It’s a replica, for sure, but it is still a commemorative monument, and it was specifically commissioned by the railway company and restored about fifteen years ago, with some bollards added to protect it from cars, but it’s forlorn and feels neglected sat shielded by the railing and then across a car park. I was leaning against it a few months ago waiting for a friend, lamenting that so much of London’s heritage and history gets so much attention and this poor thing is almost designed to be ignored.
Oh I see - I didn't understand that you liked it but thought it would be better appreciated elsewhere from your first comment.
I think I'd argue that's at least partly due to changed attitudes about railway stations. In 1865 I think it would've seemed grander and more prominent, more of a presence while bustling about between horse-drawn and train carriage, calling a porter, etc.; today's stations themselves are not grand, we bustle in broadly the same ways but perhaps more busily, heads in phones, between machinery that moves more quickly, and what was perhaps once a fairly open free for all semi-square is not, from memory, a taxi rank and a road divided by the cross?
Very true, the railway fell from prominence but in the last twenty years, London has been seriously revamping its stations to possibly recapture some of that old, well, prestige and glamour are probably overstating the drive, but certainly to make them more useful, robust, commercial and extract more from every square foot.
