London’s Waterloo Station celebrates its 175 year anniversary today, making it one of the oldest train stations in the capital.
The station first opened on July 11 1848 by the London & South Western Railway as part of extending the line two miles to be nearer the city. This original station, known as ‘central station’, had six platforms.
From its very earliest days the station was popular with race goers travelling to Epsom; the original station opening in 1848 was brought forward a week to enable passengers to travel to the Derby by rail for the first time.
Through the remainder of the 19th century, Waterloo was extended in an ad-hoc way to cope with demand. In 1860 the ‘Windsor station’ was opened on the north-west side of the original central platforms.
In 1878 Waterloo gained an additional two platforms on the south-east side for mainline suburban trains in an extension known as the ‘south station’. In 1885 the ‘north’ station was opened, adding a further six platforms bringing the total at Waterloo to eighteen.
In 1899 London & South Western Railway (as the London & Southampton had become) sought permission to completely rebuild and expand the station. The Company sent its chief engineer J W Jacomb-Hood to America to gather information on termini buildings to assist its redesign.
Over twenty years as building work took place, Waterloo became a spacious station with a large open concourse. With 21 platforms under a huge ridge-and-furrow roof it became light and airy compared to the dark maze it once was.
Waterloo remained largely unchanged until early 1990s when platforms 20 and 21 were demolished to make way for Waterloo International. Opened in 1994 this was the terminus for Eurostar services running through the new Channel Tunnel. However on completion of the new high speed line in 2007, Eurostar services were taken instead to St Pancras and the international platforms at Waterloo closed.
Today Waterloo is the busiest railway station in the UK, handling 41 million passengers in the year to March 2022. It is also the UK’s largest station in terms of floor space and has the greatest number of platforms.
To celebrate its 175 year anniversary LondonWorld has taken a look at Waterloo station over the years.
1. 1867: A South Eastern Railway engine pulling out of Waterloo Station, London. (Photo by F. Moore/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Waterloo Station was opened in 1848 by the London & South Western Railway as part of extending the line two miles to be nearer the city.
2. May 6 1913: Porters at Waterloo station in London admiring a ticket machine installed by the L & SWR to sell platform tickets. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
Mechanical coin-operated ticket machines came into use from 1904 onwards in London stations.
3. July 1 1913: Porters helping holidaymakers with their luggage at Waterloo Station, London. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
A new booking hall was opened in Waterloo Station in June 1911.
4. November 1918: Soldiers are among the travellers studying the time tables at Waterloo Station, London. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
Waterloo was a major terminal station for soldiers in World War I, and for sailors travelling to Southampton for the British Expeditionary Force