"lonelytraveller" wrote in
message
...
The new Thameslink station has been opened. There are some nice old
bits that I don't ever remember being there (http://
http://www.southernelectric.org.uk/t...age201211.jpg),

You wouldn't remember that area, because it wasn't accessible to the public.
Previously it was mostly a solid pier supporting the two arched bridges that
support the station above, with a store room or something in its north end,
but it was beyond the normal stop position of an 8 car train heading
southbound, and alongside the Moorgate junction pointwork. From the
planning drawings it looks as though the south end of that passageway has
been opened out from the original solid construction.

The stairs just next to it on the central island have also moved northwards
a few metres as part of the northward expansion of the LU ticket hall, which
makes it more visible, and the area immediately to the south of it has been
opened right out, because they were able to demolish the bridge that
supported Cowcross St and replace it with a modern equivalent in concrete.
To have got rid of the narrow sections completely would have meant
demolition and rebuild of the whole of the LU ticket hall - and this was not
permitted by the local authority.

The effect of all this is that the platform width alongside these original
brick arches is marginally under the minimum, something like 2.3m
(where the required width is 2.5m), and this has been given a derogation...

Paul S