Raynes Park Station

[By John Webb] Went with a handful of fellow painters on Saturday morning to a pub near Raynes Park Station. Most remained inside but have always been struck by the shapes and signeage by the arch under the off-set platforms. Stations are hugely sketchable - although one colleague commented that I had managed to make an interesting subject even out of Raynes Park Station!

Generally by dint of location there's interesting history too. During his lifetime Edward Rayne sold strips of land to the Nine Elms, Southampton Railway Company and the Wimbledon Dorking line. Stations were opened at Wimbledon and Maiden, which Edward enthusiastically made use of. However, this station was not built until the estate had been sold.

The adoption of the Rayne name being most likely due to Edward’s co-operative and enthusiastic approach to the lines when they were built.

Raynes Park Station

A new Nine Elms: coming soon

This view upstream from the embankment opposite the Houses of Parliament is the kind of view I like the best: the obvious thing to do is draw the well-known sight (which I did as well), but what is behind you is often telling another story. Past the moored pleasure boats, Lambeth Bridge, and the towers of Vauxhall is a thicket of construction cranes that are working to change the face of Nine Elms. Disused industrial land larger in area than Hyde Park is being developed into a residential and business district, with new US and Dutch embassies (by 2017), homes for 30,000, jobs for 25,000 and there are plans for a new pedestrian and cycle bridge and rail stations. I've written before about the tortured landscape of Vauxhall; big changes there are also part of the plan.

A new Nine Elms: coming soon