Liverpool Street: The History of Britain's Busiest Station

From Eastern Counties to Elizabeth Line.
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[@LeoStarrenburg]

My memories of Liverpool Street: early 70-ies and we (two 16 year old Dutch guys) were sitting in one of the cafe's when the PA system started talking. We couldn't make heads or tails of it but did see a lot of people standing up and leaving. Turned out it wasn't a call for a departing train but a bomb alert. A very nice dinner-lady from Jamaica noticed us and explained that we had to leave. The station was quit busy but nowhere could we see panic and we were out on the street in no-time. Those are my memories of Liverpool Street 😊.

[@JMSBRK]

Same as last year’s emergency sms. Was in Liverpool Street as it happened and nobody was giving a penny trying to board before 30 seconds of doors closing.

[@jimmyadams628]

Superb as usual 😊

[@tonys1636]

British stoicism at its best, I'd rather be blown to pieces than trampled to death in a stampede for an exit.

[@cv990a4]

I remember early-mid 1970s Liverpool and Kings Cross being not very nice. Very dirty and, at least at the times I was there, pretty empty. Did not feel like anyone gave a damn, but that kind of described all of 1973-1974 UK.

[@mikemclennan8917]

The good old days

[@curiousmatt]

Clapham Junction dislikes this video.

[@garycook5071]

So does the late Blackpool Central

[@mattdandex]

Isn’t Clapham Junction the busiest in terms of number of trains high pass through?

[@jefffranklin4894]

​@@mattdandexyes

[@bouncyindignation2987]

Fun fact Clapham Junction is the largest station in the country

[@stevesaul7975]

I would have to say that it would be Waterloo that dislikes this video.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Once in a lifetime does a video like this come along. Jago isn't just another talking head.

[@michaeljames4904]

Bravo!

[@thexalon]

He's letting the days go by.

[@glynwelshkarelian3489]

And he's flowing underground@@thexalon

[@martin-that-is-felix]

Letting the Patreons, hold him up.

[@TheUluxian]

Same as it ever was

[@PokhrajRoy.]

I loved the fact that people gathered to preserve a heritage building.

[@joshslater2426]

It’s a historic and elegant station. We can’t let anyone build ugly glass skyscrapers on top of it

[@PokhrajRoy.]

@@joshslater2426 You’d be surprised how many times that has happened elsewhere

[@tonys1636]

Good old Sir John throwing his hat in the ring, figuratively speaking, his words had clout.

[@vinesauceobscurities]

@@PokhrajRoy. It's even happening all over London. Just look at the timeline of various spots on Street Views in the 2010s in particular. All that replaces what used to be there are nothing but bluish gray monolithic glass and steel boxes molded in simple shapes, reducing the area to a speculative market for vast commercial real estate. No identity whatsoever.

[@ktipuss]

Too many developers don't give a stuff about heritage concerns; they only see dollar signs.

[@clickrick]

Rather longer than your normal productions, but absolutely the right thing to do given the amount of history attached to this particular location.

[@MrMWRMWR]

Agreed - but even then I felt so much must have been trimmed . My favourite in the series so far.

[@danielm.1441]

"One of those Victorian figures who was half visionary genius, half ruthless conman" Really, were there any Victorian figures who _weren't_ at this point?

[@michaeljames4904]

In recommending Lytton Strachey’s notoriously waspish _Eminent Victorians,_ his own collection of period biographies pretty well says as much too - gives Florence Nightingale a right kicking, he does!

[@SmudgeThomas]

Basically Queen Victoria, Disraeli and Gladstone were the main ones who weren't.

[@michaeljames4904]

@@SmudgeThomas Quite so! Disraeli again celebrated only this week, at the Despatch Box, as Britain’s first Jewish prime minister, merely conned the whole country into thinking he was instead an observant Christian. Gladstone the stern moralist, meanwhile, merely kept inviting the prossies of London, into his house past midnight, to preach the Bible to them and save their virtue. Just so often that his family had to pack him off to the provinces, in his dotage, so embarrassing had this whole preaching exclusively to fallen women, late at night palaver become. All as the undiagnosed persistent grief disorder, of poor HMQ, sentenced her entire nation to the dourness for decades that has cursed it ever since… in a country formerly always raucous and bawdy, right up until then, excusing that whole commonwealth unpleasantness; whilst she’d been the total lovesick sexpot throughout her consort’s life, prior to Albert’s untimely death.

[@bordershader]

​@@SmudgeThomasnot so with Disraeli - I grew up in the valley opposite his manor house, which, rumour has it, he had built facing backwards, as a snub to the landowner on our side of the valley, with whom he had beef. Certainly, the monument to his wife was built right in the middle of the view from our side of the valley, just down from the treeline in a triangle clearing which framed it perfectly.

[@neville132bbk]

The Wakefield Family so involved in early settlement schemes in NZ 🇳🇿 in the early C19 come to mind.

[@mikkoistanbul1322]

Talk about an action-packed information filled video! Amazing amount of detail which must surely have taken an age to compile. Jago certainly deserves high praise for this one. Thank you Sir!

[@michaeljames4904]

The scope without hyperbole is majestical.

[@althejazzman]

Indeed, this was a bumper episode!

[@ospero7681]

My most distinct memory associated with this station: some years ago, I stumbled across a tube map that someone had "translated" - absurdly, yet rather painstakingly - into German, and "Leberbeckenstraße" stuck with me for some reason. (So did "Ochsenfurtzirkus".)

[@hairyairey]

It shows how close English is to German that I easily managed to work those out!

[@nonnadiona2659]

Another good one is „mudchute“ station. Who doesn’t like „Schlammrutsche“ station?

[@leoroverman4541]

@@nonnadiona2659 Prosaic yet exact

[@paulhaynes8045]

I'm glad you mentioned that narrow pedestrian bridge, I was beginning to think I'd imagined it! Back in the 60s, we lived in Surrey, so Liverpool St was a complete unknown to us. Then our Gran decided to take my sister and me for a holiday at Butlins in Clacton (it was supposed to be a treat, but was actually the worst holiday of my childhood - we came back with fleas!). My gran was in her late 70s and suffering with arthritis, so she couldn't walk fast or manage stairs very well. So it was quite a shock to discover we were in the wrong part of the station ten minutes before our train went! For my Gran, that bridge was a nightmare - in my 70s now, I'm only just beginning to realise just what an achievement it was for her to get us to our train on time. I've told this story often over the years, but never once has anyone remembered that bridge! So many thanks for confirming my childhood memory!

[@glynwelshkarelian3489]

"We came back with fleas!" should have been the title of the Fall's third album.

[@nickbarber2080]

Yes....the old station (pre-1980s rebuild) had a network of footbridges and steps...reminiscent of the Tree Walk in Battersea Park...which also had various buildings tacked on to it,elsewhere in the station there were also all sorts of passageway connections and vaulted pedestrian tunnels...and two taxi ramps...and two platforms for Norwich trains which cut the station into two halves. Also the place was full of diesel-fumes being underground. This all makes it sound bad,but it was easily the most atmospheric and intriguing of the London Termini when I started exploring in the 1970s.

[@robinavery52]

I remember that foot bridge

[@donr2176]

In 1967, we went to Clacton on Sea on a company outing. I found the Butlins Camp there and saw it had a barbed wire fence.. I asked the security guy "Was the fence to keep the public out- or the unfortunates at Butlins locked in"? He was not amused!

[@paulhaynes8045]

@@donr2176 when I first saw the one at Minehead (not knowing there was one there), I genuinely thought it was a prison or done high security facility!

[@kjh23gk]

It's such a cathedral-like station. I'm so glad it was preserved.

[@cubbyhoo]

As someone who grew up in Colchester Liverpool St has always been London for me. Love the design of it and it's underground busyness. I have a vivid memory of watching the old departure board with the mechanical labels (or whatever you call it) update, it was quite mesmerising

[@wilfredarasaratnam]

Same for me being an Ipswich boy

[@bbrs925]

Same for me being a Norfolk boy. And I think they’re called Solari boards (or split flap displays!)

[@williamchapple8886]

I’m a Norwich man and completely agree, it also feels like my gateway to adventures in a wonderful city

[@davidcronan4072]

I remember doing that as well. Once, after getting the information I wanted I turned round and saw Tom Baker, the Doctor Who actor, also gazing up at the board

[@richardyoung1053]

The Solari board was removed around 2007

[@andyhall7032]

The fact that Broadgate Exchange House is effectively built on a bridge spanning the train tracks never fails to amaze as a feat of engineering.

[@keiross]

What a meaty video. Thanks for all the research, info and history.

[@eattherich9215]

The video was longer than Jago's usual, but Jago never disappoints.

[@4th_Lensman_of_the_apocalypse]

Ooh meaty, what a great word when not used to describe meat!

[@philh9421]

I worked on the re-signalling of Liverpool Street in 1988/89, writing software for the IECC system and doing a lot of installation work near to where the train announcers sat. During one day-long session installing new signaller workstations I learnt that “a technical fault with the train” meant that the guard had turned up drunk for work…

[@JagoHazzard]

Ha, I like that.

[@johnkeepin7527]

And given where the IECC building was, that was another modernisation job BR did at Liverpool Street. Around the same time, I was working on a similar project at Marylebone, on the Chilterns route modernisation project, and I think Liverpool Street was actually the first of that kind to be commissioned anywhere on BR.

[@philh9421]

@@johnkeepin7527 Yes, it was the first ‘full’ IECC with signalling workstations (I think some hardware was put live at Clapham before Liverpool Street). I also worked on York and Glasgow installations after Liverpool Street.

[@frankroberts7787]

😮​@@philh9421

[@BrainW33a]

In 1991 The company for which I was chief engineer installed the suspended passenger information board above the main concourse. The technology then was Solari flaps. Whenever the information changed the board would make a characteristic noise and passengers looked up. When the technology was subsequently updated to LED, passengers missed the alerting sound. When I was young I lived in Enfield and would occasionally travel to London by electric train from Enfield Town, but most journeys were by steam or diesel railcar from Enfield Chase.

[@johnjephcote7636]

There was a lovely tea room up high above the concourse affording views of the whole station. i remember with dismay being unable, years later, to find it. I still remember the haunting, rather continental hiss hiss of the locomotives' Westinghouse pumps.

[@andrewhotston983]

Thank you - I was beginning to think that tea room had never existed.

[@andrewhotston983]

As an Essex boy I have fond memories of Liverpool Street - I especially remember a weird, antique-looking refreshment room above the concourse - I don't suppose that's still there, if indeed it isn't just a figment of my imagination.

[@KidarWolf]

I have a memory of such as well, and it appears many others in the comments also remember such. Of course, this doesn't mean it actually existed, we may all be experiencing a case of the Mandela Effect.

[@raythomas4812]

I remember how it used to look before it was renovated - the old entrance , and the slope by the Great Eastern Hotel . After Liverpool Street station - the City ended

[@paulketchupwitheverything767]

I remember a relatively small doorway in plain brick wall on the Bishopsgate side of the station and a narrow stairway down to platform level. I was surprised that it was one of the main ways into the station and the whole place felt a bit dingy.

[@raythomas4812]

@@paulketchupwitheverything767 I agree - also , if memory serves , was the ticket office there too ? there weren't many shops but I used to walk over a footbridge too get to one of the WH Smith.

[@leighoriordan]

This might be somewhere else in the comments but as you mention the “slope” can you confirm if it was where the McDonald’s “plaza” is now? I remember walking down it with my granddad but have never worked out where it was despite commuting into LST for 30 years!! I also seem to remember a dingy corridor connecting platforms 1-10 to 11-18. Was that there or am I imagining it as the video only mentions a bridge.

[@CynicalPlatapus]

I worked there for about 7 months as a fleet technician, it was fun fixing the trains while they're in service. Always wondered why the platforms are below ground level, seemed a bit unnecessary to send the trains downhill, and to require stairs for entry.

[@highpath4776]

basically the line has to get under Liverpool Street / the other road (Bishopsgate)

[@iankemp1131]

@@highpath4776 But really it could have been built somewhat higher if they hadn't wanted to put in the low level connection to the Metropolitan. It would have saved an awful lot of effort for steam trains over the next 80+ years by eliminating or easing the 1 in 109 climb out of the station. (Edit: according to BR gradient profiles it was initially level then half a mile at 1 in 70, even tougher!)

[@highpath4776]

@@iankemp1131 Agreed, and normally coming in on a viaduct gives arches to let out for income

[@bordershader]

But surely a high level station would require stairs to get up to it? If having stairs going down is a bad thing then stairs going up should be, too?

[@TheClockwise770]

Must have been rather dangerous, I guess they were not static long enough for the maintenance to be done.

[@DavidRGray]

Nice nod to Talking Heads at the beginning Jago.

[@groovysoca]

Yes, I got that too

[@ayindestevens6152]

Same here

[@anonymoustosh4471]

Growing up with the run down state of the railways in the 50s, I was only aware of Liverpool St. being derided as a filthy hell hole. I only discovered later that its condition came from what was in fact a monumental achievement. The Jazz service was the most intensive steam suburban service in the world and although the name was officially dropped in the mid 20s it continued in popular use right up to the end of steam.

[@Tyrannosaurus_Wrexx]

Last summer was my first trip to London. The whole Elizabeth Line trip felt like an extension of Heathrow. But, once I existed Liverpool St. Station, I finally felt like I was in London, and I fell in love. This station will always have a place in my heart.

[@pras12100]

Yes to a video about the Broad Street stations.😀

[@JagoHazzard]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWPOmKF-q5WpntEsi=tWJ_8o1o6I2slPoQ

[@keab42]

I miss the giant flappy board at Liverpool Street. I loved the sound of it.

[@edwardwong654]

I still remember arriving in London on a Wednesday and visiting Liverpool Station to get a Japanese dinner in 1997 AD. More recently I worked at software company at the entrance of Liverpool in 2019 AD. It is a very interesting area. London is my favourite city.

[@jeremybuck1818]

The WHSmith shop, like Wetherspoons, is also a former part of the Great Eastern Hotel and has a nice ornate ceiling- worth a look!

[@zetectic7968]

Crossing the footbridge in rush hour was like a salmon swimming upstream & not for the faint-hearted. No mention of the scene from The Elephant Man. Living on the Chingford line this was the usual gateway into London.

[@iankemp1131]

Always feels surprising when Liverpool Street overtakes Waterloo as Britain's busiest station, especially now that lots of people can transfer to the Victoria Line at Tottenham Hale, the Jubilee/DLR/Overground at Stratford and the Elizabeth Line from all the suburban stations out to Shenfield. The first time BR tastefully restored a major station rather than bulldozing and rebuilding it like Euston and Birmingham New Street. It transformed the west side of the station, and the elegant roof/column decorations rightly featured on the front of at least one BR timetable. As I always used the west side for Cambridge and Hertford East, I only recently found that it had come at a cost, with the disappearance of the east side roof and a low ceiling under an office block for trains to Clacton etc, seen at 19:55 (as at Victoria platforms 17-19 ish and Cannon Street). Always seems ironic that we had Crossrail nearly 150 years in advance with the Metropolitan link to Platform 1. Ahead of its time. The extra Elizabeth Line traffic from the Whitechapel/Woolwich direction is probably why it's now ahead of Waterloo.

[@roderickmain9697]

Ive realised, watching your video,Jago, that I've never really seen the outside of Liverpool street. Used it gazillions of times when I was at Uni in Colchester and after when I worked in (Zuid) Holland taking the boat train from Harwich, But I always arrived from an Underground station - rushed to get the next train (aactually, the smart move was to rush to the "next" train which left in 30 mins because it wasnt so crowded as the one about to leave. Usually got a seat. - no corridors!!!!) . Whatever plans get approval, I hope they dont mess it up.

[@robertklein1497]

I once spent 24 hours at Liverpool Street as I "miscalculated" my connection with the boattrain to Harwich. Kinda funny to see people in the evening leave for home and then coming in again for work the next morning while sitting on the same spot in the station. So even as a Dutchman, this video is kinda feeling as getting home.

[@sheltie777]

Ah Liverpool Street Station. My gateway into London. What a lifetime of memories, using it from the late 1950s onwards. As a boy I recall racing into London non-stop from Chelmsford on a train pulled by the Britannia Class locomotive "Oliver Cromwell.'" The heat and the smoke as the locomotive took a well deserved rest at the head of the platform. Also, the shrill guards' whistles announcing other departures, and the "ker-chunk" sound made by the old style doors. It was grimy back in those days, no doubt, and I am glad it has been cleaned up since, but I was always glad that it was not knocked down. Sir John Betjeman got that absolutely right.

[@Pesmog]

My first memories of Liverpool street were from about 1970 not long after the end of steam. The station was very run down then and horribly grimy, indeed just like Jago's image of Broad street in the video. It has massively improved since then. When I commuted via Liverpool street in the early 90's it was a very reliable station and the electrification of the last section of the West Anglia line to Cambridge at the end of the 80's further improved things. Looking to the future, it will be interesting to see how they will increase capacity beyond its current size as the site is now constrained on both sides.

[@RubbishGimpy]

I have a feeling Whitechapel and even Stratford will become versions of old Liverppol Street. They both already alleviate a lot of traffic for East London. I rember when both felt like domestic stations. London still expands.

[@iankemp1131]

Yes, the 1960s refurbishment only seemed to remodel things without cleaning things up, and "grimy" is how I recall it in the late 70s, whereas the 1980ish upgrade transformed it into a clean and attractive station where you could enjoy the roof and column decorations, and becoming all electric has certainly helped keep it that way.

[@KidarWolf]

My understanding, thusfar, of the plan for Cambridge, is that a third Cambridge station may be built, Cambridge South, which would be nearby to Addenbrookes Hospital, and the Rosie Maternity Hospital. Of the London end of things, I have no idea. Many more services run from Cambridge to King's Cross rather than to Liverpool Street - perhaps an effort to reduce the impact of high traffic flow on Liverpool Street?

[@iankemp1131]

@@KidarWolf The main services to Cambridge and Kings Lynn ran from Liverpool Street until the 1980s when they were swapped to Kings Cross on completion of electrification. The main reason was that the Kings Cross route had a higher speed and more capacity than the Lea Valley line south of Bishops Stortford, and the latter became even busier with Stansted Express.

[@KidarWolf]

@@iankemp1131 That goes a long way toward explaining why I've only once taken a train from Cambridge to Liverpool Street, and instead have ended up going to King's Cross. Thanks for that!

[@artistjoh]

These history videos highlight just how fluid and dynamic the development of rail in London has been. Rail has an aura of solidity and permanence about it, but history shows that that, like so much of life, is just a fleeting illusion.

[@stevenfarrall3942]

Thank you for this video. I was born and lived in Enfield until I was 18 and often used the (originally steam hauled - I am 72) commuter trains into LLS. In about 1970 my family moved out to Ipswich, and LLS has continued to play a part in my life.

[@SmudgeThomas]

Liverpool St is very much the family station for me with many generations having used it either from the suburbs or the outer reaches of the GER. What I wouldn't give to visit it just before WWI, when it was full of beautiful blue locos and the sound of Westinghouse pumps. Or just before WWII when the East Anglian streamliner sat beside B12s, N7s and Clauds.... It is a good station now and the Kindertransport and War memorials are well kept. Captain Fryatt would be quite a story to tell people....he should be better known.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

It’s nice to see a long-form history video essay. 👏🏽

[@adrianbaron4994]

Another excellent and well - researched and wittyly presented video. Thank you Jago. Its ironic that a great deal of extra expense, plus the punishing gradient out of the station, was because of the hoped - for alliance with the Metropolitan Railway and then the Met only used Platform 1 for a few months. This link was a kind of Victorian Crossrail, and could have seen Met trains running out into the London suburbs, and perhaps even GER electrification using the same systems as the Met, 40 years before it actually happened with 1,500v DC overhead, which of course had to be later expensively converted to 25,000v AC. I often wonder why this through running never happened. Perhaps the GER and the Met fell out over something, as railway companies at the time were prone to do. Or the Met was too busy battling the District Railway. Ive heard that the connecting tunnel down to the Met lines still exists, although sealed at the Met end, and is now used for Network Rail staff offices and was formerly a staff canteen. Perhaps anyone who works at Liverpool Street could confirm if this is true. As for the hideous and disgraceful scheme to wreck the station in the name of profit by building unneeded speculative offices above it, possibly no one promoting this nonsense has heard of working from home and the fact that companies are starting to leave Canary Wharf as their leases expire, HSBC being one, as with WFH the gargantuan space there isnt as popular or needed as it was. With WFH, and the space being freed up in Canary Wharf, these speculative offices, if ever built, are likely to remain largely empty. Build housing above the 1980s side only by all means, if that has to be done, but nowhere else, dont impinge on or ruin the heritage roof etc, and make at least 40 per cent of the housing affordable housing for the essential workers who keep London running but are priced out from living there.

[@RandomHeroXJack]

Been getting the train into Liverpool St since I was a kid in the mid 90s. It hasn't changed much since then really, so super interesting to hear all of this history as to what lead it to where it is now! Thanks Jago.... PS: Was hoping the band Mansun might get a shout out for their Taxloss video stunt in the mid 90s Britpop era when they launched £25k in five pound notes off one of the upper concourses and sent everyone (including staff) into raptures picking up the cash!

[@Listenerandlearner870]

I remember being sat in a train on Liverpool Street and seeing a steam train leaving Broad Street. It was quite possibly an excusion train. Broad Street was deliberately run down over many years.

[@MrMWRMWR]

One of my earliest memories is of being on a steam train curving to the left so I could see the engine and various sidings. We were headed towards Cambridge and I've since concluded that the memory relates to heading out of Broad Street and up past Cambridge (Heath) Road.

[@wad951]

Loved this, thank you J. My Grandma, an Edmontonian, born 1900, referred to the @Jazz' trains as workman's trains. One great secret held between John Betjeman and I was the buffet on the bridge near to platform 9. It was an oasis in the drink fueled city of (my) day. I loved the journey to see my Grandma (not Gran, Nan or any other common phrase). A one mile walk to Upminster, the push and pull to Romford, down to Liv St, walk across to platorm 1-3 up to Silver Street and a peaceul walk through Pymmes Park, then lunch - she was a great cook!! Cheers and chin chin

[@roberthuron9160]

There is a New York connection,as usual! The designer of the Jazz Services,was a gentleman named Thornton,who originally worked for the Long Island Railroad,and later headed the Canadian National! Quite a resume,even if it was only partially done! He was also knighted,forgot!! Thank you,Jago for an interesting take on an English equivalent to Grand Central Terminal! Thank you 😇 😊!

[@smada36]

As someone that has driven and controlled rail replacement out of LLS, I can confirm that the amount of passengers at busy periods is not for the fainthearted. We often had to stable passengers in two huge queues on Platform 10, and permanently park an empty train there to stop anyone falling onto the track. We would kick a coach out the door every four minutes with no less than 50 people on, and still not see the queue get shorter for two or three hours. This title is well deserved.

[@jacekolender1139]

For me Liverpool Street will always be a sort of space-time-bending gravitational anomaly. One block in any direction away from the station, and I immediately know where I'm going. Anywhere closer the station and I'm walking in circles, completely lost.

[@joeblow9657]

The staff of the Great Eastern Hotel sure had a sense of humour.

[@tsegulin]

During my month in London last year I took trains from London Liverpool St and was really impressed by what a beautiful structure it was. One odd thing for me was that I could never tell which platform my train would depart from until shortly before it arrived. Elsewhere the platform number was printed on the ticket. Still, it always showed up and took me where I needed to go on time. I'll be buggered if I remember 10% of the history of London Liverpool St. station, but I fund this video fascinating anyway. Do British universities off bachelors degrees in the history of British railways? There just see to be so much of it... Thanks again Jago!

[@wilsonlaidlaw]

An excellent video Jago. Having spent a lot of my working life walking from my office past Liverpool Street Station en route to Lloyds of London and availing myself from time to time, of the restaurant facilities inside the station, it was very interesting to learn more of its history. I hope the developers don't get their way.

[@SilverGear_]

Finally someone else makes note of the collapse of Overend Gurney and Co! The financial panic that the firm's ruin caused basically put an end to the second railway mania, with many plans that had been put forward simply being stopped in their tracks overnight. It's somewhat disappointing that its collapse isn't more widely known considering the massive influence it had on the financial, political and railway world.

[@PaddyWV]

Delightful video Sir.Thank you. I had a fleeting sight of "old" Liverpool Street in around 1990-91 and I really liked the open space there. I remember travelling to Norwich on one of the last locomotive pulled services. Revelling in the old carriages with their wood veneer panelling and sofa like comfy seats. It was a boiling hot day and some parts of the station were all noise and chaos. I next went to LS in 1995 and wasn't really impressed by the plastic cladding they covered everything with. I thought the makeover spoiled it a bit. But it will always be a place of joy for me. In the early nineties I was heading to Norwich for romantic shenanigans. In the mid nineties I was heading there for camping trips and escaping from domestic servitude and abuse. More recently East Anglia is the home for family, so again contented connections continue. It's a shame that the greed merchant buildings surrounding it are now dwarfing the station. Not to mention the greed merchants who still want to ruin the building itself with their ivory towers. Incidentally If you fancy straying out of London again, I'd be interested in knowing why the London line to Norwich kept it's original Telegraph poles and wires for so long. They existed in the nineties, but whether they then connected to anything, I don't know. At least they looked like Telegraph poles.

[@norbitonflyer5625]

Norwich trains were loco-hauled until 2020. You may be recalling the last diesel-hauled services, which were c 1990.

[@paullaw1438]

Masterly! How you manage to make such an information-packed video without it becoming indigestible amazes me.

[@robertward7449]

Love it! Liv St used to be the station I used long ago when I lived and worked in London. The current version is a vast improvement over the old cold and draughty one. I idly wonder if the claim to be busiest includes an element of double counting from passengers exiting the Liz line and then transferring to the Stansted and east anglia services.

[@andyholt6238]

I used to commute from Raylieigh. In the days that the guards would take them my bicycle came in the guards van. Then, when that was banned, I bought a Bickerton folding bike. When I unfolded/assembled it on the forecourt this amused other passengers and staff though sometimes managers tried to stop me.

[@donr2176]

Enjoyed this very much, Jago; one question- You said that steam trains stopped running from there about 1963. We lived in London from 1965-68, and my brother and I were at Liverpool St Station around 1966-67 when the very last steam train departed. I know that was over 57 years back, but it remains a clear memory. Regards.

[@paulhayes5724]

Having lived in Norwich for the past 20-odd years, Liverpool Street is probably the London station with which I am most familiar and have spent the most time in, so I found this video very interesting - thank you! One thing which has always intrigued me, coming in on the Norwich train, is that just before you come into the station and stop at the covered platforms, there appear to be some disused platforms out in the open just beforehand. For years now they've had some "flags of the world" banners up in arches along them. Does anyone know what these platforms are / were...?

[@deviousbadger]

That's the remains of Bishopsgate Low Level station, which Jago refers to early in the video.

[@paulhayes5724]

@@deviousbadgerAh, thank you!

[@jackie0604oxon]

I've only travelled through there once, in 1978; this was a fascinating history of the station. "Half visionary genius, half ruthless conman" - that's a classic!

[@SixthQuarter]

Haha love the start. “You may ask yourself, how did we get here”. Fantastic tune. 🔊🔊🔊

[@nigelcole1936]

I have been using Liverpool Street station for most of my 40 years working in The City of London, your history of it is fascinating and very well done. I really do hope that current schemes to redevelop and build over the station are not successful, the plans are horrendous.

[@isashax]

I have spent plenty of time in Liverpool Street Station, ironically, most of it waiting for the night buses to Stansted. Great video and I hope that this new scheme won't happen!

[@paulhaynes8045]

A lovely long video on a very interesting topic - and one I knew little about. Thank you. That I knew little about Liverpool St, is rather odd, as I lived in Romford for 10 years, so Liverpool St was my London terminus. Except that we hardly ever went there - it being much easier to pick up the Central Line at Stratford (cross platform change) and then change to the District, if required, at Mile End (another cross platform change). I never thought twice about this at the time, but now it strikes me as rather odd. We, of course, regarded this business of avoiding the terminus, as perfectly normal, but, offhand, I can't think of another London terminus where this is even possible, let alone common. I'm not familiar with suburban services to west and north London, so I may be wrong, but I'm not aware of any straightforward way you can avoid going to Waterloo or Victoria, for instance. Obviously, you can get off at London Bridge and pick up the tube, rather than carry on to Charing Cross or Cannon St (although it's more hassle than it's worth and LB is still a terminu!), but you can't make an easy change to the Underground, before London Bridge on most suburban services, even with the coming of the Elizabeth Line and the Docklands extensions.

[@PlanetoftheDeaf]

As a student, I used Liverpool Street during the late 80s rebuild. The old station was characterful, but far less efficient than the rebuilt version.

[@tantaf123]

me when jago uploads: -cheering and spinning in chair-

[@bigstak2010]

A longer video is a real treat: a Jago Deluxe, if you will. You had the time to develop themes and histories in a way your shorter - but still brilliant - videos can't.

[@jh-ec7si]

Wow it had never occurred to me that Liverpool Street didn't always have a big giant cube on top of it

[@thickernell]

“And you might ask how did we get here.” Nice, subtle Talking Heads reference, Jago.

[@alwynjones3378]

Well done. Interesting, Happy memories of the station as an undergraduate in the 1970ies. It was very drab in those days with fascinating glimpses, if you looked hard enough of bygone splendour. Always smelt of pasties! Nice to see it looking so pristine.

[@JagoHazzard]

I imagine pasties were an improvement on herrings.

[@francisnewmarch6837]

By eck! You deserve a pint for that epic episode. Riveting stuff.

[@sarasate89]

I remember when you used to get taxis from next to platform 10 (I think) in Liverpool street! They changed it a few years ago I believe, you now have to exit the station and the taxi rank is on the street outside.

[@drsteele]

Good Morning Mr Phelps - Liverpool St also plays a pivotal role in the first Mission:Impossible film.

[@Azeria]

may have to start a jam band called ‘The Decapod Gambit’ now.

[@RichardLordRix]

Surely that should be a jazz band?

[@Azeria]

@@RichardLordRix i went back and forth on it in truth lmao

[@neville132bbk]

..the Decapod Cakewalk

[@Lazyguy22]

Uploaded 28 seconds ago! This is the fastest I've seen a video, wow!

[@jharris947]

That was an excellent journey into the history of Liverpool Street. Thank you.

[@peterhearle874]

Jago love the video. I can remember using the station 1956, 57,58, I would have to board a troop train to Harwich, then the boat which belonged to the army to the hook of Holland. I believed that troop train would leave Liverpool Street station every two days on a night. Happy memories, having my last pint of bitter in the pub opposite call dirty Dicks before boarding the train to Germany and I would have to drink lager . all the service. Men would meet in the pub if you weren’t coming back to Germany, British Army issued their own money called BAFF you would pin them on the wall in the pub for the next squad is to use on their way to Germany because you could not change it into pounds. I hope this gives you something to research on

[@lauz7986]

great vid jago; in-depth and well covered

[@hannecatton2179]

For us residents of Suffolk and Essex the journey through the tightly packed dwellings of East London on our way to Liverpool Street reminded us of how lucky we were to live were we did.

[@laxmipatel4484]

Like the Talking Heads song reference. Brilliant videos always full of great info. .Keep it up Jago.

[@Feakre]

Living on the east coast, this is the only one of the main London stations that I have any real knowledge of and it's absolutely fantastic to hear the full history like this. Thanks Jago.

[@philwoodward5069]

It's not just the length of the Elizabeth Line platforms that "give them a direct connection to Moorgate"; it's also the fact that the centre of the platforms are, by far, nearer to Moorgate than to Liverpool Street. The tunnels and escalators leading from the mainline concourse to the Elizabeth Line platforms feel like they'll never end when you walk along them.

[@johnledingham852]

WOW! I'm blown away dear Jago by the amount of effort you put into your research. I do share your passion for rail travel history. And I feel much more knowledgeable about Liverpool Street Station now, (albeit I've never crossed its' portals). I love the old station architecture which keeps that more gracious part of history alive. I still close my eyes and evoke the sounds and smells of the days of steam. I ignore the bad bits!

[@mikemidulster]

This channel is fast becoming the go to place for railway history. Another excellent video!

[@stevedunn2502]

As I had the privilege of being the chaplain to the staff of Liverpool Street Station and the whole Eastern Region 2009 - 2015, I viewed this particular video of yours with keen interest! Although I was there to minister to the people, I was nevertheless fascinated by the architecture and history of the place - and you have now given me a more complete story……thank you!

[@kajamas]

The cash machines at liverpool street are also the most used ones in the UK

[@coyotelong4349]

You would think King’s Cross/St. Pancras would be Britain’s busiest, but maybe the fact that those are actually 2 separate stations dilutes the busyness

[@jgodfrey546]

Quite the production, Jago! Have to swing by the station next time in to see some of your points in person. Cheerio!

[@TheEarlofK]

A fascinating history of Liverpool Street station. I have many happy memories of it from commuting daily into it from the mid-1970s. The old station was a characterful rabbit warren, especially the winding journey made from the upper walkway connecting platforms 1-9 to 10-18. There was a café, the old station master's office, overlooking platforms 1-9 and a pub, The Apples & Pears, alongside the grand staircase that led down from the Bishopsgate entrance. The entrance to the Central Line ticket hall was a long, quite steep tunnel, which you could run down if so desired, and I'm sure would never meet health and safety requirements today. The Great Eastern Hotel was somewhat rundown and underused and rooms could be booked by the hour by City workers during lunch breaks for romantic dalliances. All this was lost in the 1991 renovation work and the station has been utterly soulless since this time, but I hope that the current monstrous redevelopment proposals can be defeated.

[@robertsmith4830]

I'm guessing the Elizabeth Line has really boosted the number of passengers using Liverpool Street. Funnily enough though, the mainline station concourse doesn't feel anywhere near as busy during rush-hour as it did pre-pandemic. Fridays in particular are very quiet.

[@darmtb]

Lovely work on this Jago ❤️ I usually come out of the city from Liverpool Street on my day trips into London when I’m over in England. I knew a little bit of its history but always wondered why the station is below street level, so thanks for filling in the gaps in the entertaining way we all have gotten accustomed too! Nice to see Enfield station too, another station I know well along that Weaver line 😉 I found that Port of London book and it has maps including rail lines 😃 Will email the maps over shortly.

[@rosiefay7283]

Thank you for covering Liverpool Street --- the gateway to London for all the years I've lived east of the metropolis. I note that you show a lot of video of the station's entrance in Liverpool Street, and none of its entrance in Bishopsgate. I always thought of the latter as the station's main entrance, despite its name. I wonder how the two entrances compare in terms of number of people using them.

[@PavlosPapageorgiou]

It's interesting that the busiest station in a city isn't always the long-distance one that you think of as most important.

[@geezerbutler4582]

Back in the 1980s there was the decrepit Broad Street station and the slightly less decrepit Liverpool Street with a weird Ariel walkway. Separating these two stations was a Second World War bomb site turned into a car park with crushed red bricks as the surface. There’s been a lot of redevelopment in this area but it really needed doing.

[@MichaelGuerra-ew7uu]

Really good Tom. I got to know Alasdair Lansley the architect responsible for the last Liverpool St refurb (post Broadgate) as he was chief architect at St Pancras. Lovely chap and really cared about integrating heritage with new function.

[@SS-qo4xe]

Excellent as usual. When I lived and worked in the East End in 1968 I used Liverpool Street station quite a bit. 55 years later, back in Canada, I look at all the changes to this station and London itself and am gobsmacked. I hope it all works but I must say I would be lost in London today.

[@radio-g4-rm3dz]

Thanks for that history. I used to work at Liverpool Street station in the telegraph office on the telephone exchange in the 1970's, the exchange was later moved from the old office buildings up to Norton Folgate just up the road.We used to handle telephone calls for both BR and Sealink, do you remember them?

[@RJ-fn7mf]

Madness produced an excellent album called "The Liberty of Norton Folgate" - well worth listening to.

[@JessieLC]

growing up/living in ipswich, liverpool street has always been my london 'central point', and i find a weird sense of pride that it's officially the busiest station in britain now. one of my favourite things about the station is the little concrete 'garden' behind it where you can see onto all the tracks through the arches!

[@Tinhare]

Excellent video Jago. Well presented and researched as usual. Quite like these longer videos.

[@andrewhowe555]

Really enjoyed this episode, really like the long form history (I like all your videos), but the expanded story was really interesting. Great work Jago 😊

[@batman51]

They turned the Met/main line connecting tunnel into a staff café. It was a bit spooky eating there, I always felt a train might come round the corner any moment.

[@prodiver7]

The two (three?) Masonic temples with banqueting suites in the station hotel were/are remarkable, especially the huge one in Egyptian style. So were the numbers of men with small 'suitcases' commuting in on Thursday mornings and out again late the same evening...

[@thelastsaxtop]

I think this long-form history content is a welcome addition to your library

[@petes6814]

I was in Finsbury Circus on my way to work (BR Civil Engineer’s Office) when the Bishopsgate bomb went off, and spent the rest of the weekend helping organise the clear up of Liverpool St Station. I have photos taken from the roof showing the damage, and found part of the lorry which carried the bomb on the train shed roof. 7 tonnes of glass were removed from the concourse, which had fallen, some glass shards piercing the metal seats below.

[@frenchfriar]

What a lovely old station, it's so licky to have survived so far.

[@jadeboswell-rz2ly]

Thank Jago, Great references to Broad St. As a teenager from Watford wanting to visit East anglia the B2 class 501's to Broad St then a quick walk across Liverpool St was convenient to say the least. How times have changed.