London Paddington station
Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a London railway station and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the main line station dates from 1854 and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. As of the 2022–23 Office of Rail & Road Statistics, it is the second busiest station in the United Kingdom, after London Liverpool Street, with 59.2 million entries and exits.
The Victorian train shed at Paddington in October 2018
The layout of Paddington Station in 1888
Paddington Station in the Victorian era
The Praed Street facade of the Great Western Hotel (now the Hilton London Paddington)
The London station group is a group of 18 railway stations served by the National Rail network in central London. The group contains all 14 terminal stations in central London, either serving major national services or local commuter routes, and 4 other through-stations that are considered terminals for ticketing purposes. All current stations in the group fall within London fare zone 1. A ticket marked "London Terminals" allows travel to any station in the group via any permitted route, as determined by the National Routeing Guide.
The first London terminal station, London Bridge, in 1836
The distinctive Gothic architecture of St Pancras railway station survived demolition, unlike neighbouring Euston.
Broad Street station was one of the few in the London station group to be closed and demolished.
The building of railway lines into London took up a substantial amount of land, particularly south of the Thames.