Euston Arch

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Mon 18 May, 2009 12:45 pm

There's a campaign to rebuild the Euston Arch, much of which now rests in a river. Apparently the stone is in good condition. Turns out it's from Bramley Falls.http://www.eustonarch.org/history.html

liits · Post by **liits** » Mon 18 May, 2009 8:07 pm

Sorry Cardiarms, but I have a bit of an axe to grind about the Euston Arch. Whilst I don’t necessarily disagree with the arch being rebuilt, I think it should be rebuilt in its original location. Thankfully, the Euston arch.org website had been updated [reasonably recently] and now shows such things as the original location of the arch [which it didn’t do before, and as such is now not as misleading as it was].Most people [mistakenly] think that the arch was located between the two lodges on Euston Road: it wasn’t. It was on the same alignment as Drummond St and, mostly, wasn’t visible from Euston Rd at all [hence the lack of photos taken from directly in front of it].Our local TV news program, London Tonight, has just shown a piece about the arch. Their opening shot showed the presenter standing out on Euston Rd beside one of the lodges followed by Dan Cruickshank up to his neck in the river Lea…. I give in!While still standing the arch was where the station concourse is now. Beyond the arch was the entrance to the hotel and the taxi rank, all confined in a very small area. Although this is shown quite clearly on one of the pictures on the website, this fact seems to have been overlooked by many, many people.I don’t think the campaign to reinstate the arch has been done any favours by the revamping of St Pancras station. While there is no doubt that the project has worked superbly, the transport infrastructure around the station has been adversely affected by not having the taxi rank within the bounds of the building [as it is at Euston, underneath the station concourse]. Consequently, Pancras Rd is constantly clogged with taxis dropping off at St P on one side and taxis waiting to pick up at KX on the other side. None of this takes into account the private cars and mini-cabs doing the same thing - all of this on a bus route. The road layout of Pancras Rd is now in its fifth incarnation in four years; its problems still far from being resolved [the problem being caused by the control of Highway Planning being ceded to CTRL].If, as the website proposes, the new arch were to be built between the two lodges [where most people think it was anyway], the disruption to public transport would be on a scale achievable only by the likes of Leeds City Council. I have to agree that the arch would enhance any future development of the station but the way it is being “sold” is wrong; it’s not a part of our railway heritage, it’s a copy of it, “restoring to the capital one of the greatest buildings of the railway age, and a building of international significance”. Nor would it be an amenity [?] or enhancement to the community. This sort of inclusionist clap-trap was spouted by somebody who’s never looked around at the community that lives in Somers Town, one of the most deprived wards in the borough of Camden. If railway heritage is being used as part of the argument, why don’t Virgin Trains et-al revert back to using Rocket, pulling passengers in open trucks? That’s silly, I know, and although I also know that historical revisionism can work [look at Tornado] the whole Euston Arch project is just banging the drum for the canonisation of St John of Betjeman and jumping on the coat-tails of St Pancras. Lets see how keen the like of Messrs. Palin and Cruickshank are when any new arch has a Starbucks or McD’s in it.Camden Council, who have had their fingers burned with the “Railway Lands” planning application, aided and abetted by the Mayor of London’s office, English Heritage etc will be sure to mess it up. This is why their predecessors allowed the original arch to be pulled down in the first place.Save the money, build a better bus station.There, now that I’ve got that off of my chest, where did the stone come from?

Richard A Thackeray · Post by **Richard A Thackeray** » Tue 19 May, 2009 2:58 pm

Aren't the gates in the National Railway Museum in York?

Cardiarms · Post by **Cardiarms** » Tue 19 May, 2009 3:19 pm

And breathe....:-DYes the gates are in york.The website is quite informative about the original siting and layout. the fella who knocked it down used some of the stone on his own house.

liits · Post by **liits** » Wed 20 May, 2009 1:01 am

It’s ok Cardiarms, I’ve breathed and the veins in my neck have stopped popping!

liits · Post by **liits** » Sat 23 May, 2009 7:07 pm

From our local rag, the Camden New Journal.