Why Is There An Old Blackfriars Railway Bridge? 

My son was project manager for the New Blackfriars station, so proud of his achievements. 👌💖

Why do I feel like this is a pre-show for Secrets of Thameslink? Always been fascinated by Blackfriars because of the fact the station's a bridge and the platforms span the Thames. Interesting to learn more about it

That was an incredible amount of information in such a short video. Really interesting!

Post office was a good name for the underground station since there is only one in London.

The bridge, having been widened, now bears longer 12-carriage platforms that straddle the river, giving fabulous views up and down the Thames. Fascinating video, Geoff. What a complex history!

Traveled from Blackfriers last year. Without a doubt one of the best views of London from any railway station.

Blackfriars is one of my favourite stations just for that astonishing view especially during sunset

Great video as ever Geoff. The reason they left the old bridge supports in place was to protect the supports of the bridge upon which Blackfriars Thameslink Station now stands. If you look, you'll see that the upstream supports are squared-off, whilst the downstream ones are streamlined. The original builders made the downstream side streamlined to stop the supports from being worn away by the incoming tide and to "encourage" river traffic to bounce off if necessary. Because the old bridge had rounded supports, the normal river current is neatly diverted around both bridges (along with any poorly piloted river traffic). If they'd demolished the old bridge supports, that would have exposed the squared-off upstream supports for the newer bridge to the river current and to river traffic. I might be wrong, but I think at one point the proposals for extending and enlarging Blackfriars Station also included building the concourse out over the river using the old LC&DR bridge supports. Apart from it being cheaper to leave the old bridge supports in place, they also serve to protect the current bridge from being worn away.

I am absolutely fascinated by the way rail is shaped in London. Lines open and close, tunnels are dug closed then reopened. It's just bizarre, to think someone who worked on the undergone as a driver 50 years ago would find so much familiar yet so much new in the same city. Can't say the same for Wellington though, one central city station, 3 main commuter lines going out. Always has been. The only real changes are the tunnels, but they have never been boarded up. Once the line is opened, it stays open it seems. Well, except for the Rimutaka Incline, that got replaced by the tunnel... but still.

Another excellent video Geoff. As a railroad bridge engineer I appreciate the mention of the “feat of engineering” associated with the removal one viaduct and excavation of the new underground crossing in two weeks. Swapping out critical structures in relatively short periods of time is one of the most interesting challenges of the profession.

This video really highlights just how long it's been since i have been to London, Holborn Viaduct station and the old bridge were still in use the last time i was there! Being from south London i used to spend a lot of time in and around London back in the 70's and 80's, but i doubt i would recognise i lot of it today.

I have fond memories of standing on the bridge waiting for the train home to Brighton after a long day at work, looking eastward towards the London bridge and the tower. The view makes it (for me) the best station in London. It's also very easy to get from national rail platform to underground platform even during rush hour

I think I heard once that they didn't want to remove the old pillars as doing so might disrupt the foundations of the bridges in use

Wow - that’s 7 stations in less than a mile’s stretch of railway.

Interesting stuff. Near where I live in Minneapolis there's some former bridge remains too. It took me a while to figure it out, but there's one pier still in the river and one on the east bank. I found out that it was called the lower bridge, connecting 6th Ave SE to 10th Ave S, built in 1874, it was a lightweight iron deck truss bridge, and it proved not to be strong enough for motor vehicle and rail traffic and was closed in 1937, and then demolished for scrap during WWII.

I was only there yesterday! Was telling my partner about the old Holborn Viaduct station, as I had to sign it as a guard in the early 80's but never did work a service into there. Needless to say, she was not impressed or interested.......oh well .... I enjoyed the video!

I love Blackfriars station. It's so impressive and has an incredible view that's better than any other station in London. My top 5 London Termini 1- St Pancras 2- Kings Cross 3- London Bridge 4- Blackfriars 5- Paddington

Recently Ive been trying to find out what happened to Holborn Viaduct station and got some conflicting information but your video cleared it all up and was fantastic and full of useful history. Thanks Geoff

I used to use the Thameslink line a lot. When I first started using it, I would arrive at King's Cross from out of town and then have to cross the road and walk a bit to get to King's Cross Thameslink. How wonderful then, when the Thameslink platforms in the basement of St Pancras were opened and it was no longer necessary to risk my life crossing Pentonville Road. Even better when I could get a train direct from Stevenage to St Pancras and onwards to Blackfriars. The extended Blackfriars station is a marvel - a great improvement on how it used to be. I have often looked at the redundant pillars and wondered what had happened to the London Chatham and Dover Railway bridge that they used to support. Now I know!

The views down the Thames from the new Blackfriars station platforms on the bridge are spectacular - its the best station that I’ve ever used.

I always wondered what they were and why they were just left in the middle of the Thames. Really appreciate all the time and work that goes into these videos.

OK, my head is still spinning from information overload, but THANK YOU SO MUCH for talking about railway stations and not train stations.

It's on my morning commute and I've ALWAYS wondered - thanks Geoff

The high production value of all your videos is epic 👍🏻👍🏻🙂

Yes Geoff!! I knew in one of your old videos you told us this would be a talking point for the future! It's going to sound cliched now as a few people have commented this, but I never knew! Thank you.

Love the amount of history packed into this one stretch of railway!

Another great an informative video by Geoff. In the mid to late 1960's I traveled from Wimbledon to Holborn Viaduct every day. One day we were stuck on the south side of Blackfriars station. After about 20 minutes the train went over the bridge avoiding Blackfriars station and straight into Holborn Viaduct. A rare treat! A train had broken down in what was then Platform 5!

Geoff you're entertaining and informative. Please do keep these videos coming 😁

Great video! Thanks for making videos for all these years. I find the tube fascinating

Thanks again Geoff for yet another well-made, informative video. Well done!

Hey Geoff Great video. Just thought I’d comment as I actually worked on the 2012 upgrade. I was part of the team that developed and carried out the method of deconstructing the existing red columns and extending the adjacent bridge to sit on top of it. Great project to be a part of. Some of the things we encountered during the works (old newspapers, spy glasses etc) made you really appreciate the history. Keep the videos coming.

I won tickets in 1988 from the local radio station in Luton to travel on thameslink when it 1st opened right through to Brighton. It was an excellent day and had a posh lunch and trip around the pavilion. I have a photograph somewhere of St Pauls that I took as we crossed the Thames.

Thanks Geoff always look forward to your informative videos. Cheers. 👍👍

Excellent. Quite a lot of complex transport history covered and showing where the old stations were built is an eye opener.

Brilliant. I love when you do histories like this. More of them please. Stay safe and healthy

Thanks, Geoff. You've provided the clue to a mystery I've been trying to solve on and off for years. Back in the 1960s, my grandmother pointed out the brick wall of the old St Paul's Station to me. What I couldn't remember is why. But as she was working for Ward, Lock and Co. in Salisbury Square, the light has dawned the she must have commuted up from her home in Charlton, got out of the train at St Paul's and walked to Salisbury Square. This would have been in the early 1920s, so almost a century ago.

Short and sweet and very informative as usual Geoff

Excellent video. You’re well-informed, articulate and interesting to listen to.

Fascinating info! Tx for posting.

Thank you, Geoff. A very good video story, and a good explanation of why the bridge piers are still there. Thank you. I hope you don't mind some comments from someone who is an historian, and believes that accuracy with detail matters. There are a couple of things in the commentary that are potentially misleading. At around 1.52 you say "After the Snow Hill station renaming the tunnels through to Farringdon were no longer used and closed up"; and the way this is presented makes it appear as if all that happened in or around 1929. The passenger service through Snow Hill tunnel to Farringdon and Moorgate ceased in 1916; but the tunnel remained in use for freight until the late 1960s. Indeed, I remember standing on the South Bank in 1966, while the Queen Elizabeth Hall was being built, and seeing a freight train cross Blackfriars Bridge to enter the Snow Hill tunnel. The tunnel was completely abandoned in the early 1970s and only then was it "closed up". The main station called Holborn Viaduct was always a terminal station. The through station called Holborn Viaduct was the low-level station, formerly called Snow Hill; and it was through that station that the through trains from the south to Moorgate, Farringdon and wherever north of there ran. The high and low level stations of Holborn Viaduct were connected by stairs. So when the through services ceased, Holborn Viaduct did not "become a terminus station" - the terminal station was the only part of the two-level station still open. I'm pretty confident that I have the above details correct. If I don't, I apologise. It's all very complicated; and I well remember when it was announced that Snow Hill Tunnel would be reopened and the line used for long-distance through services. At last, some 120 years after the tunnel line was built, it would see the use that the London, Chatham and Dover Railway had envisaged. I remember thinking "At last!". But it's easy to think like that - much harder to implement. I hope you think, as I do, that the Thameslink service is a great success. And thanks for a very engaging style of presentation.

Brilliant video! I knew a little about the old bridge but now I’ve got all the info!

Superb insight, thanks Geoff!

Watched lots of your videos Geoff. Always so interesting. Thanks and keep it up

Brilliant video packed with information.

I’ve been there and have always wondered that. Thanks for doing this. :)

Please do more of these railway history things

LOVE YOUR VIDS!!! makes me miss London so much.

Fascinating documentary you must have put a lot of research into it. Many thanks really enjoyed it.

I love this channel because it gives so much information about Britain's railways

Excellent..thanks Geoff, love your videos

Really enjoyed this, thanks Geoff. Would love more videos on closed or modified London railway stations.

Hey Geoff, been there 8 times in the last few years and everytime I was wondering what these red pillars are about. Thank you for this wonderful short video. Really interesting und well done! Cheers from Vienna

I got a river bus past the old supports yesterday and wondered why they were there. Now I know! Thanks for an informative video.

Great video Geoff! Loving the content. Keep it up!! :)

Such an excellent explanation. Wonderful. Aarre Peltomaa

Excellent and fascinating Video - Thanks

I was at Blackfriars station just 3 hours ago and wondered why there was massive red supports, get back to Brighton and Geoff answers my question 😂 thanking you

Excellent history video! Thanks!

Really nice video - great work getting so much in under five minutes! I have quite the fascination with the old Holborn Viaduct station, ever since I first saw some old pictures and VHS footage of it from the late 80s. Oh, and thank you for the link to my video! ^_^

Please more history videos!! Maybe one on broad street to Watford?

Nice stuff as always!!

Brilliant Video Geoff

Great video Geoff! Make more like this!

Geoff your a font of knowledge on our railways 👍🏻 Always enjoy your videos cheers Stevie 😎

Have tried to research this topic before, but this was a good watch

Complex history is such a short video...👍 Great work as ever. Cheers John B

Your knowledge is something else! 👏👏 Well done. I really enjoy your videos. 🍻

Please keep safe and healthy, Geoff. We cannot afford to lose you. Nice video which i enjoyed.

Very informative !

Thanks Geoff. I commute between Flitwick and City Thameslink and/or Blackfriars and this information was very interesting.

I love your vids but these types of vids you produce are my favourite!

Great infomation and very interesting.

I love it when you make videos like this

Great video mate I really like watching your videos there really cool😌👍👍

As always, very interesting!

I moved to Kent in 1984 and vaguely remember the work being done when commuting but never knew the history. Well explained.

Very interesting! Many Thanks.

I love your videos Paul so interesting I was walking around that area yesterday I'm going to have to follow this video again and do the walk again myself

Great one!

The view over the Thames from the platforms is just mindblowing :) I was going to Luton from Elephant and Castle back in February and changed at Blackfriars.

Brilliant! Most educational!

This makes me feel so old. I moved to London in the early 1980s and remember a lot of Thameslink being built. In the mid-1980s I was working in a building at the Elephant and Castle (Hannibal House - the DHSS HQ) and used to watch the first Thameslink trains been tested from my office. Soon afterwards I got a job in Blackfriars and my office was directly over the tracks at 1:01 (my office was on the floor directly above the hole in the building - very useful for getting home!). Back in the 1980s a lot of the area around Blackfriars/Ludgate Hill was still undeveloped and still had some wartime damage (there were even bits of scrap land being used as ground level car parks at the time, where City Thameslink is).

I'm literally learning about this in history right now this was so well timed 😅

Very great information about the railway and stations

Nice telling. Thanks

Great video. The old viaduct to Holborn Viaduct was widely considered an eyesore as it blocked the view up the hill to St Paul's cathedral, so that second stage of the Thameslink programme where they demolished it and sent the line underground was very beneficial, creating a station on the through line to Farringdon (City Thameslink), removing an eyesore AND making BR lot of money from the land released!

Very interesting. Thanks.

Liked that very informative thank you

Such a different image to even 40 years ago... Extremely interesting.

When I visited London in summer 2019 I noticed them and wondered what their purpose was. I took a few pictures, I figured they were provisions from back in the day if a second bridge was needed. It’s interesting to know that it actually was a bridge. Thanks for this bit of info Geoff

Stunning views from the platforms.

Didn’t realise the old bridge was removed so recently! Really interesting stuff, given how often I use or pass through Blackfriars.

I travelled to City Thameslink for 8 years. Nice to see it again and have a bit of history behind it.

Wonderful video

Thank you, a great video

A very good video, I enjoyed this one.

Very informative.

Thanks Geoff. I have oft walked past these columns and wondered what their history was....

Really interesting Thank you 👍👊😁

Great video Geoff! Very knowledgeable and intelligent also! 🚂👍