LS Lowry painted only part-time

The station manager at Paddington, John Dedross, said of the painting: "Although it's nearly 40 years old, this scene could have been painted yesterday."

Other notable lots up for auction include a 1961 painting House by the sea, A Winding Road, also from 1961 and The Two Sisters from 1962.

The paintings have been made available from a private collection.

Rachel Hidderley, head of 20th Century British Art at Christie's said of the collection: "This is a superb group of six oil paintings.

Industrial

"It follows the record-breaking collection of nine pictures sold at Christie's in June by the political-thriller writer Frederick Forsyth.

"The sale doubled pre-sale expectations to sell for over �1.7m and established a new auction record for a single-owner collection by the artist.

"Not unlike the present owner, Mr Forsyth concentrated his collecting on the late 1950s and 1960s, preferring street scenes."

Lawrence Stephen Lowry was born and spent most of his life in Manchester.

His paintings of industrial landscapes of mills and stick figures are justifiably famous, though for most of his life he worked as a debt collector and clerk and only painted part-time.

By the time he died in 1977 he was arguably Britain's most famous painter.