For the past 13 years it has been one of the most enjoyably enduring jokes in London. But after today French people arriving in Britain by train will no longer encounter Waterloo. The last Eurostar trains run in and out of Waterloo International today, and tomorrow they switch to St Pancras.

After some rejigging the five extra-long Eurostar platforms are expected to be used by suburban commuter trains. That’s good news for those of us who use the station regularly and moan about the inadequate number of carriages and the delays while trains wait to get a platform. But we’ll be sad to see the end of the Eurostar. As we scuttled to catch our slow commuter shunters it was comforting to know it was there. For the weary traveller slogging home to Norbiton or Godalming, the thought that he was sharing platform space with cosmopolitan travellers and he could just hop down the escalator and catch the last train to Paris was a reassuring one. With the sleepers to Penzance gone to Paddington, we will have to fix our fantasies closer to home now that the Eurostars are about to see their final Waterloo sunset. Anyone for the direct service to Portsmouth and connecting ferry to the Isle of Wight?

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