This trip by train is a walk from London Paddington station to London Waterloo station, taking in the royal parks of Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Green Park and St James Park on the way. We also pass Buckingham Palace, Horse Guards Parade, Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross station, the new Hungerford footbridge and the Royal Festival Hall.

To start this walk, make your way to London Paddington station.

As can be seen in this view looking towards the concourse, Brunel conceived of Paddington as an aisled cathedral in a cutting. When built (in 1854) there were only two plaforms, an arrivals platform on the north side (left on this view) and a departures platform on the south side (the current platform 1). Both had their own ramped roadways to street level and these can still been seen in the current taxi rank (departures) and adjacent to W H Smiths (arrivals). Since then more platforms have been added in the space between the two original platforms and in an additional fourth train shed to the north.

Paddington takes the cathedral analogy even further, having two transepts like the one seen crossing the station roof in the middle distance here.

Actually these were built for good practical reasons; the original station contained  carriage sidings between the two platform tracks, and these transepts contained traversing platforms to move coaches between the sidings and platform tracks.

Paddington is now served by just two train operators. Heathrow Express runs an express service into London Heathrow Airport every 15 minutes. Their electric trains can be seen to left of this view.

First Great Western (FGW) runs long distance trains to the West of England, South Wales and Bristol, using a mixture of High Speed Trains (on either side of the platform below the camera) and newer Adalante diesel trains (best seen to the right of the view above). Shorter distance services used to be run by Thames Trains, but FGW has taken these over recently. They use Turbo diesel trains (to the left in the view above).

To continue the tour, walk to the concourse at the east end of the station, then down platform 1 until you reach the seated statue of Brunel. Arguably Britain's finest engineer, Brunel sits here surveying his station.

Behind him is the original departures entrance to the station. Go through this into the roofed departures road and turn left up the ramp to street level at the front of the station. Here you will see the frontage of the original Great Western Hotel, now much refurbished as the Hilton Paddington.

Go straight across the road junction at the top of the ramp, and walk down Spring Street until you reach Sussex Gardens, keeping a lookout for the traditional London mews (back streets originally containing carriage houses and servants quarters) that open off either side.

Turn right into Sussex Gardens, noting the large houses in this part of London, known as Bayswater. Many of these are now hotels or embassies.

At the triangular grassed 'square' ahead take the left fork, then cross the road at the signaled intersection and walk down the right hand side of the 1960s built Royal Lancaster Hotel tower.

In front of you, you should now see the entrance to Kensington Gardens. Cross the road and enter the gardens.

Just inside Kensington Gardens is this fountain garden, with the waters of the Serpentine stretching away beyond them.

The Serpentine was created in the 1730s by damming the valley of the Tyburn River, which used to flow from here to the River Thames near the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. The Tyburn is now sadly relegated to the role of an underground storm sewer, but once upon a time it was one of London's prime water supplies. The name Bayswater is a contraction of the earlier name 'Bayards Watering', reflecting this.

Continue walking down the right bank of the Serpentine.

Soon you will come to the statue of Peter Pan, in a glade to the right. The statue was donated by J M Barrie, the author of the play.

To the left at this point you will probably see a fair selection of water birds. Keep an eye open for the pair of herons that patrol this stretch of water and can often be seen close inshore.

From here, continue along the path and eventually bear left to pass under the road bridge that crosses the Serpentine here.

A little way beyond the bridge you will come to this lakeside cafe.

This is a good place to stop on a hot summer's day with a cold drink and watch the world go by. However as you might guess from the chop on the water, this is actually a brisk but sunny March day, so we will keep moving.

In May, the water is smoother and there are more rowers on the lake. Just past the cafe is the Lido, where hardy swimmers brave the Serpentine on New Years Day (and 364 other days a year).

Continue down the shore of the Serpentine until the embankment; at the far end is reached. From here drop down the short slope and join the path running in the same general direction alongside a sandy track.

This sandy track is known as Rotten Row, which is not a comment on the horses often to be found exercising on it. Rather it is a rather odd anglicisation of the french name 'Route du Roi' or kings road.

Hyde Park was originally a royal hunting ground purchased by Henry VIII in 1536; it was opened to the public in 1637 by Charles I and the the Route du Roi was created by William III in the 17th century as a route to his home in Kensington Palace.

Continue down the path, taking in the rose garden to the left. This can usually be relied to provide a riot of colour, although oddly rarely of roses.

At the end of the rose garden, make for and pass through the gateway just visible behind the lamp post in the previous picture.

We have now arrived at Hyde Park Corner. Cross the signaled intersection towards the Wellington Arch. The arch contains an interesting exhibition on the history of this area, and a viewing gallery on the roof. If it is open, it is well worth a visit.

To the right of the arch is the new Australian War Memorial, in the form of a wall and waterfall.

Pass through the arch and across the road beyond into Constitution Hill.

Walk down the footpath along the left hand side of Constitution Hill.

On the left is Green Park, and beyond that the buildings of Piccadilly. Across the road on the right are the walls enclosing the private gardens of Buckingham Palace.

At the foot of Constitution Hill is Buckingham Palace, the Queen's official London residence and the scene of the 'Changing of the Guard' ceremony. This is held daily in summer, every two days in winter.

Cross the foot of Constitution Hill at the pedestrian crossing, then walk along the front of Buckingham Palace before using two further pedestrian crossings to reach the south west corner of St James Park.

From the corner of St James Park, walk into the park with the lake on your left, heading for the footbridge which crosses the lake at its mid-point.

Crossing the bridge, here is the view to the left.

From left to right, you can see the Horse Guards archway and the Foreign Office building, with the giant 'London Eye' ferris wheel looming behind it.

At the far side of the bridge, turn right and walk alongside the lake aiming for the Horse Guards Parade and archway.

Here is Horse Guards parade, the scene of the annual 'Trooping of the Colours' ceremony held to mark the Queen's official birthday.

Assuming it is not that day, go forward across the parade ground towards the arch in the middle of the range of buildings ahead, which accommodates a variety of government offices including the Cabinet Office. To your left is the Admiralty building (HQ of the Royal Navy) with radio arials on its roof.

To your right are the backs of the buildings in Downing Street. The white building is Kent's Treasury, now a part of the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office buildings were built on the site of the 'leisure complex' of Henry VIII's Whitehall Palace, and contain fascinating remains of real tennis courts (real tennis is a precursor of modern tennis) and a cock fighting pit. Unfortunately they are rarely open to the public.

The red brick building to the right of Kent's Treasury is Number 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British Prime Minister. The flowering cherry tree peeping from behind the brick wall is in number 10's garden, and perchance overlooked by Tony Blair's bedroom window.

Walk through the Horse Guards arch and out onto Whitehall, keeping an eye open for the guardsman (sometimes mounted) usually to be found on guard here.

Across Whitehall is the Banqueting House, the only other remaining part of Whitehall Palace. On the 30th January 1649, King Charles I of England stepped from an upper window of this building onto a temporary scaffold, and was beheaded.

Turn left up Whitehall towards Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column. On the far site of the square is the National Gallery; but to do that justice would take the rest of the day and more.

So we will move on, taking the Strand. This is the second entry to Trafalar Square from Whitehall, going counter-clockwise. We follow this for about 100 yards, until we get to the front of Charing Cross station.

In front of Charing Cross station is the Eleanor Cross, after which the station takes its name. This is a Victorian replacement for the original cross, erected by King Edward I in memory of his wife Eleanor. There were originally 12 of these, one in each resting place of her funeral procession from Nottinghamshire to London. The cross is the official centre of London, from which all road distances are measured.

Cross the station forecourt, and enter the station through the nearest entrance.

Charing Cross is one of London's smaller terminal stations, with only 6 platforms, but it is one of the most central and best situated. It hosts electric suburban trains from both South Eastern Trains and South Central Trains, serving inner and outer suburban destinations in South London and beyond. The station platforms have been covered by a large air-rights office block, making viewing difficult. The best views are from the Hungerford foot bridges, which we visit later.

Cross the concourse to a rather insignificant side exit in the far corner, under the large TV screen and next to 'The Boadicea' pub. Going through the exit, do not go down the stairs, but instead turn immediately right at the top of the stairs.

This brings us out on to a high level walk-way above Villiers Street, heading towards the Thames.

The picture here shows the view from this walk-way, looking back towards the Strand and down into Villiers Street. As can be seen, Villiers Street makes a good stopping point for the hungry or thirsty, with a good selection of pubs, restaurants and cafes.

The high-level walkway eventually brings us out onto the downstream Hungerford Millennium Footbridge. As the name suggests, these spectacular new bridges were built to celebrate the recent millennium and there are two of them, one on each side of the Hungerford Rail Bridge that carries the approach to Charing Cross over the Thames.

There have been bridges on this site since the 1840s, when Brunel built a suspension footbridge across the river. This bridge had a short life being demolished to make way for the rail bridge in the 1860s, whilst its suspension chains were re-used in Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol where they still remain in use.

From the footbridge we see a selection of river traffic. Most of it comprises tour boats, but there are also fast commuter ferries and some freight traffic.

If you fancy a boat trip after you have finished this walk, City Cruises (the owners of the red and white river-liner seen here) run an interesting service from Westminster Pier to Greenwich. Maybe one day there will be a Trips By Train trip around that.

Looking back along the footbridge we see the large air-rights office building constructed over the platforms of Charing Cross station, together with the rail bridge to the left. As we walk across the bridge, there will be the occasional glimpse of the frequent third-rail electric trains that serve Charing Cross. Despite only having 6 terminal platforms, the service is intensive and there will probably be several trains in and out in the time it takes to walk across the bridge. Often the same train will both arrive and depart again in that time.

The footbridges also carry quite an intensive commuter traffic, with many people preferring to walk to and from Waterloo station rather than catching the tube for only one or two stops.

Looking downstream we see Waterloo road bridge and beyond that the skyline of 'The City', the financial district of London. This is a quite distinct area from the 'West End', which is the part of central London we have been walking through, and which largely contains government and corporate offices. The two areas have their own sets of terminal rail stations, often serving the same destinations.

In the center of this picture is the dome of St Paul's Cathedral.

Approaching the south bank, we see the Royal Festival Hall (RFH), one of London's principal concert halls. It was originally built for the Festival of Britain in 1951 and is a very friendly if slightly worn place to visit, with large foyers and plenty of opportunities for eating or drinking or just sitting down and resting weary feet. There are usually interesting exhibitions to see and often free foyer performances.

The RFH forms part of the South Bank complex of arts venues, which also include a couple of smaller concert venues (the Queen Elizabeth II Hall and the Purcell Room), a museum of modern art (the Heyward Gallery), the National Theatre (three repertory auditoria) and the National Film Theatre.

This view shows how close the hall is to the rail line into Charing Cross; their sound-proofing needs to be good. The RFH has plans to build a slim-line office annex over the roadway (more or less the space between the flagpoles and the viaduct) partly as an additional sound barrier, so this view will be changing soon.

Either way, we proceed down the stairs to the high level walk-way straight ahead.

From the bottom of the stairs, we see this rather odd view. The rail line spans an extension of the walk-way at a very low altitude, giving good views of the trains on the closer tracks. Here a 'Networker' electric train in South Eastern Trains colours is leaving Charing Cross, whilst a similar train in the old (pre-privatisation) Network South East colours arrives.

Under the bridge can be seen the river, and the northern embankment with the Palace of Westminster just about in view at the extreme left.

Continue along the high-level walkway with the RFH on the left and the rail viaduct (or new office block) on the right until a second flight of stairs is reached.

Down this second flight of stairs keep going straight ahead with the rail viaduct to the right until a skew arch under the viaduct forks off to the right. This can be recognized by the large white wall just visible over the handrail in this picture. Fork right under this arch, then cross a complex road junction heading for the main entrance to Waterloo station as pictured below.

Here is the main entrance to Waterloo station, which doubles as a memorial to the employees of the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) who lost their lives in the two world wars.

Waterloo was built by the LSWR as the terminus for their services to destinations ranging from south west London to the south coast and the far west of England. At the time the LSWR out of Waterloo was a serious competitor to the GWR out of Paddington for holiday traffic to the west of England.

Waterloo is now the terminal for South West Trains, who run third-rail electric trains to south west London and the south coast, and a diesel service to Salisbury and Exeter as a remnant of the old LSWR west country services.

All the companies operating south of the river have always had to deal with very heavy commuter traffic. The other companies handled this by building multiple London terminals, but Waterloo was the LSWR's only terminal. Instead it served the City with its own underground rail line from Waterloo (now the tube's Waterloo & City line).

As a result Waterloo is a vast station, with 19 platforms in the domestic station. Here is a view along the concourse with the barrier lines to the left.

And here is a view of the platforms and the recently renewed trainshed roof. Unusually, Waterloo's train shed runs with its ridges at 90 degrees to the track, thus giving the station a very different feel from Paddington.

Incidentally this photograph was taken on a Sunday, which explains the empty platforms. On a working day, it would be very different.

This concludes our trip, but before we go we should remember that Waterloo is also the current terminus of the Eurostar service to Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel, for which a brand-new international station was built alongside the domestic one.

The concourse of this station is one level down from, and overlooked by, the domestic concourse. Here is a view of the concourse and barrier line. The fronts of a couple of Eurostar trains can just be seen peeping out above the clock, which sadly is just about the best view you will get of them without a ticket and a passport.

I wonder what will happen to this new station when the even newer Eurostar terminal opens at St Pancras in 2007. If you are interested in seeing what is happening at St Pancras, here is a trip for you.

Maps

• A-Z London Street Atlas

Links

• Information on the Royal Parks
• Number 10 Downing Street - A Virtual Tour
• The Execution of Charles I - Background
• Article on the Hungerford Foot Bridges
• City Cruises website
• Eurostar website
• First Great Western website
• Heathrow Express website
• Royal Festival Hall website
• South Central Trains website
• South Eastern Trains website
• South West Trains website

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Page and all images copyright Chris Wood, 2003-2004. Page last updated on 8th June 2004.