In 1917 the British chess player Aleister Crowley published a novel. I
have just started reading it.
Part of the opening chapter (it is all online, by the way) reads:

"Charing Cross Station, moreover, is the only true Metropolitan
terminus. Euston, St. Pancras, and King's Cross merely convey one to
the provinces,... Victoria and Paddington seem to serve the vices of
Brighton and Bournemouth in winter, Maidenhead and Henley in summer.
Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street are mere suburban sewers;
Waterloo is the funereal antechamber to Woking;..."

NOW PAY ATTENTION! 'Cause this is the bit I am talking about!!

"...Great Central is a "notion" imported, name and all, from Broadway,
by an enterprising kind of railway Barnum, named Yerkes; nobody ever
goes there, except to golf at Sandy Lodge. If there are any other
terminals in London, I forget them; clear proof of their
insignificance...."

Did you spot it?!
There used to be a Grand Central station in London. What is it now?

BTW, in Crowley's book 777 he mentions the planet Herschel. I knew
that this was an old name for Uranus but I didn't know it had
persisted among English-speakers for so long.

On Mar 24, 3:56*pm, Offramp wrote:

Did you spot it?!
There used to be a Grand Central station in London. What is it now?

Marylebone, is it not?

The 'Great Central' lives on in the tiling of the Bakerloo platforms:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...stn_tiling.JPG

On Mar 24, 4:05*pm, Martin Deutsch wrote:
On Mar 24, 3:56*pm, Offramp wrote:

Did you spot it?!
There used to be a Grand Central station in London. What is it now?

Marylebone, is it not?

The 'Great Central' lives on in the tiling of the Bakerloo platforms:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...stn_tiling.JPG

Correct; St Mary-le-bon!

On Mar 24, 3:56*pm, Offramp wrote:
"Charing Cross Station, moreover, is the only true Metropolitan
terminus. [...]"

But does he explain why he excludes Charing Cross from his list of bad
stations?

--
Abi

"...Charing Cross dates from before the Norman Conquest. Here Caesar
scorned the advances of Boadicea, who had come to the station to meet
him; and here St. Augustin uttered his famous mot, "Non Angli, sed
angeli." ...
"The speed of the trains is adjusted to that of the Roman Legions:
three miles per hour. And they are always late, in honour of the
immortal Fabius, "qui cunctando restituit rem." "

What a load of twaddle.

On Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:26:50 -0000, Abigail Brady
wrote:

On Mar 24, 3:56Â*pm, Offramp wrote:
"Charing Cross Station, moreover, is the only true Metropolitan
terminus. [...]"

But does he explain why he excludes Charing Cross from his list of bad
stations?

--
Abi

Yes:

" But Charing Cross dates from before the Norman Conquest. Here Caesar
scorned the advances of Boadicea, who had come to the station to meet him;
and here St. Augustin uttered his famous mot, "Non Angli, sed angeli."

Stay: there is no need to exaggerate. Honestly, Charing Cross is the true
link with Europe, and therefore with history. It understands its dignity
and its destiny; the station officials never forget the story of King
Alfred and the cakes, and are too wrapped in the cares of -- who knows
what? -- to pay any attention to the necessities of would-be travellers.
The speed of the trains is adjusted to that of the Roman Legions: three
miles per hour. And they are always late, in honour of the immortal
Fabius, "qui cunctando restituit rem."

This terminus is swathed in immemorial gloom; it was in one of the
waiting-rooms that James Thomson conceived the idea for his City of
Dreadful Night; but it is still the heart of London, throbbing with a
clear longing towards Paris. A man who goes to Paris from Victoria will
never reach Paris! He will find only the city of the demi-mondaine and the
tourist."


--
Fig

On Mar 24, 8:56*am, Offramp wrote:
In 1917 the British chess player Aleister Crowley published a novel. I
have just started reading it.
Part of the opening chapter (it is all online, by the way) reads:

"Charing Cross Station, moreover, is the only true Metropolitan
terminus. Euston, St. Pancras, and King's Cross merely convey one to
the provinces,... Victoria and Paddington seem to serve the vices of
Brighton and Bournemouth in winter, Maidenhead and Henley in summer.
Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street are mere suburban sewers;
Waterloo is the funereal antechamber to Woking;..."

NOW PAY ATTENTION! 'Cause this is the bit I am talking about!!

"...Great Central is a "notion" imported, name and all, from Broadway,
by an enterprising kind of railway Barnum, named Yerkes; nobody ever
goes there, except to golf at Sandy Lodge. If there are any other
terminals in London, I forget them; clear proof of their
insignificance...."

Did you spot it?!
There used to be a Grand Central station in London. What is it now?

No, it is "Great Central". The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, a
Yerkes Line, station beneath Marylebone was named "Great Central".
IIRC this was at the request of Sir Sam Fay.

On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 08:56:09AM -0700, Offramp wrote:
In 1917 the British chess player Aleister Crowley published a novel. I
have just started reading it.
Part of the opening chapter (it is all online, by the way) reads:

"...Great Central is a "notion" imported, name and all, from Broadway,
by an enterprising kind of railway Barnum, named Yerkes; nobody ever
goes there, except to golf at Sandy Lodge. If there are any other
terminals in London, I forget them; clear proof of their
insignificance...."

Did you spot it?!
There used to be a Grand Central station in London. What is it now?

It says "Great Central", not "Grand Central". The Great Central Railway
was one of the pre-grouping ancestors of the LNER, running into
Marylebone.

--
David Cantrell | Bourgeois reactionary pig

Safety tip: never strap firearms to a hamster

On Mar 24, 3:56*pm, Offramp wrote:
In 1917 the British chess player Aleister Crowley published a novel. I
have just started reading it.

That's an, err, unconventional way to describe Mr Crowley...

cf 'in 1917 the German artist Adolf Hitler was injured in the Battle
of the Somme'.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Did you spot it?!
There used to be a Grand Central station in London. What is it now?

No, it is "Great Central". *The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, a
Yerkes Line, station beneath Marylebone was named "Great Central".
IIRC this was at the request of Sir Sam Fay.

I am surprised that I made that mistake. I think I was influenced by
Crowley's "...imported, name and all, from Broadway", and I did not
look twice.