Hi your pics need a little attention. They are showing as thumb nails rather than pics. And maybe add some history too.
The station was built in 1857 by Midland Railway on its extension between Leicester and Bedfordshire. It was originally known as Wellingborough Midland Rd, in order to distinguish between another built by LNWR in 1866 on the London Rd which closed in 1966. On 2nd September 1898 the station was the scene of a serious accident which cost the lives of the crew, and six passengers when a trolley ran off the platform into the path of a Manchester Express. Sixty-five were injured.
The buildings were designed by C. H. Driver but have been substantially altered from the originals. Much of the changes occurred in 1894 when the branch to Higham Fares was built and the changes to the main platform resulted in the removal of the canopies. It formerly had a large depot with two roundhouses built in 1868 and 1872. Only one of the buildings still stands next to the main building. The were originally five platforms but only 3 are still in use. The 4th track (Kettering to Sharnbrook Junction) was taken out by British Rail in the 1980s as a cost cutting exercise and the platform was abandoned. It still exists but is not accessible and it highly overgrown but I think this adds to it's charm. Surrounded by fields and woods, it looks as if nature is reclaiming it. In 1964. The service for Northampton trains ceased and the bay was fenced off from Platform 2. Platform 4 became what is now Platform 3 and Platform 5 is derelict with a single boarded up building.
The designer,
Charles Henry Driver, was a significant name in architecture in the Victorian era. He earned a reputation for the use of ornamental cast iron work which he was seen as a leading authority and what remains at the station seems to have been well cared for. In this field he is associated with Joseph Paxton for the Crystal Palace and The Great Exhibition of 1851, specifically the Orangery and the Aquarium. He was the pioneer of ornamental tile work on industrial building interiors. Prime examples of his work include the Westminster embankment built between 1864-66, and the "Station of Light" on Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1897-1900.
Driver with the help of engineer Joseph Bazlgette, on the London sewerage system, the architectural design for the Thames Embankment was completed along with those of the pumping houses at Abbey Mills and Crossness as examples of Victorian engineering and steam power. The piers at Llandudno, Nice and Southend-on-Sea (Essex) are also part of a lasting legacy. From 1865 he worked with J.R Hood on many of the railway stations on the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, including the London Bridge terminus. Projects across England show examples of his skill and style as do many in South America. Dorking Town Hall is another example of his work.
