From Pentonville Road looking West: Evening

O'Connor's highly romanticized view of St Pancras Hotel and railway station, hovering like a gothic vision over the rooftops of King's Cross and Pentonville, nevertheless provides some down-to-earth details of traffic on Pentonville Road. The horse-drawn omnibuses and trams represent what was then a recent innovation in London's public transport system. The first horse-drawn trams were introduced in 1861 but it was not until the 1870s that the lines began to spread and the line along Pentonville Road opened as late as 1883. Three horses were needed to haul the trams up the steep gradient, as can be seen here.