The GWR opened platforms on the Great Western Main Line on 30 October 1871, but these closed in March 1992.[9] 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 posted on 13 December 1990.[10]
Royal Oak, another station on the Hammersmith & City line, was also once served by the GWR, but its services were withdrawn in 1934.[11] Today, the first stop out of Paddington is at Acton Main Line.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.[
Try this - usually good overviews and details etc - would be accessible via a local library inter library loan service if don't wish to buyIs there a detailed history of the station available? All I’ve managed to find online is information about the Tube station.
Westbourne Park (and Acton Main Line) were served by the Greenford service - once an hour in the 1989 timetable - both were missed on the opposite half hour because the running time to Greenford from Paddington all stations was only just under 30 minutes with the first generation multiple units. Slightly more frequent service in the peaks and late calls in Maidenhead services.Am I right in thinking that services were very infrequent in the final years of the station? I can't ever remember being on anything that stopped there, so I'm wondering if it was peak hours only, or at the very least closed at weekends (which is when most of my journeys would have taken place).
Westbourne Park (and Acton Main Line) were served by the Greenford service - once an hour in the 1989 timetable - both were missed on the opposite half hour. Slightly more frequent in the peaks.
There used to be a similar island platform where the Class 50 is passing.The station building, of course, is still in place.
I'm sure you're right about the Greenfords, but I seem to remember the Slough (platform 6 bay) to Paddington stopping trains calling there as well; unless it was a rush hours only thing, and my memory is playing up. There were also a few Hayes & Harlington to Paddington trains which started from the bay platform at Hayes - I'm sure these were rush hours only.Westbourne Park (and Acton Main Line) were served by the Greenford service - once an hour in the 1989 timetable - both were missed on the opposite half hour because the running time to Greenford from Paddington all stations was only just under 30 minutes with the first generation multiple units. Slightly more frequent service in the peaks and late calls in Maidenhead services.
With a station so close on the Hammersmith & City line, it wasn't really a hardship to see it closed.
No Slough terminators during the off-peak in the 1989 timetable although they will have existed at other times, notably in the post-Paddington remodelling timetable
With a station so close on the Hammersmith & City line, it wasn't really a hardship to see it closed.
Looks like an interesting book. Is it a pictorial only, or is there text too?Try this - usually good overviews and details etc - would be accessible via a local library inter library loan service if don't wish to buy
Middleton Press | Paddington to Ealing
www.middletonpress.co.uk
mix of both usually - the series is extensive, I'd expect any bookshop near you to have some in the series you could have a look at - or a local library - when both of those places are open of course.Looks like an interesting book. Is it a pictorial only, or is there text too?
Hope this helps.They certainly existed, but much more likely to be the norm in the pre-Paddington remodelling timetable than post-Paddington remodelling. Having said that, wasn't it a Turbo that ended up hitting the blocks in the bay platform 6 at Slough & demolished part of the awning?
I certainly regularly worked Slough to Paddington stoppers with first generation DMUs (class 117/119s) out of said bay platform, and often called at Westbourne Park. We're talking late 70s & most of the 80s. Clearly not in 1989 from your timetable evidence, but I'm sure most of those years we would have served Westbourne Park. I never worked a Greenford line train, so cannot have called there on one of those.
Perhaps someone with access to other timetables for the years I mention can assist?
I've just re-watched a Railfilms cab ride DVD filmed in the "early nineties". That starts at Reading on an up stoper formed of a class 117 DMU & heads towards Paddington. For some reason, rather than stay with the original train which would have run fast from Slough to Ealing Broadway & then Paddington only, they transfer the equipment to another 117 at Slough. This starts from bay platform 6, and is the inner suburban stopping train to Paddington.
As JonathanH suggests above, this indeed runs non stop from Ealing Broadway to Paddington & thus misses out Acton Main Line & Westbourne Park.
One further thought has occurred to me: traditionally, the "Greenford Car" as it was known locally, shuttled between Greenford & Ealing Broadway only. At some stage, probably in the 80s, it was extended to/from Paddington. Before that date, it must have been the main line train from Slough that served Acton Main Line & Westbourne Park, otherwise they'd have had no service. Perhaps those calls were removed when the Greenford train was extended to Paddington, with the Greenford Car picking up those stops instead.
The only fly in the ointment was the question of fare zones: Westbourne Park was in Zone 2, Paddington was of course in Zone 1. So if someone was, say, making a journey from Southall to Hammersmith, after closure of Westbourne Park B.R., they now needed a ticket that included the more expensive Zone 1.
I think season ticket holders for such journeys were given some sort of fare easement for a few years after closure so that they weren't financially out of pocket.
Hope this helps.
Trains from Westbourne Park on Weekdays
May 1977 to May 1978
00.16 Slough
05.26 Slough
05.46 Slough
06.06 Slough
06.26 Slough
06.46 Slough
07.06 Slough
07.26 Slough
07 46 Slough
08.02 Maidenhead
08.26 Slough
08.46 Hayes
Then at 06 and 36 past each hour to Slough until:
15.36 Slough
16.12 Hayes
16.32 Hayes
16.52 Hayes
17.12 Hayes
17.32 Hayes
17.52 Hayes
18.12 Hayes
18.32 Hayes
Then at 06 and 36 past each hour to Slough until:
23.36 Slough
Saturdays was a basic half hourly train to Slough, 00.16, 05.36, 06.01, 06.26 then at 06 and 36 past each hour til 23 36
No Sunday service.
You're really welcome. I've got a 1960s Western Region timetable somewhere. I'll search it out.Brilliant, thanks Sprinter107 - that's more like the sort of service I remember! Interesting to hear from RT4308 that there was through trains via West Drayton To Uxbridge too, before that branch's closure. Thanks again.
Thanksmix of both usually - the series is extensive, I'd expect any bookshop near you to have some in the series you could have a look at - or a local library - when both of those places are open of course.
You can see where the access to the former platforms has been bricked up in the station building.There used to be a similar island platform where the Class 50 is passing.
Its interesting that a station that had such a frequent service, even trains through the night, went to just a peak hours service within just a few years.
It would be interesting to know if many passengers ever went into Paddington from the BR platforms, with the frequent underground service from the adjacent platforms.