London Victoria
Piecemeal Modernisation
In the midst of the proposed rebuilding schemes, Victoria had already begun to
lose much of its bygone charm. The all-Pullman ‘’Brighton Belle‘’, the Central
Section’s premier train, had lost its Umber and Crème carriage colours to BR
Corporate Blue and Grey during 1969. Soon, in March 1971, British Rail announced
the total withdrawal of this service, claiming that the ageing 5-BEL units had
become costly to maintain and perpetuating the service would be uneconomical.
The ‘’Brighton Belle’’ last ran on 30th April 1972; on the following day,
standard electric stock formed the non-stop express to the Sussex Coast.
Out-of-the-ordinary trains remained a feature of the Eastern Section platforms
for a little while longer. The famous ‘’Golden Arrow’’ was a shadow of its
former self, having been whittled down to just four Pullman cars, all finished
in BR Corporate Blue and Grey. The rest of the train was made of six BR Mk 1
carriages and a baggage car. Electrically-hauled since 1961, this train last ran
on 30th September 1972, thus ending Victoria’s association with the Pullman
carriage (for now).
In 1971, the trio of attractive manual indicator boards were taken out of use,
and were replaced by electronic ‘’flap boards‘’ suspended over the platform
entrances of both station sides. Five years later, British Rail published plans
to create a large centralised ticket office and travel centre upon the Central
Section concourse, serving the entire terminus. The most significant years were,
however, to be 1979 and 1980, which heralded modernised signalling and proposals
for a reconstructed terminus. On 13th May 1979, Victoria ‘’A’’ Box (of 1920
vintage) was taken out of use and control of the Eastern Section platforms
temporarily transferred to the Central Section signal box of 1939. This itself
was decommissioned on 9th May 1980, when control of the entire terminus -
Central and Eastern - passed to the Victoria Panel based at Clapham Junction. It
was at this time that the unique triple-track formation between the Central
Section platforms was narrowed to conventional double-track. With reference to
1980, this was the year that plans were unveiled outlining a major
reconstruction of the Central Section terminus. The ridge-and-furrow trainsheds
were to be wholly abolished, except for that section covering the concourse, and
a huge shopping centre and offices built over the platforms. Trainshed
demolition started swiftly, the overall roof sandwiched in-between the concourse
and Ecclestone Bridge being the first to succumb. Some of the money raised
through the sale of ‘’air rights’’ above the station platforms was used to fund
other station improvements, such as new passenger information systems, opening
of retail outlets, and the laying of a terrazzo-covered concourse floor. As part
of the works, the former BUA Terminal above the northern ends of platform Nos.
15 and 16 (by this time run by British Caledonian) was demolished. The glazed
shopping centre above the northern halves of the Central Section platforms was
completed in 1985.
The Eastern Section twin trainshed spans were protected by Listed Status, but
the platforms here did not escape overhead development. As part of the 1980 to
1985 works, a car park of reinforced concrete construction was erected over
platform Nos. 5 to 8 (although notably, the track serving platform 5 was left
uncovered). This served the adjacent shopping centre and was sandwich in-between
the western train shed span and Ecclestone Bridge. In 1988, a new £1,700,000 ‘’Solari’’
platform departure board system was commissioned, and in the same year, work
began on dismantling the final part of the LB&SCR trainshed, that section
sandwiched in-between Ecclestone and Elizabeth Bridges. By the end of 1991, the
full extent of the Central Section platforms were ‘’under the raft’’.
Interim Affairs: Gatwick Express & British Pullman
During the planning and subsequent implementation of the aforementioned
rebuilding works, Victoria lost and gained some out-of-the-ordinary workings.
First of note was the running of the last ‘’Night Ferry’’ service, on 31st
October 1980. This train formerly berthed at Victoria’s platform 2 and usually
made the run to Dover Marine in 90 minutes. However, what the Eastern Section
lost, the Central platforms gained, with the latter soon to see the start of a
new airport express service to Gatwick.
Whilst regular semi-fast services between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport
can be traced back to May 1958, the first noticeable attempt at providing a
dedicated train between the two locations occurred in May 1973.
Trials were undertaken using 4-VEP No. 7755, to discover if basic modifications
made to typical Southern Region electric stock would make them suitable for
conveying airline customers and their luggage. The alterations made to this unit
were little more than replacing some seating areas with luggage racks.
Subsequently, another twelve standard 4-VEP units received the same treatment,
all being designated 4-VEG. Whilst No. 7755 reverted to its normal state, the
twelve later units were branded ‘’Rapid City Link Gatwick - London‘’. Despite
this title, the fleet remained in BR Corporate Blue and Grey colours, and the
British Rail ‘’Arrows of Indecision’’ logo was accompanied with that of an
aircraft symbol.
The ‘’Rapid City Link’’ service was semi-fast at the time, its only intermediate
stop being East Croydon. The 4-VEG units would usually be attached to a service
from the Arun Valley Line, at Gatwick, whence both services would continue onto
Victoria. Whilst the practice of re-using existing stock was a cost-effective
solution, airline passengers expected a level of comfort and luxury that a
standard commuter EMU could not provide. Finance was not available for the
development of brand new stock, but nevertheless, help was at hand. After the
introduction of the InterCity 125 HST sets from 1976 onwards, a significant
amount of relatively young locomotive-hauled stock was suddenly made surplus. In
particular, numerous ex-Midland Region BR Mk 2f air-conditioned carriages became
available, and it was decided to cascade these vehicles down to the Southern
Region. Here, it was envisaged that they would be part of a push-pull operation
between Victoria and Gatwick. The carriages were first sent to Derby Litchurch
Lane Works, where they were coupled together semi-permanently in sets of two and
three, being designated Classes 488/2 and 488/3 respectively. The vehicles were
equipped with electric pneumatic braking (EPB) and wired for push-pull operation
and multiple operation within their own class.
By the early 1980s, a small number of Class 73 Electro-Diesels had been
withdrawn from service and put into store. It was decided that there were enough
spare locomotives to power the new service, even though as it later transpired,
no dedicated Class 73 pool was initially allocated to the Gatwick operation.
Whilst the Class 73 provided a driver's cab at one end of the train, there was a
requirement for a second cab at what would become the ‘’London’’ end of the
formation. Furthermore, a large area was required for passengers’ luggage,
beyond the scope of the Mk 2 carriages. The solution to this came in typical SR
recycling fashion: BR extensively modified nine former Driving Motor Second
vehicles (DMS) of redundant Class 414 (2-HAP) stock for the role. Essentially,
the driving vehicles were totally gutted internally, whilst the coach sides were
extended below the solebar to emulate the profile of Mk 2 stock. Three sets of
double doors were installed down each side for rapid loading / unloading, and a
conductor's compartment was built into the non-driving end. The suburban cab
front was retained, along with the front motor bogie, which could provide an
additional 500 HP to the train. The rear bogie of the vehicle was also of 2-HAP
origin, although was a non-powered motor bogie, used purely as an extra pick-up
for the third rail. The cab controls were updated to suit multiple working with
the Class 73, allowing the latter's power to be governed from the cab of the DMS
(a similar system of which was already in use on the Bournemouth to Weymouth
line using Class 33/1 diesels and 4TC stock). Conversion of the DMS vehicles was
completed at Eastleigh in 1984, the first being delivered to Stewarts Lane on
6th January of that year, and the final class members arrived in early March.
The driving vehicles were numbered 489101 to 489110.
The ‘’Gatwick Express’’ was formally launched on 14th May 1984 and was
immediately successful. It was hoped that 7,000,000 passengers would be carried
in its first year of operation. The journey was non-stop between Victoria and
Gatwick Airport, taking just thirty minutes. This was the InterCity Business
Sector’s sole service that ran on Southern Region metals only.
The ‘’Golden Arrow’’ had not quite been gone a decade when the Eastern station
witnessed a renaissance of Pullman trains. Indeed, these were by no means daily
boat trains departing platform 8, as in the heyday of this famous service.
Neither, though, were these revived train formations made up of a hotchpotch of
BR Blue and Grey Mk 1 and Pullman vehicles. The old colours of Umber and Crème
were back on restored Pullman cars which could once be found within the original
‘’Brighton Belle’’ and ‘’Golden Arrow’’ train formations. On 11th November 1981,
the ‘’British Pullman’’ was formally launched at Victoria: stabled in platform 2
was Electro-Diesel No. 73142 fronting Pullman Cars ‘’Perseus‘’, ‘’Phoenix‘’,
‘’Ibis‘’, and ‘’Cygnus’’. The inaugural run of the train took place on 28th
April 1982, when it left Victoria under the guise of the ‘’Brighton Festival
Belle’’. The first working to Folkestone Harbour took place on 25th May of the
same year and since, day trip destinations have been as far flung as Bristol,
Bath, and York.
Privatisation
These are a final few words on the terminus as seen today, for it essentially
remains in its post-1991 form. On 1st April 1994, Victoria became part of ‘’Railtrack’’,
during the run up to privatisation of British Rail. Railtrack formally became a
private sector affair when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange on 20th
May 1996. During 2001, automatic ticket barriers were installed on both Central
and Eastern platforms. This was the tip of the iceberg, for in March of that
year, Railtrack announced a £250 million redevelopment of Victoria, which
encompassed a huge office and retail development above the station. Although the
company was later replaced by Network Rail, similar plans emerged in 2005, and
in February of the following year, tenders were put out for the redevelopment of
Euston and Victoria stations. At the latter, a new development of about one
million square feet is envisaged, made up by a series of tower blocks above the
station. In the meantime, on Sunday 21st November 2004, the decommissioning of
the 1988-installed ‘’Solari’’ flap board took place. By this time, the latter
was encountering frequent failures as a result of sticking flaps and, in light
of the lack of available spare parts, was replaced by an LED system.
Presumably, the redevelopment will concentrate mainly on those Central Section
platforms which were themselves built over between 1980 and 1991. The Eastern
Section trainshed has been granted a new lease of life by the commencement of a
restoration scheme: scaffolding for this started being erected in December 2008.
Whether new development will take place over the entire approaches of Victoria,
south of the trainshed of 1860, remains to be seen. Will the remaining section
of LB&SCR trainshed, over the Central Section concourse, survive the works?
10th April 2005
Pairing with GLV No. 9110 was Electro-Diesel No. 73208. The ''old stock'' was still doing the rounds in November
2005, despite being ''officially'' withdrawn from scheduled services on 28th July 2005. No. 73208 has mostly been
working infrastructure trains between Eastleigh, Hoo Junction and Tonbridge West Yard since departing Gatwick
Express service. © David Glasspool
19th April 2006
As is the case at Charing Cross, the concourse on the ''Brighton'' side retains its original roof. The design seen
here was once perpetuated over the platforms and beyond the road bridge. The digital platform indicator
board was commissioned in November 2004. © David Glasspool
19th April 2006
The Eastern Section also received a new digital platform display as per its Central Section neighbour. Here
it can be seen that the curved trainshed span in the background is considerably shorter than that nearest
the camera: the gap is filled by a ridge-and-furrow roof. © David Glasspool
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