"Mizter T" wrote

I can't quite recall exactly what the arrangement was in days or yore,
but I think this northern exit used to form part of the cab road that
ran through Paddington - I think there was direct access off the old
Bishop's Bridge into the cab road, which then used the ramp down to
the wide island between platforms 8 & 9 before continuing across what
is now the concourse and onto the ramp that leads up to Praed Street.

I'm not sure if there was any pedestrian access next to the cab road
in those days, as the cast iron bridge it uses (which now forms part
of that northern exit) is quite narrow - nor am I sure whether or not
there was any other pedestrian exit up this way.

There did used to be a direct entrance onto the H&C line platforms
from Bishop's Bridge too - I'm not sure when this fell out of use, it
may have even been before the H&C line tracks and BR tracks on the
approach to Paddington were disentangled in the 60's. The current
emergency exit bridge between the H&C island platform and platforms
13/14 is I believe a remnant of this.

You're right about the cab road coming from Bishop's Bridge down the ramp
and along platforms 8/9. In the far distant past there was also a cab road
down platforms 10/11.

When I was working for BR (WR London DMO) in 1967 I recall a reference to
Paddington E Booking Office which I was led to believe was the one on
Bishop's Bridge, but that it had closed some little time before. The
rearrangement of the tracks, moving the westbound H&C to from 13 to 15
happened later in 1967.

If the peak congestion is intolerable, the only quick fix I can think of is
to instigate a one-way system to and from platforms 13 - 16. One way via
platform 12 and the other way via the bridge. There would be people for whom
this would be inconvenient. It might also be possible to have the whole of
the bridge within the gated area, with gates removed from the bridge and put
at the foot of the stairs on platforms 1 and 6 - 9.

Peter