Maida Vale’s Mainline Station
The closest London mainline station to Morshead Mansions is Paddington, which serves the western side of the country, all the way down as far as Penzance, in Cornwall. Officially known as ‘London Paddington’, it’s more commonly referred to simply as Paddington and is one of the most iconic and historic railway stations in London. The history of Paddington Station dates all the way back to 1838, and it’s a fascinating one…
The Early Years
Paddington Station was originally built to be the London terminus of the Great Western Railway. Designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, he was instrumental in the conception of a railway line from London to Bristol and intended it to be the best railway line in the country. The GWR originally planned their line to terminate at Euston, as using part of the existing London to Birmingham railway would have been cost-effective. Brunel, however, rejected this idea, concerned that it might allow Liverpool to compete as a port with Bristol.
Brunel originally planned for Paddington to be a grand building, close to both the Grand Union and Regent’s Canals. Before construction began, however, GWR decided to make substantial cutbacks, due to the soaring costs of building the main line. A temporary station was constructed instead, which opened on the 4th of June 1838 on the west side of Bishop’s Bridge Road.
Paddington Station Gets the Go-Ahead
At that time, the mainline only stretched as far as Maidenhead. By 1850, the line through to Bristol was opened and to cater for the increase in traffic the GWR agreed to a new permanent station to be built between Bishop’s Bridge Road and Praed Street. Brunel was able to oversee this project and the history of Paddington Station was born. Being hugely influenced by the design of the Crystal Palace, Brunel used wrought iron and glass in Paddington’s roof, a feature that can still be seen clearly to this day. At the time, this was the largest train shed roof in the world. The station building on platform 1 had three oriel windows that overlooked the train shed and a royal waiting room for Queen Victoria.
The Infrastructure
Between 1851-1854, the Great Western Hotel was built at the front of the station on Praed Street. Opening on the 9th of June 1854, it had 103 bedrooms and 15 sitting rooms. Each corner featured a tower that had 2 additional floors above the 5 storeys of the main building. When first opened it was run by a consortium of GWR shareholders and staff, in 1896 the GWR took over operations completely.
The GWR began experimenting with electric lighting at Paddington station in 1880. Although the system was initially unreliable, it spurred the GWR on to a more ambitious lighting scheme in 1886, which ultimately showed that electricity was able to compete effectively with traditional gas lighting.
Linking the Underground
Paddington was also the first station in London to be served by the London Underground. In 1863, the Metropolitan Railway opened its line from Paddington to Farringdon Street, using steam locomotives. Later, other lines were added, such as the District Railway in 1868, the Bakerloo Railway in 1913, and the Hammersmith & City Railway in 1926.
The History of Paddington Station’s Expansion
When first built in 1850, the station was so large that it was more than capable of coping with the Great Western Railway’s expansion for the next 50 years. By 1904 though, more space was needed, both for greater passenger numbers and more employees, so further building works took place. Between 1913 and 1916, a 4th roof span was added to increase the number of platforms, which today houses platforms 9-16.
Surviving World Wars
Paddington was fortunate to sustain no damage during World War I, even though it was used for some of the country’s military movement. On Armistice Day in 1922, a memorial to GWR employees who died during the war was unveiled by Viscount Churchill. The bronze memorial, depicting a soldier reading a letter, was sculpted by Charles Sargeant Jagger and still stands on platform 1 to this day.
More expansion to the station took place in the 1930’s, which included the art deco office block on the western side of the station. Between 1933-1935, a new entrance was built on Praed Street. Despite surviving World War 1, the station came under attack several times during World War II. On 17 April 1941, the departure side of the station was hit by a parachute mine and on 22 March 1944, the roof between platforms 6 and 7 was destroyed by two 500-pound bombs.
Passenger traffic greatly increased through Paddington during the war, partly due to evacuation and also because holidaymakers chose to travel west, as large areas of the south and east coasts had been taken over by the military. The history of Paddington station tells us that on the 29th of July 1944, it was closed for three hours because the platforms were saturated with passenger traffic, while on the following August Bank Holiday crowds had to be controlled in ordered queues along Eastbourne Terrace by mounted police.
Modernisation
The last long-distance steam train left Paddington on the 11th of June 1965, signalling the complete switch over to diesel trains. The track layout was reorganised in 1967, abolishing the designated arrival and departure platforms that had been a feature of Paddington since its opening. The station concourse was enlarged in 1970 and the ticket office was rebuilt in the same year. In 1982, a bronze statue of Brunel, sculpted by John Doubleday, was erected on the station concourse.
During the 1990’s the station was extensively refurbished, with the glass in Brunel’s original roof being replaced with polycarbonate glazing panels. This was also around the same time that all trains were electrified. In 2000 a new terminal opened to cater for the Heathrow Express service and 2022 saw the opening of the Elizabeth Line, which runs from the west of London to the east, passing through Paddington station.
Paddington Station Today
According to the 2023–24 Office of Rail & Road Statistics, Paddington is the second busiest station in the UK, after Liverpool Street, with almost 67 million entries and exits annually.
So, the history of Paddington station now spans almost two centuries and it’s definitely worth a visit if you haven’t ever travelled through it. Although it lies just 2 stops on the Bakerloo line from Maida Vale, if you’re feeling energetic it’s easily walkable. The walk itself is very picturesque, southwards down to Little Venice, into Paddington Basin and then just a little further along the canal. There’s a new modern side entrance by the canal and it’s a lovely area to sit outside and while away a sunny day…
If you’d like to read more about Paddington Station’s history, just head over to Wikipedia for a more detailed breakdown.
