Hammersmith & Chiswick railway station

Infobox Closed London station
name=Hammersmith & Chiswick


owner=North & South Western Junction Railway
locale=Chiswick
platforms=1
start=8 April 1858
end=1 January 1917
replace=Stamford Brook tube station

Hammersmith & Chiswick railway station was a railway station in West London, originally named "Hammersmith" and renamed "Hammersmith & Chiswick" in 1880.cite web
last =Catford
first =Nick
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Hammersmith & Chiswick
work =
publisher =Subterranea Britannica
date =2005-01-28
url =http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/h/hammersmith_and_chicwick/index.shtml
format =
doi =
accessdate =2007-05-31 ]

History

The station was opened on 8 April 1858 by the North & South Western Junction Railway (N&SWJR) on the site of a goods yard (opened on 1 May 1857) on Chiswick High Road in what was then a rural areacite book
last =Mitchell
first =Vic
authorlink =
coauthors =Smith, Keith
title =Willesden Junction to Richmond
publisher =Middleton Press
date =1996
location =Midhurst
pages =
url =
doi =
isbn =1 873793 715 ] . Although it was not in either town, it was roughly equidistant between Hammersmith and Chiswick, and intended to serve both.

The station was at the end of a 1½-mile (2.5 km) branch line, which left the main North London Railway line at the current site of South Acton and ran northward before turning sharply through 180 degrees and running south towards Hammersmith & Chiswick.

Unusually, the station was a converted private house and not purpose built as a station. In 1904, a writer described it as "abounding with flowers, and resembling rather the terminus of some far distant country branch line than what one might expect to find at a place bearing the dual distinction of the names of two west London suburbs". [cite web
last =Clegg
first =Gillian
authorlink =
coauthors =
title =Travel
work =
publisher =Chiswick History
date =
url =http://chiswickhistory.org.uk/html/150-travel.html
format =
doi =
accessdate =2007-05-31 ]

Operation

Until the opening of the interchange station at South Acton in 1880, the line employed an unusual mode of operation. Southbound North London Railway trains to Kew would include an additional carriage for passengers travelling to Hammersmith & Chiswick. This carriage would be uncoupled from the train immediately south of the junction. The N&SWJR's sole locomotive would then reverse onto the mainline, attach the carriage and take it down the branch.

In 1880, an additional platform was built at South Acton, and from then on passengers would change at South Acton to access the branch.

For such an isolated station, train service was good. Prior to the opening of the interchange at South Acton, one train per hour served the branch, while from the opening of the interchange to 1917 a train served the branch every half hour.

Other stations on the branch

In an effort to boost passenger numbers, which had been badly affected by the opening of the nearby District Line station at Stamford Brook, three intermediate halts at Rugby Road, Woodstock Road and Bath Road were built in 1909. These were little-used, and trains stopped only on request. All three closed with the suspension of passenger services in 1917.

Closure

In 1917 passenger services to the station (and to the three other stations on the branch) were suspended as a wartime economy measure and the station never reopened. The station remained in use as a goods station, primarily to serve a large coal depot. Following the passage of the Clean Air Act 1956 the demand for coal ceased, and the station was permanently closed along with the branch on 3 May 1965.

Former Services

References

External links

* [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/h/hammersmith_and_chicwick/index.shtml Subterranea Britannica entry on the station] with photographs of the station in the last days of operation
* [http://www.disusedrailways.co.uk/Hammersmith_&_Chiswick1.htm Disused Railways] entry on the branch
* [http://www.loveplums.co.uk/Tube/Hammersmith_and_Chiswick.html Photographs of the remaining structures on the route (2005)]