Blackfriars Bridge

I would have passed by such emblems of the old railway companies without so much as a glance, as a youngster. Yet, these colourful and attractive reminders of the early railway scene continue to decorate today’s landscape, even as wholesale changes take place all around them.

This case in point shows the London Chatham and Dover Railway insignia on the former bridge support, as viewed from the adjacent Blackfriars road bridge over the Thames. Peaking above the scene is the top of the Shard and the chimney of the former Bankside power station, now the home of Tate Modern.

The LCDR reached Victoria station in 1861, and three years later a link from Elephant and Castle gave the company access to the City of London via Blackfriars Bridge station.  

The bridge [itself a replacement structure] has been transformed in recent times. The revitalised north-south link across London is part of the Thameslink Programme. The platforms of a refurbished Blackfriars station now extend along the widened bridge, itself.