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Paddington station or London Paddington is the name of a major railway station in the Paddington area of London, which is the London terminus for long distance trains to the West of England and South Wales and some West
London commuter services. Stops on several lines of the London
Underground are also part of the station complex: the Hammersmith & City Line at a surface station on the north side of the station and parallel
with it; the District Line and Circle Line in a cutting in front of the station and perpendicular to it, and the Bakerloo Line in deep-level tubes below the station.
History
The first station to open in the Paddington area was a temporary terminus for the Great Western Railway on the west side of Bishop's Bridge Road. The first GWR services from London to
Taplow, near Maidenhead, ran from here in 1838. After the opening of the main station in
1854, this became the site of the goods yard. After years of dereliction, it is now being
redeveloped as a mixed residential and business area called "Paddington Central".
The main Paddington station between Bishops Bridge Road and Praed Street was opened in 1854. It was designed by Isambard Kingdom
Brunel, later commemorated by a statue on the station concourse, though much of the architectural detailing was by his
associate Matthew Digby
Wyatt. The Great
Western Hotel was built in front of it in 1868–74 by PC Hardwick. The
station was substantially enlarged in 1906–15.
In 1863 the Metropolitan Railway opened the first underground railway, running from Paddington to Farringdon. Its line emerged from the tunnels at a station (known for many years as
Bishop's Road) on the north side of the mainline station, with a connection to the GWR mainline which allowed it
to run regular services onto the GWR's Hammersmith branch. From the 1930s until the late
1960s the Metropolitan
Line and GWR suburban services shared a group of four platforms, but the Underground is now entirely separate and forms Paddington station on the Hammersmith
& City Line.
In 1868 the Metropolitan Railway opened a new branch to Kensington, with a station called Praed Street in a cutting across that street from the
mainline station. This station is now Paddington station on the Circle and District Lines. It is linked to the mainline station
and the Bakerloo line by a footway that passes underneath Praed Street and the Great Western Hotel.
The deep-level Baker Street and Waterloo Railway — now the Bakerloo Line — opened on December 1, 1913, with platforms underneath the mainline
station.
It is proposed that Crossrail line 1 will serve Paddington station.
Trivia
The children's book character Paddington Bear was named after
Paddington station. In the books he is found at the station in London, coming from "deepest, darkest Peru" and with a note attached to his coat reading "please look after this bear, thank you". Because of this he is
named after the station.
In real life there is a statue of Paddington Bear in the station concourse.
See Also
External links
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