TV Programme about Kings cross development Friday evening

[Pesmo]

It was called English Heritage Full Steam ahead, and was about the redevelopment of Kings cross Station over the next few years so that it can add 10 million more passengers.

I had very mixed feelings about it. English Heritage as with the three other programmes in the series came out of it with a very mixed record. While doing their best to keep some of the victorian features in the station (mainly some victorian cast Iron brackets and the lattice iron pedestrian bridge over the platform) they just seemed incapable of making a solid decision early in the process put it in writing, and then keeping to that decision. It seems to have been like that the whole series, and they just don't seem to be very businesslike and were adding to everyones costs and adding to the delays due to their way of working.

They did have the good sense to preserve a couple of Wagon turntables that they discovered during the demolition process of the goods yard and these will be made to working condition again and incorporated into the redevelopment.

Anyway I think the upshot was that they got there in the end and the Station will look great once the nasty 1970's additions have been removed and the new sweeping concourse added in a different place. They did preserve the bridge but its been removed and is held off site. Its too big for a preserved railway, so I am not sure what its future may be.

Anyway the programmes on the iplayer if anyone is interested.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode...l_Steam_Ahead/

[boilersuit]

I was gutted to realise that the bridge had gone. If I'd known it was due to be taken down I'd have made one last visit to see it in all its glory. Apart from spotting memories from the 1960s I used to work around the corner from KX in the 1990s and made a point of visiting the station nearly every day just to see what was going on – I just assumed that bridge would always be there. It semed so permanent...

[bramleyman]

I could well be mistaken, but I believe the bridge was removed back around the Christamas 2008 period and put into Preservation somewhere. I haven't been to KGX since before then, but that is what I heard. I know that years ago they 'modernised' the station, and we have to move with the times, but why spoil an item of some architectral, or even historical interest, just so as they claim, to increase the number of users? Exactly what difference does any bridge make to passenger numbers?

[klordger1900]

They said the bridge is sitting on the ground at Cambridge if anyone has a good use for it they would willing consider several dozen meetings, without note taking, to discuss how and where not to put it and why!! You'd need a pretty big station area to use it thats for sure. Great program for seeing how those pompous twits waste not only money but peoples valuable time - only a quango can manage that with such ease!

[Pesmo]

You seem to have come to the same conclusions as me. Thank god I work in the private sector where a spade is still a spade (usually) and deadlines get stuck to or people lose their bonus/payrise or maybe even their jobs