London- St. Pancras Terminal Sees a New Day.
When St. Pancras Terminal was built in 1868 at the height of the Victorian age it was the largest space that had ever been enclosed in the world (“unofficial” virtual tour). Single-span steel arches soar 105 feet above the platforms and are 240 feet wide and 690 feet long. It had a wood-panelled booking hall and statues of the country's great railwaymen. After 136 years in service the gateway to the Midlands has been closed effective April 9. But it isn't the wrecking ball in store for St. Pancras, it's mostly the obscure name that is getting ditched, along with a lot of outmoded decor and functionality. In 2007, after it is modernized, made hip and renamed (“London Central?”), St. Pancras will become the London terminus for the Eurostar after a high-speed channel tunnel rail link from London to Paris is completed at a cost of $8.2 billion (tunneling under the Thames River is in progress). It will be possible to get from north London to Paris in 2:15. Here's an explanation of why the project is needed. At present the Eurostar only departs London from the southerly Waterloo Station (360-degree digicam picture). [cloudtravel]