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My abiding memories of the three great 19C railways stations along the north side of Euston Road are as a young national serviceman in the RAF and using these three stations to leave and arrive in London in what seemed at the time to be epic journeys.

I had just completed my second year at the Northern Poly. On Saturday 26th January 1957 a group of us were marched in civilian clothes from RAF Hornchurch to the tube and into sooty and grimy St Pancras to go to RAF Cardington to get kitted out.

Nine months later on 16th October I remember walking through the Euston Arch in the darkness and fog with my kit bag to catch the night train to Glasgow en-route to Mailaig and the Kyle of Lochalsh for the Loch Seaforth ferry to Stornoway and an RAF early warning radar station at Aird Uig perched high above the north Atlantic.

Two weeks before on 4th October Russia had launched the Sputnik and the Everly Brothers hit no 1. It took 24 hours to get home from the Isle of Lewis ariving on the 60mph Talisman from Waverley Station in Edinburgh at Kings Cross on the dot of 10.40pm. It was the fastest British Railways steam train at one mile a minute. Now when I come to the RIBA I arrive on HS1 at St Pancras at over twice that speed.

St Pancras is one of the most inspiring stations in the world. It is also amazing that politicians, planners, some architects, developers, the press and others wanted to sweep away these masterpieces in the name of "progress" 50 years ago.

They succeeded at Euston. The wonderful iconic Euston Arch was turned to rubble, as was the magnificent booking hall by Philip Hardwick despite our efforts in the "Anti-Ugly Brigade" to save them.

St Pancras seemed doomed to the same fate until Betjeman stepped in at the 11th hour. Now years of grime and neglect have been painstakingly removed and the splendour of Barlow's Train shed and Scott's hotel have been revealed at last. The architects responsible for all of this deserve our thanks and the RIBA Gold Medal.

Sam Webb formerly SAC Webb S: 5040038