Greenford Branch Line

The Greenford branch line is a 2¾ mile (4.5 km) suburban railway line in west London, England. It serves mainly the suburbs of Ealing and Greenford.

The line is owned by Network Rail and is operated by First Great Western [ [http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/ http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk] - www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk] . Trains from the branch continue along the Great Western Main Line to reach Paddington railway station, typically in twenty four minutes, calling at Ealing Broadway and Acton Main Line stations.

All services are operated with Class 165 Turbo diesel trains. There is no Sunday service.

Connections

Passengers can change at West Ealing for local services to Heathrow Airport, or at Ealing Broadway for Great Western Main Line services to Slough, Reading and Oxford. They can also connect with several London Underground lines:
* At Paddington: Bakerloo, Circle, District (Wimbledon branch), and Hammersmith & City Lines
* At Ealing Broadway: District (main line) and Central Line
* At Greenford: Central Line

History

The line was opened in 1903. The opening coincided with the opening of a station at Park Royal to serve the Royal Agricultural Show which was being held in the grounds of part of the Twyford Abbey Estate [ [http://www.brent-heritage.co.uk/twyford_park_royal.htm www.brent-heritage.co.uk] - Twyford & Park Royal] [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22590 www.british-history.ac.uk] - West Twyford ] . The Royal Agricultural Show in 1903 ran from 15 June 1903 to 4 July 1903 during which three weeks trains operated a circular service to and from Paddington via Park Royal and Ealing. Normal services started on 2 May 1904 and the links to Greenford station were put in on 1 October 1904. The loop formed by the branch, the GW Main Line, and the New North Main Line is sometimes used for turning trains.

Locally the service was (still may be) called the 'push-and-pull' because in the days of steam an engine could not change ends at Greenford and the trains ran as push-pull trains with the locomotive pulling the carriages one way and pushing them on the return run, (see GWR Autotrain)

References

Further reading

* Cite book
last = Conolly
first = W.P.
title = Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazeteer
publisher = Shepperton : [http://www.ianallanpublishing.com Ian Allan]
year = 1997
edition = 5th Ed.
id = ISBN 0-7110-0320-3
* Citation
last = MacDermot
first = E.T.
title = History of the Great Western Railway
publisher = Great Western Railway Co.
location=London
year = 1931
volume = II, 1863-1921, 654 pp.

* Citation
last = Mitchell
first = V.
last2 = Smith
first2 = K.
title = Branch Lines of West London
location=Midhurst
publisher = [http://www.middletonpress.co.uk/ Middleton Press]
year = 2000
id = ISBN 1-901706-50-8, 96 pp.
* cite journal
last = Network Rail
author-link = Network Rail
title = Current Timetables, Electronic National Rail Timetable (eNRT)
publisher = Network Rail
date = 2007
url = http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/3828.aspx
accessdate = 2007-06-11