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Memories of Holborn Viaduct

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NorthKent1989

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Pre Covid there were peak services from/to the Maidstone and Gillingham lines, a service that has run since electrification (at least). They acquired an Elephant stop in the 80s IIRC, having previously run fast to Bromley South (give or take an odd suburban stop).

The Maidstone service is set to become an all day service next year :)
 
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Grumbler

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I can thoroughly recommend the recent video by the YouTuber Jago Hazzard on Pearson's proposal in the mid-nineteenth century for a London central station in the Farringdon / Holborn area which was blocked by the government. Interesting to see that it is to some extent being realised today!
 

Acey

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To add to what's been said, there were certainly Holborn Viaduct starters towards Chatham and Maidstone East in the 1980s during the peak. Perhaps two per route at approx. 40 min intervals, and the Chatham ones were all stations beyond Swanley. I think that the line had a 20 min interval peak service at that time, with the stoppers alternating Victoria/Holborn. May even have been a Canterbury East terminator from Holborn. They called HV-Blackfriars-Elephant and Castle and then fast to Bromley South, presumably via Catford. First class was available so presumably VEPs or possibly CEPs. (Never saw them, just noticed them in the timetable).

Later these started from Blackfriars - they were still running in the 90s. Not sure how long they continued, maybe until the recent Thameslink changes?
Correct,I When I was a Guard based at GPk we had a duty which I used to swap for on a regular basis which was relieve and work GPk to Sevenoaks,Sevenoaks to Holborn ,PN break then Holborn to Gillingham ( fast to Bromley South ,then all stations ,except Bickley) Gillingham to CX ,Cx to GPk ! I actually liked HV, it never felt like a London Terminus,more like a coastal town station ! If I remember correctly the train was formed of 3 or 4 two car units !
Here's my scribbled diagram for the duty ( please excuse doodling.obviously too much time on my hands )click to view clearly !
 

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AlbertBeale

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I became very familiar with the outside of the station, though can't remember ever taking a train from or to it, in 1975, when for several months I had business at the (almost adjacent) Old Bailey (as in the nickname of the Central Criminal Court, specifically, not just the street of that name). Many an afternoon, after the day's "work" was finished, I'd go down the hill with some others, down a cut-through under the tracks, to get to a Dunkin Donuts on Farringdon Street for a debrief. So the environs of the station felt like a home-from-home for a while. And in the years shortly after that, alongside the bombsite area on the south-east corner of Ludgate Circus, under the railway arches immediately south of the bridge over Ludgate Hill, there was a restaurant which did fine vegetarian lunches (where I often met a friend who worked in an office round the corner for lunch) - they sold pots of yogurt the type of which I've never found anywhere since, despite almost 40 years of searching... So, Holborn Viaduct station has played memorable parts in my life even without my using it for travel purposes.
 

NorthKent1989

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I became very familiar with the outside of the station, though can't remember ever taking a train from or to it, in 1975, when for several months I had business at the (almost adjacent) Old Bailey (as in the nickname of the Central Criminal Court, specifically, not just the street of that name). Many an afternoon, after the day's "work" was finished, I'd go down the hill with some others, down a cut-through under the tracks, to get to a Dunkin Donuts on Farringdon Street for a debrief. So the environs of the station felt like a home-from-home for a while. And in the years shortly after that, alongside the bombsite area on the south-east corner of Ludgate Circus, under the railway arches immediately south of the bridge over Ludgate Hill, there was a restaurant which did fine vegetarian lunches (where I often met a friend who worked in an office round the corner for lunch) - they sold pots of yogurt the type of which I've never found anywhere since, despite almost 40 years of searching... So, Holborn Viaduct station has played memorable parts in my life even without my using it for travel purposes.

Thank you for sharing this :) it makes me feel that I missed out on seeing this station in a way, you’ve brought it to life.

Also makes you realise how much London has changed since Holborn Viaduct was demolished.
 

SouthDevonian

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In 1968, I caught the morning train from Dover Priory to HV which went via Ashford, Maidstone East and the Catford Loop. I'm not sure where it started - probably Ramsgate. There was a MLV van on the front so it may have been a returning newspaper train.
 

30907

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In 1968, I caught the morning train from Dover Priory to HV which went via Ashford, Maidstone East and the Catford Loop. I'm not sure where it started - probably Ramsgate. There was a MLV van on the front so it may have been a returning newspaper train.
The paper trains were loco hauled back then, but there were some odd MLV workings other than boat trains. Ashford-Margate with a trailing load, connecting out of the London-Redhill-Dover mails rings a bell.
 
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