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London from Hampstead Heath by Ian Scott Massie
Original Watercolour
28" x 36" Mounted size - 22" x 30" Image size
Available: unframed @ £1895
To shop, please click here
28" x 36" Mounted size - 22" x 30" Image size
Available: unframed @ £1895
To shop, please click here
THE KINGS CROSS FIRE
For years I found the passages running under Kings Cross horribly oppressive and always felt relieved to find my self emerging in the airy station. In one of these subways several travellers over the years have reported seeing a weeping young woman. She holds out her hands as she cries and then disappears, leaving the smell of smoke in the air.
The Kings Cross fire of 18th November 1987 was a shocking and tragic event. It was, in part, caused by a previously unknown form of fire phenomenon. Under Kings Cross is a maze of tunnels and shafts leading to six different underground lines. It was in this complex of stairs, lift shafts and escalators that a small fire broke out at 7.30 in the evening under an old wooden escalator.
The fire, though small at first, was in a position where it was hard to reach and, feeding on old grease deposits and a build up of rubbish, it eventually set the whole escalator alight. This in turn led to a build up of heat against the ceiling where an estimated twenty layers of ancient, inflammable paint blistered in the rising temperature.
At 7.45 an intense jet of flames and black smoke shot out of the escalator shaft into the ticket hall killing most of those present. Miraculously many passengers escaped on trains running on the Victoria Line and, in the days afterwards, there emerged a host of stories of lucky survivors.
The fire revolutionised health and safety on London Underground which had not had a major fire on its system since opening in 1863. There was, consequently, no planning for such an eventuality. Wooden escalators were replaced across the system and today the only reminders of that terrible evening are a modest memorial plaque with a clock showing 7.45 and the occasional appearance of a ghostly distressed young woman.
The Kings Cross fire of 18th November 1987 was a shocking and tragic event. It was, in part, caused by a previously unknown form of fire phenomenon. Under Kings Cross is a maze of tunnels and shafts leading to six different underground lines. It was in this complex of stairs, lift shafts and escalators that a small fire broke out at 7.30 in the evening under an old wooden escalator.
The fire, though small at first, was in a position where it was hard to reach and, feeding on old grease deposits and a build up of rubbish, it eventually set the whole escalator alight. This in turn led to a build up of heat against the ceiling where an estimated twenty layers of ancient, inflammable paint blistered in the rising temperature.
At 7.45 an intense jet of flames and black smoke shot out of the escalator shaft into the ticket hall killing most of those present. Miraculously many passengers escaped on trains running on the Victoria Line and, in the days afterwards, there emerged a host of stories of lucky survivors.
The fire revolutionised health and safety on London Underground which had not had a major fire on its system since opening in 1863. There was, consequently, no planning for such an eventuality. Wooden escalators were replaced across the system and today the only reminders of that terrible evening are a modest memorial plaque with a clock showing 7.45 and the occasional appearance of a ghostly distressed young woman.
How it would look on your wall
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