New Farringdon Station

I'm glad lots of you remember old Cowcross Street! Aliscotia got a bit ahead of me yesterday when she said how shocked she was last time she came out of old Farringdon Street tube station to find ahead of her, not a scruffy, 12 storey, 1960s office block, but this brand spanking new railway station!

It's the new Thameslink station. I've shot it at this oblique angle so that you can see the huge building site on the right with several green cranes. This is the site of the future Crossrail station. In 2018, frequent, high speed trains will go through here to Heathrow (and Bond Street!) to the west, and connect to Eurostar, Canary Wharf and City Airport to the east. This will be where the main north-south line crosses the main east-west line. I firmly believe that Cowcross Street will soon be at the centre of the universe!

Eight giant tunnelling boring machines are currently eating their way under the streets of London to provide 42 kilometres of new train tunnels. The two machines currently boring their way towards Farringdon from the west are called Phyllis and Ada, whilst the two machines tunnelling from the east are called Elizabeth and Victoria - you think I could make this up?! I'll send you the link to the website.

When Crossrail opens, Farringdon station will go from being one of the smallest London railway stations, to being one of the busiest, on a par with King's Cross, Waterloo, or Victoria.

Tony was looking bored in his magazine kiosk as business is quiet mid-morning, but by 2018 he'll need an emporium! And the oriental gentleman might sell a few more peacock feathers...