THE VERDANT PATH
KING’S CROSS STATION
The Station opened in 1852 and took its name from the Kings Cross
area which was named after a monument to King George IV (previously The
Prince Regent) that had been demolished earlier in 1845.
George Turnbull, who also constructed the first 20 miles of track out of
London for the Great Northern Railway, first planned for the station in 1848.
Lewis Cubitt completed the designs of the station, which was built from 1851–2.
His Great Northern Hotel was completed 2 years later. Both replaced an old fever
and smallpox hospital, that itself had apparently been built on Queen
Boudicca’s last and fatal battlefield.
The first two original platforms, arrivals & departures, with sidings
in between, soon expanded to 8 and later an extension had to be added at the
side for 3 more, 4 if you include the magical Platform 9 ¾ for Harry Potter’s
Hogwarts School Express. To contribute to the confusion, Platform 0 has
been added to the other side and they are all now due to be renumbered. Other
famous trains include The Flying Scotsman and the world steam speed
record holder The Mallard. A Javelin train will take spectators to the
Olympics at Stratford.
The clutter of shops, cafés and ticket offices that covered the station’s
front façade has been moved onto the North-West side facing St.Pancras,
enabling the original ticket office to function again. Two new Piazzas have
thus been created, one on the new Way Out, revealing the Grade 1 listed
façade of the station, and a second next to St.Pancras at the new entrance.
Apparently this was only made possible by moving the Grade 2 listed German
Gym across to its present position!
The building of a pedestrian bridge now gives access right the way
across the station. The Arrivals and Departure Boards, shops and refreshment
facilities are now under an ultra modern high-tech glass roof supported by a
diagrid steel tube structure, designed by architect John McAslan with project
engineer Tim Worsfold of Arup. This 52 metre span, 130 metre diameter roof
is supported by a central trunk with perimeter columns and is structurally
independent of the once bomb damaged ticket hall behind. It resembles half a
mushroom or Millennium Dome. Nick-named The String Vest, it is up lit by
efficient colour-stable metal halide projectors.
The King’s Cross Fire on the 18th March 1987 actually happened in
the joint Underground system under St. Pancras Railway Station. 31
people were killed, including LFB officer Colin James Townley, who was one
of the first firemen to arrive. He had entered the Ticket Hall, without
breathing apparatus to direct passengers to safety. He died of smoke
inhalation after remaining there in an attempt to save a woman passenger.
The body of an elderly man who had just arrived from Scotland was only
identified in 2004. Over 60 were injured by fire and or smoke, some severely.
A passenger had started the fire by ignoring the No Smoking rule, that
had been introduced in ??? after a non lethal fire ???years earlier at ????
station.and dropping their lighted match between gaps created by missing
protective strips on the Wooden Escalators. Several matches were later found
below the up escalators where passengers had lit cigarettes as they prepared to
leave the station. Scorch marks on the under side of the wooden escalators
indicate that there had been previous mini fires that had never taken hold. But
this time, a mixture of old grease, lubricating oil and accumulated debris caught
fire under the wooden escalators. These had been installed before 1940 and had
never been cleaned properly.
White wood smoke was first noticed at about 19.30 pm. The first fire engine
arrived at 19.42 pm, when the first flames were seen. Suddenly there was a
flashover, almost a firestorm with associated impenetrable back smoke that
enveloped the ticket hall, hiding all the exits, and it was here that most of the
dead were later found. Subsequent scientific investigations at Edinburgh
University found that this had been caused by the piston effect of two passing
trains, pushing airborne oxygen from below like the bellows of a forge, in
conjunction with the swirling Trench Effect created by the particular
configuration of inclined 30 degree escalator tunnels and passages, that acted like
fan assisted chimneys. When the oil based ceiling paint and varnished wooden
panels caught fire, the smoke turned black and lethal.
14 ambulances and 30 fire crews attended with over 150 firemen. The fire
was finally put out officially at 1.46am the next day. A local publican looked after
the firemen that did not need to be taken to hospital because of smoke inhalation
or heat exhaustion. He kept his pub open all night, which allowed the men to
unwind and recover physically and mentally from their horrendous ordeal. Relief
fire crews remained on site till about 18.00 pm on the evening of the 19th March.
It took two years before the remedial emergency repairs were
completed and the system was running normally again. It has taken twentyfive years for the safety recommendations of the Fennell Report to be fully
implemented. The imaginative construction of the new Western
Underground Ticket Hall involved the risky task of carefully excavating the
whole area in front of the St. Pancras Hotel, with out undermining its
foundations or causing the Victorian brick Underground tunnels, a few feet
below, to collapse. The cobbled Taxi ramp was then reinstated. This delicate
operation was a major achievement that Arup, the engineering company
responsible can be justly proud.
Elsewhere a surface access hub was excavated from which drilling
machines were directed in several directions, creating associated extra linking
passages. These incorporated new fire alarms, sprinklers and doors, as did the
whole complex. Thus capacity has been greatly increased without altering the
platforms or track. New lifts now give wheel chair users street level access to
all platforms and the emergency services have their own designated lift, access
routes and communications centre.