Monday 12 August 2013

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.




19 comments:

  1. There is no doubt England would not be the place it is, if not for Brunel.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paddington is beautiful, no two ways about it. I'm pleased that we, as a nation, realize how influential Brunel was.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for the little tour I have not been to Paddington in a while so have not seen them yet

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always learn something new when I visit your page! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. With a name like Isambard Kingdom Brunel, he was destined for greatness! I have loved the Paddington books so much since I first read them. My, how it has changed since the illustration in the book!

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is one station I haven't seen and it is on the list. Looks wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I almost feel that I could say hellor to the bear, and Brunel!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh, yes! I do love Paddington Bear, too!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love the Paddington Bear too, he is famous! Thanks for sharing Brunel's story on the station. Have a happy week ahead!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very interesting. Never knew them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely shots of Paddington! (One of my favourite bears)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Amazing architecture for a station - a really grand idea - and I love the statue of Paddington Bear.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Although this was the station we used to take because it was close to our hotel, I haven't payed attention to these details ! A shame !

    ReplyDelete
  14. Such nice sculptures, never knew the bear was named after the station.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Marmalade sandwiches anybody? Nice post - we had a lot of fun with Paddington a few years ago.

    I saw the Rock Wallabies at Magnetic Island too - I think they are a different species to the ones in my post, but they were equally splendid!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

    ReplyDelete
  16. Aw! Paddington..how we loved him (my kids and me when I read the books). Lovely Los station, I didn't know all the history.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Love the look of the ceiling! Reminds me of a bird in flight.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Ah! I love Paddington Bear .....SO much character in such a little bundle of fur.

    ReplyDelete

Thank-you for reading my blog. I would love to read your comments.