On 2/2/09 12:25, in article , "Andrew Robert
Breen" wrote:

The Great Hall at Euston is a glorious space. With some of the retail
clutter cleared away (as I hear it has been - can't wait to see the
results) it should be the magnificent, uplifting space it should be.
Lovely bit of architecture - and the materials used were superb.

Agree totally; one of the best '60s buildings in London.

It's probably the best circulating area in any station I've come across,
with the probable exception of Grand Central in Washington. Shame they
both share the problem of dark platform spaces, but that doesn't make
either of the head-houses less magnificent.

The Booking Office/Waiting Room at Newark Penn station is rather nice, as is
that at Hoboken Terminal, which reminds me somewhat of the Great Hall at the
old Euston.

Just about every American station I've seen, and I admit I haven't seen very
many, is horrible at track level. At Newark Penn the tracks are at an
elevated level, and the platforms are terrible; the edges are breaking up in
places, and have been roughly repaired by thick plates of some sort of thick
material fixed over the worst places, and providing something for people to
trip over. At EWR airport station, built just a few ears ago, the platforms
are very narrow, I would say dangerously so, where there are buildings on
them. New York Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal are both much worse
than Euston at platform level, though they are nice at concourse level.
Poughkeepsie (I'm not even sure how to pronounce that) is a nice smaller
station.

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009, Andrew Robert Breen wrote:

In article ,
Tom Anderson wrote:
On Sun, 1 Feb 2009, Neil Williams wrote:

On Sun, 1 Feb 2009 14:39:11 -0000, "solar penguin"
wrote:

That's one thing that St Pancras only managed to get right with the
latest redevelopment, giving us that new basement-level shopping mall
and concourse, tucked nicely away from the trains.

I find it claustrophobic compared with Euston's high-ceilinged Great
Hall, which is certainly deserving of the name.

Hmm. Big Hall, possiby. There's nothing very Great about it.

?

In fact, boggle.

The Great Hall at Euston is a glorious space. With some of the retail
clutter cleared away (as I hear it has been - can't wait to see the
results) it should be the magnificent, uplifting space it should be.
Lovely bit of architecture - and the materials used were superb.

It's a featureless cuboid. It absolutely does the job of being a station,
but apart from that, it does nothing at all.

Let's make sure we're on the same wavelength here - are we talking about
this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi..._concourse.jpg

(now minus some of the shops)

?

tom

--
Tubes are the foul subterranean entrails of the London beast, stuffed
with the day's foetid offerings. -- Tokugawa

On 2 Feb, 14:02, Tom Anderson wrote:

Let's make sure we're on the same wavelength here - are we talking about
this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...on_station_con...

Yep. Spacious, airy, practical and warm. Everything that a number of
other main termini are not.

Interesting, no, but then that's not what it's there for.

(now minus some of the shops)

All 3 of the "teepee" like ones around the pillars visible on the
photo above have gone. Makes quite a difference.

Neil

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009, Stephen Furley wrote:

Just about every American station I've seen, and I admit I haven't seen very
many, is horrible at track level. At Newark Penn the tracks are at an
elevated level, and the platforms are terrible; the edges are breaking up in
places, and have been roughly repaired by thick plates of some sort of thick
material fixed over the worst places, and providing something for people to
trip over. At EWR airport station, built just a few ears ago, the platforms
are very narrow, I would say dangerously so, where there are buildings on
them. New York Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal are both much worse
than Euston at platform level, though they are nice at concourse level.
Poughkeepsie (I'm not even sure how to pronounce that) is a nice smaller
station.

I think it's somehting like "Pur-kip-see".

I didn't get off the train at Newark, but from the window it did look
like it was falling down.

NYP reminded me was a bit like a big Liverpool Street (modern looking busy
but not that exciting above the track level, and dark and dingy down by
the trains) and Grand Central Terminal has a really nice big hall, but is
truly awful at platform level.

Boston South was the best of a bad bunch at track level of the ones I went
to.
--
Chris Johns

Chris Johns gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

Poughkeepsie (I'm not even sure how to pronounce that)

I think it's somehting like "Pur-kip-see".

"Pick-upsy", IIRC

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009 06:06:36 -0800 (PST), Neil Williams put finger to
keyboard and typed:

On 2 Feb, 14:02, Tom Anderson wrote:

Let's make sure we're on the same wavelength here - are we talking about
this:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...on_station_con...

Yep. Spacious, airy, practical and warm. Everything that a number of
other main termini are not.

Interesting, no, but then that's not what it's there for.

(now minus some of the shops)

All 3 of the "teepee" like ones around the pillars visible on the
photo above have gone. Makes quite a difference.

Where have the shops gone?

FWIW, I agree that the main hall at Euston is designed to be
practical, if uninteresting, but what made it increasingly impractical
was their inability to resist the temptation to turn it into
revenue-earning space. If they've finally realised that was an error,
it will at least make travelling via Euston less hassle even if it
doesn't do much to make it more enjoyable.

Mark
--
A Miscellany Of Good Stuff:
http://www.good-stuff.co.uk
http://namestore.good-stuff.co.uk
http://news.good-stuff.co.uk

On 2 Feb, 14:35, Mark Goodge wrote:

Where have the shops gone?

The CD shop has gone completely, while the other two have moved into
two new units situated where the two food outlets were under the
departure board.

Neil

On 2/2/09 14:13, in article l,
"Chris Johns" wrote:

I think it's somehting like "Pur-kip-see".

I didn't get off the train at Newark, but from the window it did look
like it was falling down.

NYP reminded me was a bit like a big Liverpool Street (modern looking busy
but not that exciting above the track level, and dark and dingy down by
the trains) and Grand Central Terminal has a really nice big hall, but is
truly awful at platform level.

Boston South was the best of a bad bunch at track level of the ones I went
to.

You didn't see the better part of Newark. I took some pictures of it a few
years ago, but due to a failed hard disk I can't start my desktop computer
at the moment, and my SCSI film scanner won't work on my laptop.

There's a picture of it he
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...8/P7140087.JPG

This is taken from the sort of shop/café area at one end; NJ Transit ticket
office and machines to left, the thing with the canopy over it is an
information kiosk. Doorway at far left leads to a passageway with stairs up
to the platforms. Out of sight to he left of this doorway is the Amtrak
ticket office. The door at the far end leads out to the buses; the
metalwork around it, aluminium I think, can also be seen elsewhere in the
station. 1937 I think; I can't remember who the architects were. It
replaced two earlier stations, Market Street for the PRR, and Park Place for
the Hudson & Manhattan, now PATH. There are various shops and eating
places, and also the entrance to the Newark City Subway, in other
passageways at concourse level.

There are some more pictures, including some of the outside he
http://www.thortrains.net/lackawanna/pennsy1.htm

They are of poor quality though.

He http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/re...21station.html

he http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoboken_Terminal

and he http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%2...n/hoboken.html

Are pictures of the booking hall/waiting room at Hoboken Terminal. It's the
first one which reminds me somewhat of the Great Hall at the old Euston.

On Mon, 2 Feb 2009 06:51:50 -0800 (PST), Neil Williams put finger to
keyboard and typed:

On 2 Feb, 14:35, Mark Goodge wrote:

Where have the shops gone?

The CD shop has gone completely, while the other two have moved into
two new units situated where the two food outlets were under the
departure board.

Which food outlets? And have they disappeared altogether, or have they
moved as well?

When travelling home from London, I often buy a sandwich or roll from
one of the vendors at the station and take it with me on the train, so
it's nice to have a good selection of food outlets.

Mark
--
A Miscellany Of Good Stuff:
http://www.good-stuff.co.uk
http://namestore.good-stuff.co.uk
http://news.good-stuff.co.uk

On 2 Feb, 15:01, Mark Goodge wrote:

Which food outlets?

The Pasty Shop, and I forget what was on the other side. They've
moved outside the station into temporary units.

Neil