On Sun, 12 Feb 2006, Peter Lawrence wrote:

On Sat, 11 Feb 2006 19:27:42 +0000, Tom Anderson
wrote:

I was strolling down Great Suffolk Street in Southwark earlier today,
and as i went under the railway bridge (where both the Charing Cross
and Blackfriars lines cross), i noticed two things.

Firstly, the viaduct carrying the Blackfriars line looks insanely
steep. Does anybody know how steep? Or was i imagining that?

There are three railway-like bridges there; the northernmost in fact
carries a roadway. perhaps is the steep one you saw.

Aaaah - the bridge in question was indeed the northernmost one. It was
much lower than the one behind it, and looking on the googly maps, it's
clear that i was in fact looking at the roadway bridge:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?t=h&ll...00992,0.002511

Secondly, there's a very railwayish building on the east side of the
road just north of the railways. Was there ever a station here?

Not a passenger station - it was the Ewer Street Grand Vitesse depot
handling fruit and veg from the continent.

Brilliant! How did that work, then?

From the photo, which shows the roof of the building occupying a parcel of
land a couple of hundred metres long right next to the railway, apparently
level with the tracks (or a few feet lower), and with a long, tapered neck
to the east, i'd guess that there was a junction just east of Southwark
Bridge Road, from which a track ran out and into sidings on the depot
roof. I think the stuff you can see on top of Great Guildford Street, with
a little mini-gantry, is the remains of the access route.

Do i win a lolly?

About a hundred metres to the north, on the west side of the road, i
noticed the 'Grand Vitesse Business Park'; i'd assumed it was an attempt
to cash in on the Eurostar or something (not that that goes anywhere near
here!), rather than a name reflecting long-standing local industrial
heritage!

The roadway referred to served that depot, and probably still serves the
upper level of the site. The undercroft of the depot remains - in use
as a car park.

Certainly looks like it on the aerial photo.

Next silly question: why are there two 'Great
Place-Not-Anywhere-Near-Here-Or-To-Where-You-Might-Go-From-Here-From-Anywhere-Important
Streets' round here? The usual explanation is that they're the names of
noblemen, but i'm not aware of a Lord Guildford of note ...

tom

--
SCIIIIIEEEEEEEENNNNNNCCCCCCCE!!!