The London, Chatham and Dover Railway: Victoria Station

Arthur H. Beavan when he wrote the following in Imperial London, published in 1901, was not overly impressed with Victoria Station:

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Foreigners arriving in London by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway can hardly be impressed by the beauty of its West End terminus, Victoria Station, Pimlico, however much the station-yard crowded with omnibuses, hansoms, four-wheelers, private carriages, vans and carts, may convince them of the energy and confusion of London life. (There is also a terminus at Blackfriars, and another at Holborn Viaduct.)

Not even an apology for a facade looks upon the yard, the entrance proper - seldom used - being round the corner, off the Wilton Road.

There is a general air of shabbiness about the station; the planking needs renewing, the booking-office, etc, look as if they had been temporarily run-up, and the rolling stock is not of the improved type.

The line is an important feeder of the continental traffic; it is a permanent adjunct of the Crystal Palace, and its suburban system is extensive, and as it goes to Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Margate, and other favourite resorts of "trippers," it does a large business, particularly during holiday-time.

In conjunction with the South Coast Railway it is not unusual for 8000 Saturday-to-Monday excursionists to be conveyed per week to these watering-places, and to Folkestone, Dover, Deal, and Sandgate.

But what these united lines have to deal with in the matter of popular traffic is best seen on a fine August Bank Holiday, when as many as 119,000 persons have been booked at their London stations in three days, a total beating that of every other railway company except the Great Eastern.

Next: Locomotive London in 1900: The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway.