The 202nd video of my train spotting adventures.
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This video follows on a day later from the prior two with more London action, this time observing the rather "intense" volume of Class 700s coming in and out of London Blackfriars station, located in the City of London (central London). A fair-sized 4-platform (above ground, 2-platform underground) interchange station, this station is one of many in the general area of Blackfriars over the years. The very first station opened in 1864 as Blackfriars Bridge station on the south side of the Thames, part of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR); not long later the old Metropolitan District Railway (part of London Underground today) opened their Underground station in the vicinity in 1870.
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After some deliberation by the governing body of London at the time, the original Blackfriars bridge was opened also in 1864 with an old lattice girder design. Services began using the bridge not long after, which followed on with the opening of Ludgate Hill station in 1865 on the north side of the Thames, and further north with Holborn Viaduct in 1874; the LC&DR could then run via the Snow Hill Tunnel (not the Birmingham one) to a connection with the Metropolitan Railway near Farringdon, and then onwards to Kings Cross & St Pancras stations, which modern day Thameslink trains still do to this day.
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The original bridge station was known as St. Paul's railway station, opened in 1886 when the LC&DR opened the bridge fully to passenger services calling there; the older Blackfriars Bridge station was closed, but remained as a goods station until 1965. In 1937, St. Paul's station was renamed by the then Southern Railway (amalgamating the LC&DR amongst others) as Blackfriars, partly to avoid confusion with the renaming of 'Post Office' station to 'St Paul's' on the Central Line, and so it and the Underground station nearby had the same name. The original station and bridge suffered damage during World War II, with the south side signal box taking significant damage, not recovering until 1946.
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As time went on after 1948 (British Railways being formed then, with administration of Blackfriars put under the Southern Region), the structure of the original bridge continued to deteriorate; two tracks had to be removed in 1961 to ease its weight load. It and the lines around it had minimal investment or refurbishment, and services were reduced to a handful of daily or weekly commuter services. The remains of Blackfriars Bridge station were demolished in 1964, and the bridge itself was closed in 1971; the deck was removed in 1985. Today only the large piers in the river and similar structures remain.
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What little of the bridge that remained was rebuilt overtime after 1971 alongside the Underground station nearby, including lots of office space; work was officially completed in 1977, with part of the 1886 stonework preserved at platform level.
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Significant investment didn't return until between 2009 and 2012 with the commencement of the long-term Thameslink Programme, with £500 million (£760 million today) made available to expand and refurbish the station; as part of this, the office building from the 1977 rebuild was demolished. The new station is the same height end-to-end and connected the Thameslink platforms fully with the Underground platforms via escalators and lifts. The work took in parts the full length from 2009 to 2012; the Thameslink platforms reopened in 2011, and the Underground station fully reopened in 2012. By 2014, the bridge roof was covered with 14,000 solar panels, making it the world's largest solar-powered bridge.
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Nowadays it forms part of the Thameslink Core, with services to Luton, Bedford, Peterborough, Cambridge, Sutton, Chatham, Gatwick and Brighton, along with the London Underground connections; there's also peak-time Southeastern services.
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Filmed on the:
Thameslink Core
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Services seen:
TL) Services towards Farringdon, St Pancras Int, St Albans, Luton, Bedford, Stevenage, Hitchin, Cambridge, Peterborough, Sutton, Wimbledon, Dartford, Chatham, Croydon, Gatwick Airport and Brighton.
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LU) Circle & District Lines around Central London and towards Upminster, Wimbledon, Richmond and Ealing Broadway.
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Trains seen:
TL) Class 700 Desiro City
SE) Class 465 Networker (empty stock movement), Class 376 Electrostar (brief)
LU) S7 Stock
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