Buildings in Motion: The Reuse of Railway Structures, by Simon Bradley

This talk discusses some of the the creative uses and reuses of railway structures, including relocated and repurposed structures.

This talk is part of the Online Autumn Talk Series 2023 called Railway Architecture and Society in the Victorian Society. Follow this link to book all of the talks.

Britain’s preserved railways have helped to secure the future of many Victorian station buildings, along with numerous other distinctive structures from the age of steam, such as signal boxes, goods sheds and footbridges. More than this, they have given new homes and uses to a wealth of other structures that would otherwise have been lost.

An exploration of the preservation world reveals some of the challenges and rewards of keeping these buildings in active use. Along the way we meet some old friends, including the footbridge formerly inside the train shed at Kings Cross and the old Rewley Road terminus from Oxford, a precious survival of Sir Joseph Paxton’s modular system of prefabricated iron and timber, as used famously at the Crystal Palace.

Simon Bradley is series editor of the Pevsner Architectural Guides. He has a longstanding interest in Britain’s railways and their history, and is author of The Railways: Nation, Network and People (2015).

All attendees will be sent a recording of the talk.

This event helps raise funds for The Victorian Society - the only charity dedicated to fighting for our Victorian and Edwardian heritage. Funds raised from events and memberships allow us to employ expert caseworkers to reply to thousands of planning applications a year in our role as a statutory consultee in the planning system.

We help tackle the climate emergency by campaigning for the sensitive reuse of historic buildings to generate much lower carbon emissions than demolition and rebuild. Join us today and safeguard our unique cultural heritage for future generations! For further information, click here.