See some lions lounging around Waterloo

Until the end of next month, there's a large pride of lions lounging around in a park next to Waterloo station.

The Necropolis railway station to be turned into flats

The living could soon reside where the dead once rested on their way to their final resting place, as the Necropolis railway station in Waterloo could be turned into flats.

A tribute to William Blake under the railway arches

The memory of the poet William Blake can be found, maybe slightly oddly underneath the railway arches in Waterloo

Avoid commuting into Waterloo station this Christmas

An early warning, but anyone who commutes into Waterloo might want to grab the Christmas holiday slots at work before anyone else does.

Unbuilt London: Elizabeth House, Waterloo

A futuristic arch that would have sliced into the skyline, dominating from some sides, and being almost invisible from others.

Unbuilt London: The Waterloo monument

London is full of monuments to wars and battles, but one is conspicuous by it's absence, Waterloo - but there was a plan for a triumphal arch in central London.

See the remnants of an old wooden road at Waterloo

The streets of London were once paved with wood, and in a few places, echoes of that little-known period of road history can be seen - such as at Waterloo.

A history of the South Bank Lion

Standing proud above the tourists on Westminster Bridge is a statue of a noble lion who gave hope to London during WW2 and was saved by a King.

New tower to loom over Waterloo Station

A revised set of plans for the rather ugly 1960s office block next to Waterloo station have been shown off, featuring a taping set of buildings and roof gardens.

London’s Pocket Parks: Emma Cons Gardens, SE1

This is rather forlorn pocket park of the sort that only a mother could love, sitting in the corner of a corner of two busy roads.

Do Londoners dream of electric buses?

Londoners might not dream of electric buses, but this ordinary looking bus garage in Waterloo features in the dreams of people from across the world who come to visit it.

Private fast lane for fast walking pedestrians at Waterloo

Part of a busy pedestrian route near Waterloo station is about to be partially sealed off -- for a PR stunt.

200 year old satires about Napoleon Bonaparte on display

If you think modern political satires are cruel at times, take a journey back 200 years for the crass display of bodily functions as satire was not just normal, but applauded when applied to the enemy.

Double-deck trains proposed for Waterloo station lines

One of the most oft cited "solutions" to railway overcrowding is the introduction of double-deck trains, which are regularly used in other countries.

How Charing Cross railway station was nearly demolished

Earlier this year I noted the 150th anniversary of the opening of London's Charing Cross railway station, but it came very close to being a eulogy for a long since closed station.

London’s Lost Pneumatic Railways – Part 3

Despite having apparently surveyed the plans to great detail and being sure that there were no hidden costs to dismay the investors, it wasn't long before unforeseen problems started to crop up.

London’s Lost Pneumatic Railways – Part 2

"in its present form the pneumatic system is simply an adaptation of the process of sailing to railway; the wind being produced by steam power and confined within the limits of a tube."

London’s Lost Pneumatic Railways

In an age of steam locomotives and horse drawn carriages, a group of Victorians tried to build the world's first true tube tunnel railway. A railway that would have also harnessed the power of the atmosphere to propel carriages in a manner that would astound the people of the time.

Unbuilt London: Victorian Railway Stations that Tried to Span the Thames

Blackfriars railway station has recently become the first station to span right across the River Thames, with entrances on both sides of the river – but it wasn’t the first time that someone tried to put a railway bridge across…

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the UK’s first Panda Crossing

Today marks the 50th anniversary of a short lived experiment in road crossings with the very first one opening outside Waterloo Station in 1962, and vanishing just five years later. The Panda Crossing was seen as an upgrade to the…

The year that you could catch a Helicopter from Waterloo Station

In the days before the Piccadilly Line reached Heathrow Airport how would a person of means in Central London get to the airport if they didn't want to use the roads?

The “secret crypt” under St John’s Church in Waterloo

In response to the spiritual needs of a growing population, in 1818 the Parliament voted funds for the building of a series of new churches in cities, and one such church is the Neoclassical Doric pile just outside Waterloo Station.…

All Hail the Super Docking Station!

My RSS tracker for TfL’s press releases had an alert that the new Boris Bike stand at Waterloo Station has been completed – offering space for 126 of the blue velocipedes. Oddly, the press release was removed from the TfL…

Dante’s Inferno in the tunnels under Waterloo Station

If you are going to set up an art event themed around a fourteenth-century poem, then the abandoned arches underneath a mainline train station probably sounds like it will deliver the suitable atmosphere to evoke the subterranean hell. Fortunately, this…