Paddington Station

 Mr and Mrs Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform. In fact, that is how he came to have such an unusual name for a bear for Paddington was the name of the station. 
From 'A Bear Called Paddington' by Michael Bond. So began Paddington Bear's long association with the station.

 The statue can be found at the bottom of the escalator near the shopping and eating area of the station. Paddington Station was built as the main terminus for the Great West Railway and a station I am becoming increasingly familiar with as I travel further and further out of London to reach the Thames path.

  The great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel was planning a grand building at Paddington, but had to economise due to the rising costs of building the main line, and he had to abandon his original plans. A temporary station was created opening on 4 June 1838, but when the main line to Bristol was opened GWR agreed to the building of a permanent station designed by Brunel.

Brunel was influenced by the design and construction of the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and you can see how this influenced his design by his use of wrought iron and glass for the roof.

A statue of Isambard Kingdom Brunel can be found sitting under the clock on Platform 1.