St Pancras 150

OF all the major London termini, St Pancras has probably had the most interesting history. As a relative latecomer compared to some of its rivals, such as Euston (opened 1837) and King’s Cross (1852), the 1868-built station has always struggled to have the same status as these two neighbours on London’s Euston Road, with its routes to the north and Scotland taking longer than both the West Coast and East Coast Main Lines.

The impressive hotel at the front of the station was practically out of date when it opened, and the station itself faced closure in the 1960s. But today the totally-revamped terminus is London’s only international station and October sees it celebrate its 150 years in style.

ORIGINS

The St Pancras district was named after a fourth-century Christian martyr, Pancras, who according to legend was beheaded at the age of 14 in the year 304. By the 19th century, the district of St Pancras, known as Agar Town, had become a slum area, and it was here that the Midland Railway (MR) chose to locate a new station to connect its network of lines in South and West Yorkshire and Lancashire to London, as it had no London terminus of its own. The company had previously used the London & North Western Railway (LNWR) to run its trains into Euston and subsequently, from 1857, its own Leicester and Hitchin branch to the Great Northern Railway (GNR) and King’s Cross. In 1862, trains serving the second International Exhibition were subjected