Having passed through King's Cross as a passenger on many occasions, I was looking forward to seeing the station from another perspective and this excellent fixture did not disappoint. The tour was led by Laura Murphy, Station Project Manager, who proved a very helpful and knowledgeable guide. Following a safety briefing, our fully booked group of 12 was taken to the boardroom, next to the corridor that crosses above the ticket office, giving excellent views of both the ticket office and redeveloped west concourse, opened in 2012. The roof above the concourse is completely free standing and puts no weight on the original building.

We continued by ascending to the mezzanine level, overlooking the gate-line of the suburban platforms and the sign for Platform 9¾, busy with tourists as usual. We walked on to the cross-platform footbridge. From this elevated viewpoint, Laura pointed out the join between subtly different lines of brickwork where wartime bomb damage had been repaired. We continued by walking across the footway towards Platform 0, opened on 20 May 2010, previously the site of the station departures taxi rank. Due to ventilation problems, only electric trains are allowed to use it. Contrary to other reports (including Wikipedia), it was not the first Platform 0. In the year 2000, a temporary P0 was used at Doncaster during major engineering work. Stockport P0 was built in 2003, commissioned 18 Sep 2005 but only came into regular use in Mar 2008. Haymarket P0 was commissioned on 27 Dec 2006. It was explained that, at King's Cross, P0 had been chosen in preference to renumbering the platforms due to the greater cost of general renumbering, which would have required much amendment of the signalling system etc. Signalling control transferred to York ROC from 26 Apr 2021, following closure of King's Cross signal box.



From the cross-platform footbridge, we had a brief visit to the terracotta tiled wood and iron staircase in the Grade I Listed Eastern Range building, now used by train crew. The first phase (between 2007 and 2009) of the complex five year £500M multi-phased King's Cross improvement project was to return this Eastern Range building to its former glory, bringing back into use 70,000ft2 of commercial office space. The catalyst for the whole King's Cross improvement work was the 2012 London Olympic Games.



Our group returned to platform level and exited on to King's Cross Square to view the station frontage. We returned to the station, past the Great Northern Hotel before another safety briefing and donning of bump caps ahead of the highlight of the tour - the clock tower and station roof. Through an access alcove, participants first encountered a narrow winding stone staircase and then steep wooden stairs. The steep ascent was well worth the effort, with views of both the inside and outside of the tower and a fantastic panorama of the station, the Google London building and beyond, all visible on a beautiful sunny November day! It seemed the tower and staircase hadn't seen much change since the station opened in 1852 and great care was needed during our descent. Once safely down, we returned to the boardroom at the end of an excellent tour, due in large part to Laura's expert leadership. Many thanks also to Adam Turner who organised and co-led the tour, one of the most enjoyable I have attended. It is good to report that £500.00 was donated to Railway Children in recognition of the facilities afforded.