White City tube station

White City tube station is a London Underground station situated in Wood Lane in West London. The station is on the Central Line, between Shepherds Bush and East Acton stations, in Travelcard Zone 2.

History

The station was opened on 23 November 1947, replacing the earlier Wood Lane station. Its construction started after 1938 and had been scheduled for completion by 1940, but World War II delayed its opening for another seven years. The architectural design of the station won an award at the Festival of Britain and a commemorative plaque recording this is attached to the building to the left of the main entrance.

The station today

White City is the innermost surface station on the western leg of the Central line, and trains enter tube tunnels immediately to the central London side of the station (the south side). An interesting feature is that the Central Line adopts right-hand running through the station rather than the conventional left-hand running. This is an historical consequence of the reversal of the tracks in the tunnels of the anti-clockwise loop track built for the now-disused Wood Lane station, situated a short distance to the south of White City which was opened in 1908 as the then western terminus of the Central London Railway. The two tracks return to their normal left-hand orientation by a surface fly-over roughly half way between White City and East Acton stations.

The station's running layout has three roads (tracks), with the centre road having platforms on each side meaning that it can handle trains running in either direction. A siding between the running lines to the north of the station allows trains coming from Central London to be reversed and run back eastwards. Trains going out of service can return to the below ground White City depot to the south of the station via sidings between the running lines.

This station is also directly opposite the BBC Television Centre and is within walking distance of Loftus Road, home of Queens Park Rangers F.C.

Future developments

A new station called Wood Lane is being constructed [cite press release |publisher=Transport for London |date=2006-11-20 |url=http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/3451.aspx |title=Wood Lane and Shepherd's Bush Market to join Tube map |accessdate=2008-02-24] on the Hammersmith & City line close by which will aid the new White City and Shepherd's Bush development.

ee also

The closed Wood Lane station on the Hammersmith & City Line which was located a short distance to the south was also known as "White City" from 23 November 1947 until its closure in 1959.

References

External links

*ltmcollection|4d/i000024d.jpg|London's Transport Museum Photographic Archive White City Station in 1951.
* [http://www.alwaystouchout.com/project/24 Shepherd's Bush and White City development]

Gallery

###@@@KEYEND@@@###