New and commodious passenger stations recently opened in and around London and other Home centres direct attention to the efforts now being made by the group railways of Britain towards the improvement of their passenger stations, alike in town and country. A wonderfully well-equipped passenger station has just been opened by the Southern Railway at Wimbledon, on the city's south-western outskirts, and at Piccadilly Circus and Underground lines a magnificent new passenger depot was recently opened. Very shortly the removal of Charing Cross Station to the southern bank of the River Thames will give the metropolis another really handsome terminal built on the most commodious lines.

The care now being devoted to the improvement of the Home railway passenger stations is most commendable. Time was when almost any rough and tumble structure of wood, brick or iron was considered sufficient to serve as a railway station. Nowadays, progressive railways recognise the need for providing attractive and commodious station premises in every important centre, and, since the Great War, this movement towards the improvement of British passenger stations has been most marked. London is fortunate in the possession of several handsome passenger stations, befitting the capital of the Empire and the important business handled thereat. The Waterloo terminus of the Southern Railway, opened for traffic after rebuilding some nine years ago, is one of the finest passenger stations in the world. Paddington Station, in the aristocratic west-end, is the handsome headquarters terminal of the Great Western Railway, while in the Euston Station of the London, Midland and Scottish line, we have a truly imposing structure which any railway might be proud to own. Probably the daintiest London terminal, from the architectural viewpoint, is the St. Pancras Station of the L. M. and S., once the London headquarters of the Midland Railway, as it was styled prior to grouping. Built on the site of an old Roman encampment, St. Pancras Station is fronted at one end by the handsome pile of the railway-owned hotel, with its two elegant spires, while at the opposite end of the structure is a pleasing clock tower, reminiscent of that which houses “Big Ben” at Westminster.

Outside London, many provincial centres possess railway stations of real beauty and architectural charm. To demonstrate what a really intelligent architect can accomplish in the way of providing station accommodation worthy of a great and historic city, the York Station of the L. and N. E. Railway stands as a fine example. Here is found a wonderful elliptical roof, covering the long curved platforms, quite unlike anything of its kind elsewhere. Perth General Station, in Scotland, is page 20 another pleasing passenger depot, while in Manchester and Derby the L. M. and S. line has also given to the public passenger stations in keeping with the points they serve.