforms, the chief officials look down upon a scene resembling a field of many-hued tulips.

Civility to the public, and length of service, have always been characteristics of the Great Western Railway employees.

Year after vear, old travellers recognize the same collectors, inspectors, engine-drivers, guards, and porters.

A clerk in the booking-office lately retired after nearly half-a-century of work; he recollected issuing the first railway-ticket in 1853, and had since sold thousands upon thousands, and been responsible for millions of pounds.

A familiar and important member of the staff at Paddington is the collecting-dog, Tim, who, with a box round his neck, solicits contributions for the widows and orphans of Great Western Railway employees.

He has begged from Royalty, and has several times been the honoured recipient of sovereigns from Queen Victoria, and King Edward VII.

He knows his hours perfectly, and every morning goes on duty as regularly as the porters.

Next: Locomotive London in 1900: The London and North-Western Railway: Euston Station