Waterloo Railway Station 11 July

The Waterloo district of London, was named after the Battle of Waterloo in which Napoleon was defeated near Brussels. Waterloo Railway Station, somewhat ironically, was for a time London’s gateway for train passengers from France and Belgium and the original station was opened on this day, 11 July, in 1848 by the London and South Western Railway Company. The Station was, originally, fairly small and was situated where the present-day platforms 7 to 12 are found. However as rail travel became more popular, the station required extra capacity and three more stations were added to the original: ‘Windsor’ to the north-west in 1860; ‘Cyprus’ to the south east in 1878 and ‘Khartoum’ to the north in 1885. The stations were, for years, known by both their original names and by cardinal points - Cyprus Station was also known, often in the same timetable, as Waterloo South, for example. By the turn of the twentieth century, the platform numbering system was beyond the wit of man to comprehend. The first platform of the original station was designated as Platform 1, despite now being in the middle of the station; the remaining fifteen platforms shared the numbers 2-10, resulting in platforms sharing the same number. Waterloo South had no platform numbers at all. To add to the confusion, Waterloo had a further station, with another Platform 1, that was originally the terminus for London’s daily funeral express to Brookwood Cemetery. Trains bearing coffins (at 2s/6d for a single fare) left from the ‘Necropolis Station’ which was immediately adjacent to the main station. In the end it was decided that the only way to sort out the muddle was to knock down the whole thing and start again. Waterloo Station was completely rebuilt in 1902. The idiosyncrasies of the old Station ensured that it was much loved by writers. Jerome K. Jerome, in his novel ‘Three Men In A Boat’, fondly describes the difficulties of finding a train at Waterloo - in the end having to bribe an engine driver to find the right train. H.G. Wells referred to the now long disappeared Waterloo East station in ‘The War of the Worlds’ as the station troop trains to the Martian landing site departed from. Waterloo Station is said to have prompted G K Chesterton to observe "The only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is to miss the train before."