Art Deco train station 裝飾風藝術設計的車站

This is Surbiton train station, it used to be my local station and takes about 7 to 8 minutes to walk from my old flat in UK. I know that as I can listen to two songs on the way to the station every morning when I used to go to work.
這是瑟比頓火車站，以前英國上班從我家步行到車站需要大概七至八分鐘，剛好可以聽完兩首歌。

Surbiton is a small residential area near to the busier Kingston that I shared with you last time. It only takes 20 minutes to get into London from Surbiton, compared to about 45 minutes from Kingston. This is due to a foolish decision made by Kingston 180 years ago.
瑟比頓是一個小小住宅區，距離上次介紹的金士頓很近。從瑟比頓乘搭火車到倫敦市中心只需要20多分鐘，但從較繁忙的金士頓卻需要45分鐘。這全是因為金士頓在180年前的一個不太聰明的決擇。

In the 1830’s it was proposed to build a railway line into London, passing through Kingston on the way. Kingston rejected the proposal as they feared it would harm the town’s business, so the railway line had to route through Surbiton instead. Some 20 years later Kingston finally realised the advantage of the railway network, but by then the direct route into London had already been been built, so they could only be part of a much slower branch route, which took much longer to get into London.
英國的鐵路發展在19世紀初期最蓬勃。在1830年代，鐵路公司要建造鐵路線從南部到倫敦，想在金士頓設車站。 但當時金士頓恐怕鐵路會對市內帶來不便，所以拒絕提議。 鐵路公司只好改路線繞到瑟比頓。20年後金士頓終於發覺鐵路的好處，但直達倫敦的路線已建好。他們的車站只能加到往倫敦的婉轉支線上，要花多些時間才能到倫敦市中心。

Back to Surbiton station. It’s a beautiful station built in 1936 in an art deco style. It was even featured in the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie when Professor Dumbledore takes Harry Potter back to the wizarding world. As you come through the front main doors, is the ticket hall and a few ticket counters. I didn’t take a photo of the counters as the staff didn’t seem too keen on me taking their photo! There’s an entrance up the stairs to the trains. The entrance is in a typical art deco style, sleek with vertical straight lines, sharp corners and a matching simple decoration along the top. I love the font on the ‘TO THE TRAINS’ sign. Sometimes when I go through this entrance and walk up the stairs, I feel like I’m going to the theatre.
言歸正傳，瑟比頓火車站於1936年重建，用當時很流行的裝飾風藝術設計。 電影”哈利波特混血王子的背叛”也在這裏取景噢！ 從車站正門進入是售票大堂，有幾個售票窗口。無奈售票員用一個不太友善的眼光望著我，所以我不敢拍照!。 左邊有一道樓梯到閘口。樓梯口的設計同樣是裝飾風藝術， 垂直的線條，90度直角，還有入口上重複的一格格設計，全都顯示出這個風格的特點。入口處頂部寫上”往火車”的字，也是用上裝飾風設計常用的字體。 整個入口設計讓我想起一些建於這個年代的電影院。很多時在這裏我都會覺得自己正去看電影。

Here’s the stairs up to the ticket gates. The handrails on the wall follow the art deco geometric design.
從入口上樓梯是車站閘口，樓梯兩旁的扶手欄也展示出裝飾風藝術的幾何圖形設計。

Outside the station is another entrance that takes you directly to the ticket gates. It’s underneath the station’s clock tower. Do you notice how simple the design of the clock tower is? It’s just a few vertical lines around the square tower, there are grooves on the sides whereas on the front facade the grooves are broken up. The round clock face provides a contrast to the square tower so it doesn’t look too boring. Overall, it’s a simple yet effective design.
車站外有另一個入口可以直達閘口，不用經過售票大堂。這個入口在車站的鐘樓前。鐘樓的設計簡潔優雅。 橫線條紋圍著鐘樓兩側，在鐘樓前面卻有小小分段，細緻的設計為鐘樓加了一點特色。 橫線設計配上圓形的鐘臉，讓整棟鐘樓不會覺得太過沉悶。。

The staircase for the other entrance runs parallel to the staircase coming through from the ticket hall. And here’s from the top of the stairs looking back down.
另一個入口的樓梯與車站大堂的樓梯並排一起到閘口。這個角度是從樓梯上往下望。

During rush hours in the morning, these ticket gates would flap open and close non stop for about two hours as people made their way into central London for work. Once you go through the gates, you take the stairs on the right hand side and go down to the platform. I would walk to exactly the same spot on the platform every morning. On most days, I’d be standing there with the same people waiting for the 0812 to London. Then I’d get on exactly the same carriage and if I’m lucky I would get a seat otherwise it’s a 21 minute standing journey. I did that journey day in day out for 7 years until I changed jobs and didn’t have to commute into London.
在早上繁忙時候，幾度閘口在兩小時內不停地開關，讓乘客們進入倫敦市中心上班。經過閘口後，乘客需要從右邊的樓梯往下走到車站月台。我每一天會走到月台上的同一點等車。大部分時間都會跟同一班乘客在等0812的班次。火車到月台時我會走上同一個車廂，幸運的話可能會有座位，否則要站 21分鐘到倫敦市中心。這一個行程我足足過了7個年頭，直到轉了新工作，才不用每天到倫敦市中心上班。

Sometimes I miss those days.
有時，我也很懷念那段每天搭火車的日子。