The London, Chatham and Dover railway brought passengers from Kent into London wanting to end up in both The City and the West End, and in Victorian times main line trains divided at Herne Hill, with portions headed in to Victoia (for the West End) and Holborn Viaduct (for the City).  The result was short trains into Holborn Viaduct, where a site close by the Old Bailey and near to Bart's Hospital, Smithfield and St Paul's was 6 platforms wide but desparately short.

With the arrival of 8 car electric trains into Holborn Viaduct, platforms 1, 4 and 5 were - JUST - long enough if the trains pulled right up to the buffers, with platforms 2, 3 and 6 (latterly just 2 and 3) being used for parcels traffic.   When that ceased the extra platforms were taken out leaving a great gap between 1 and 4.

The "Widened Lines", with traffic from the south past Blackfriars and Ludgate Hill plunged into a tunnel at Snow Hill then on through Farringdon and to King's Cross, closed to passenger traffic many moons ago, and at a later date to freight, and the tracks were pulled up.  Then, many years later the tracks were renewed and through service re-commenced, calling at Snow Hill Station and leaving Holborn Viaduct on a spur which saw its final train on 29th January 1990.

I commuted in and out of Holborn from 1972 to 1976 and have a sort of love that comes from familiarity with the place. Sad to see it go, but that's tempered with the appreciation that it's been replaced which is something much better for the future.

I can imagine that it would have been quiet for booking - but not in terms of passenger passing through.  The same story I have heard in the past from certain seaside termini - I can't imagine even to this day that an afternoon shift on a summer Saturday afternoon in Weymouth booking office would even start to reflect the number of people passing through and on to trains!

Lots of pictures at http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/holborn_viaduct/index1.shtml and http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/h/holborn_viaduct/index2.shtml including the last train - which looks like a 4CEP rather that the ubiquitous 4EPBs that are so much in my memory.

When I was using Holborn Viaduct, there were 2 services an hour on each of 2 routes - the 83 to Sevenoaks via the Catford Loop and Shoreham and the 06 (to be confirmed) to West Croydon via Herne Hill (change for Orpington - and they knew how to connect in those days), Wimbledon and Sutton.  Single EPB off peak, 2 x EPB at busy times, with city / commuter trains in the peak from the likes of Maidstone East, which I remember as multiple 2HAP units (there may have been the odd 4CEP there).

Public domain - Railway Clearing House map from around 1914:

Did they go into Holborn Viaduct, or Victoria?   What uses to terminate in the bays on the downriver side of Blackfriars?

Timetables - 80s, 90s, 00s ...