![]() Station Name: SNOW HILL/HOLBORN VIADUCT
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Date opened: | 1.8.1874 |
Location: | On the north side of Holborn Viaduct |
Company on opening: | London Chatham & Dover Railway |
Date closed to passengers: | 1.6.1916 |
Date closed completely: | 1.6.1916 |
Company on closing: | London Chatham & Dover Railway |
Present state: | Platforms are partially intact but completely below ground and only visible from a passing train. |
County: | London |
OS Grid Ref: | TQ316815 |
Date of visit: | December 1980, April 1981, June 1981, December 1985 and December 1986 |
When the Greater London Council proposed to reopen the City
Line in 1984 the proposal included a new Snow Hill station with
a single island platform, to be sited between the running lines
at this point, somewhat north of the original station site.
The line from Herne Hill to the Elephant and Castle was opened on 6 October 1862 and on to Blackfriars Bridge on 1 June 1864. Intermediate stations were initially provided at Camberwell, Walworth Road and Borough Road and later at Loughborough Junction.
On 1st January 1866, L C D R passenger trains began running into the Metropolitan's Farringdon Street station and the connection was soon carrying a wide variety of passenger and freight services. Then, by an Act of 13 July 1871, the Chatham became committed to yet another project. A nominally independent Holborn Viaduct Station Company (for the bankrupt Chatham was not allowed to raise capital) was authorized to build a 292 yard branch from the Ludgate - Farringdon line to a new terminus, complete with hotel, fronting on the new thoroughfare of Holborn Viaduct. It was opened on 2nd March 1874. On 1st August 1874 a low-level station, Snow Hill ('Holborn Viaduct Low Level' from 1912), was opened at the foot of the 1 in 39 incline.
![]() The first casualty on the line was Borough Road which closed on 1st April 1907 due to competition from the Northern Line. As an economy measure during WW1 through services from south of the Thames to Moorgate via the Smithfield Curve (opened 1.9.1871) were withdrawn on 1st April 1916 with Camberwell and Walworth Road stations closing two days later. Holborn Viaduct Low Level closed on 1st June 1916 and with it through passenger traffic on the City Line ceased. Less than 700 yards separated Holborn Viaduct from Blackfriars. Ludgate Hill thus became increasingly redundant, especially after the through trains stopped. The intensive Ludgate Hill - Victoria services were withdrawn during the First World War. The Wimbledon trains were the last to call and with their electrification it was closed on 3 March 1929.
The Snow Hill tunnel was reopened in 1988 as part of the new Thameslink network which came into service in May 1990, initially as part of British Rail but private since March 1997. To coincide with the opening of Thameslink, Holborn Viaduct Station was closed on 22nd January 1990. The line into Holborn Viaduct over Ludgate Hill was removed and a new line built that drops down steeply from Blackfriars station into a new station called City Thameslink (opened 29.5.1990) beneath the former Holborn Viaduct Station. The station was originally called St. Paul's Thameslink but was renamed in 1991 to avoid confusion from St. Paul's station on the Central line. The northern part of the Thameslink network replaced the 'Bedpan' service from Bedford to St. Pancras and uses the existing Midland Main Line. In the south there are two branches. The main route runs through London Bridge to East Croydon and Brighton while the second branch initially ran into Guildford via West Croydon but has now been rerouted through Mitcham to terminate at Sutton. Thameslink has become a significant commuter route serving the airports at Gatwick and Luton and carries around 40 million passenger journeys on the system annually.
Sources: A
regional history of the railways of Great Britain - Volume
3 Greater London by H P White. David & Charles 1963 &
1971 ISBN 0 7153 5337 3. Tickets from Michael Stewart Other web sites: Abandoned
Tube Stations - includes a cab ride from Farringdon - Blackfriars |
Click here for more pictures of Snow Hill Station
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Last updated: Friday, 26-May-2017 10:58:18 CEST |
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