Queen Victoria Station Is Being Updated and Upgraded

Problem
Bits of the above ground mainline Victoria station are under wraps, literally.

Answer
However, other parts look great. Concentrate on the positive.

Queen Victoria profile white on blue in tiles on the underground at Victoria station. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Down On The Underground
I like the pictures of Queen Victoria on the underground decorating the platform walls. Blue solid silhouettes, resembling the pictures of her on the early Victorian pennies.

Up On The Main Concourse
When you come up the mainline station, you are impressed by the structure of the ceiling. It is similar to Paddington station in London and historic York station further north in England.

Vicoria station arched ceiling. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I have also see another grand arched station in Europe from that era - I haven't yet visited it but at least I have seen a picture of Lvov/Lviv/Lemberg (spelled differently in Austro-Hungarian Empire German, Polish and Ukrainian).

Standing on a station puts you in touch with the whole country as you look at the names on the Departure signboards. Then, if you are waiting on the concourse, or through the gates onto the platform, or sitting on a train waiting to depart, you might recall other journeys you have taken, or journeys taken by other people.

All around you are excited people.

I was there July 2018.  On the underground train, the atmosphere was crowded but noisy and jolly. Groups of young men were singing football suppport songs (England had just won and got through to the semi-finals). Girls sitting down, cluthing bags and shopping bags, smiled and joined in.

I thought, not everybody on the train will be a supporter of the England team. However, if I were in Spain and I heard the locals singing songs supporting their teams, I would find it amusing and adding to the ambience.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. I have posts on other London stations and statues of Brunel at Paddington. Please bookmark your favourite pages to come back and share links with your friends. If you would like a talk about London or any other country in the world, on video or in person, please contact me.