London Euston is one of the busiest train stations in the United Kingdom and, arguably, the station with the worst reputation of all national railway stations in London.
There are a number of reasons for that, from the decision to rebuild the historical station in the 1960s, including the loss of its iconic doric arch gateway (now the name of a local boozer reminds of its existence) to dreadful reconfigurations to the station forecourt, concourse, and waiting arrangements (including the use of super bright information panels and billboards) to its notorious overcrowdedness to endless debates about HS2, a high-speed railway project of neverending debates and difficulties, to the station’s attraction of homeless people and a local drug scene.
When I stayed in that area for a few days, I made it a point, on three consecutive days, to allow the station and – more important still to me – the people there to make their impression on me.
Approaching Euston
London Euston station is situated at the corner of Euston Road and Eversholt Street (leading up to Camden Town), close to the rather more grand stations of King’s Cross and St Pancras.
Trains departing from and terminating at London Euston connet the capital with Britain’s North-West, including train connections to Birmingham, Swansea, Plymouth, Chester, Liverpool, Manchester, and Glasgow.
Euston is also an important hub for the London Tube, allowing interchange between the Northern and Victoria lines.
Euston Road is always busy and congested, and not a great joy to walk on, though one must use it to rush to another nearby Tube station, Euston Square.
Eversholt St, however, running parallel to the platforms and railway tracks and lined with some basic, lively pubs, is more fascinating – photographically –, as it exudes an air of dereliction, squalor, and decay, not without some faint traces of former glory.
Brutal(ist) Choices
The station forecourt provides ample space for travellers to wait for their trains – in addition to the space available in the station concourse), at least when it is not too cold or damp out there (which, of course, it often is).
The forecourt, also adjoining to the station bus stop and taxi rink, is set in the middle of some delightful brutalist architecture (delightful if you are into that sort of thing, that is).
The ‘Euston Rush’
Euston’s most notorious problem, however, is that platform announcements for departing trains often occur rather late, when trains are only minutes away from their departure time.
This, of course, results in huge crowds rushing to their platforms in something akin to a stampede, once the long-awaited information finally appears.
Measures to prevent this included the separation of the Tube entrance from the rest of the station
as well as some messages on the floor:
In reality, however, after the long wait
… there inevitably and invariably is the ‘Euston rush’:
Station folk
From the cleaners to station staff, security, police, shopkeepers, and the employees in the one of the many chain food outlets: the logistics behind the operation that is London Euston is hard to overestimate.
Easily overlooked
Considering the crowdedness and business of the station, it is also easy to turn a blind eye to the stranded biographies, many with mental health issues, that populate the station forecourt.
The long wait
But, most of all, forecourt and concourse are about one thing, and one thing only. Waiting, patiently, until it is finally time to go somewhere else – a long wait, in many cases, long and dull and mindnumbing, an (in-)activity that comes in many shades and flavours.
The pensive wait
The anxious wait
Eating, drinking, reading, smoking…
Parallel existences
Especially striking to me, though, were the many times I saw, and captured, juxtapositions and parallel existences, people united in their present activity, inches from one another, yet seemingly inhabiting a different universe.
Animal visitors
Finally, at least for me, no scene would be complete without at least a brief mention of the non-human creatures that find themselves in the same space. Euston station is no exception.
I don’t know why I felt drawn to train stations, past and present, recently (see this older post). Call it Fernweh. Call it being unsettled. There is just something truly fascinating about them and the stories they provide, from the human-all-too-human to the utterly whimsical.
Photos were taken on Fomapan 400 and Washi F films.