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Westbourne Park tube station

Coordinates: 51°31′16″N 0°12′04″W / 51.52111°N 0.20111°W / 51.52111; -0.20111
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Not to be confused with Westcombe Park railway station.

Westbourne Park London Underground
Westbourne Park is located in Greater London
Westbourne Park
Westbourne Park
Location of Westbourne Park in Greater London
LocationNotting Hill
Local authorityRoyal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Managed byLondon Underground
OwnerLondon Underground
Number of platforms2
Fare zone2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019Increase 4.13 million[1]
2020Decrease 2.25 million[2]
2021Decrease 1.82 million[3]
2022Increase 3.21 million[4]
2023Increase 3.53 million[5]
Railway companies
Original companyHammersmith and City Railway
Key dates
1 February 1866H&C station opened
30 October 1871GW main line station opened
1 November 1871H&C station resited
13 March 1992GW main line station closed
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°31′16″N 0°12′04″W / 51.52111°N 0.20111°W / 51.52111; -0.20111
London transport portal

Westbourne Park is a London Underground station in the Notting Hill area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is on the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines, between Ladbroke Grove and Royal Oak stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 2.[6]

History

[edit]

Although the Metropolitan Railway (MR) had been extended to Notting Hill and Hammersmith on 1 June 1864, the first station by this name did not open until 1 February 1866.[7][8] In 1867, with the companies on better terms, the MR bought a share of the Hammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) from the Great Western Railway (GWR), after which it eliminated the broad gauge track and operated almost all the trains (the H&CR's identity being effectively lost).[7]

The original station closed on 31 October 1871, and was replaced the following day by a new station,[7] constructed to the west of the original.[9] To remove this traffic from its own busy main line, the GWR built a new pair of tracks from Paddington to Westbourne Park, and on 12 May 1878 it opened a dive-under to remove conflicts where the service crossed the main line.[7][note 1] A bomb planted by the Suffragettes was discovered at the station on 16 May 1913.[10]

The Circle line was extended to Hammersmith in 2009.[11] The line now operates between Hammersmith and Edgware Road via a single complete circuit of the previous route.[11][note 2] This was done with the aim of improving reliability by providing a place for trains to terminate after each trip rather than letting delays accumulate.[11] However, it means that no trains through Notting Hill Gate go east of Edgware Road.[11]

National Rail platforms

[edit]
Victorian turntable excavated near the station
Victorian engine shed excavated near the station

The GWR opened platforms on the Great Western Main Line on 30 October 1871, but these closed in March 1992.[12] The Up line through the station had a 30 mph (48 km/h) speed limit, which was unacceptable for the planned Heathrow Express services; instead of modifying the station's platforms; British Rail decided that it would be more cost-effective to dispense with them, and closure notices were published 13 December 1990.[13]

Royal Oak, another station on the Hammersmith & City line, was also once served by the GWR, but its services were withdrawn in 1934.[14] Today, the first stop out of Paddington is at Acton Main Line. Industrial archaeologists have found the remains of buildings including a broad gauge train shed for Brunel's original lines, a turntable, and engine sheds in excavations east of the station as part of the land clearance work for the Crossrail project.[15]

Connections

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London Bus day and night routes serve the station.[16][17]

[edit]

Early railway buff Fanny Johnson, fourteen years old, recorded passing engines in her notebook ‘Names of Engines on the Great Western that I have Seen’ in 1861.[18]

The station was featured in the video of the Boris Gardiner song "I Want to Wake Up with You".[19][20]

Notes and references

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Notes

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  1. ^ These tracks were dedicated to Underground use, but they only came into LU control on 1 January 1948 and ownership on 1 January 1950.[7]
  2. ^ Hammersmith, Edgware Road, Liverpool Street, Tower Hill, South Kensington, High Street Kensington, Paddington, and Edgware Road (and vice versa).[11]

References

[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westbourne Park tube station.
  1. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  2. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  6. ^ Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. April 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 May 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e Clive's Underground Line Guides – Hammersmith & City line
  8. ^ Butt 1995, p. 244
  9. ^ Rose 2007
  10. ^ "Suffragette Bombs, 1912 - 1914". Standing Well Back. 8 February 2018. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  11. ^ a b c d e Clive's Underground Line Guides – Circle line
  12. ^ "Westbourne Park Railway Station (site), 2009 Thompson, Nigel Geograph.org.uk; retrieved 25 April 2017
  13. ^ Leigh, Chris, ed. (March 1991). "Rail report: Westbourne Park closure". Railway World. 52 (611): 165.
  14. ^ Chronology of London Railways by H.V.Borley- page78/79
  15. ^ Hamish McDougall (2014). "Crossrail uncovers Brunel's railway heritage". Crossrail. Archived from the original on 25 September 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  16. ^ "Buses from Westbourne Park" (PDF). Transport for London. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  17. ^ Westbourne Park Underground Station – Bus
  18. ^ "First recorded trainspotter was not man clad in anorak but 14-year-old girl Fanny Johnson". The Northern Echo. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  19. ^ Tube Facts – Music Videos filmed on the tube
  20. ^ Westbourne Park tube station is seen in the video from 0:58 to 1:43.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  • Rose, Douglas (December 2007) [1980]. The London Underground: A Diagrammatic History (8th ed.). Harrow Weald: Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-315-0.
Preceding station London Underground Following station
Ladbroke Grove
towards Hammersmith
 Circle line
 Royal Oak
towards Edgware Road via Aldgate
Hammersmith & City line Royal Oak
towards Barking
Historical railways
Ladbroke Grove
towards Hammersmith
 Metropolitan line
Hammersmith branch (1864–1990)
 Royal Oak
towards Paddington
Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Acton
Line and station open 		  Great Western Railway
Great Western Main Line 		  Royal Oak
Line and station open
Old Oak Lane Halt
Line open, station closed 		  Great Western Railway
New North Main Line 		 
Acton Main Line
Line and station open 		  Network SouthEast
Great Western Main Line 		  London Paddington
Line and station open
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