West Kensington tube station

West Kensington is a London Underground District Line station in West Kensington. It is located in North End Road (B317) close to the junction of that road and West Cromwell Road/Talgarth Road (A4).

The station is between Earl's Court and Baron's Court and is in Travelcard Zone 2.

History

The station was opened by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District Line) on 9 September 1874 as 'Fulham - North End' when it opened its extension from Earl's Court to Hammersmith. At that time the next station west was Hammersmith - Barons Court did not open until 1905.It was re-named West Kensington in 1877.

On 5 May 1878 The Midland Railway began running a circuitous service known as the "Super Outer Circle" from St Pancras to Earl's Court via Cricklewood and South Acton. It operated over a now disused connection between the NLR and the London & South Western Railway's branch to Richmond (now part of the District Line). The service was not a success and was ended on 30 September 1880.

The entrance building was rebuilt in 1927. The design, by Charles Holden, uses similar materials and finishes to those Holden used for the Northern Line's Morden extension opened in 1926.

Lillie Bridge Depot

A short distance to the east of the station is a branch line leading to the Underground's engineering depot at Lillie Bridge. This depot was built in 1871 to house MDR trains but when the line was electrified in 1905 a new depot was built at Ealing Common. Lillie Bridge depot was then used by the Piccadilly Line when it opened in 1906 to stable its trains. To reach the depot, Piccadilly Line trains ran out of service over the District Line tracks between Barons Court and West Kensington. This lasted until 1932 when the extension of the Piccadilly Line west of Hammersmith enabled a new depot to be built at Northfields for Piccadilly Line trains. The depot was then transferred to the engineering department.

Adjacent to the tracks east of West Kensington stands the London Underground office building "Ashfield House" named in remembrance of Lord Ashfield, Chairman of the Underground Group and the London Passenger Transport Board, precusors to Transport for London.

ervices

The service pattern is:
*6 trains per hour to Ealing Broadway
*6 tph to Richmond
*6 tph to Tower Hill
*6 tph to Upminster.

External links

* [http://photos.ltmcollection.org London's Transport Museum Photographic Archive]
** ltmcollection|63/997763.jpg|Booking hall, 1927
** ltmcollection|97/9868297.jpg|Booking hall, 1928
** ltmcollection|ur/i00005ur.jpg|Eastbound platform, 1972. The branch track to Lillie Bridge depot is just visible at the end of the platform.
* [http://www.trainweb.org/tubeprune/route%20and%20track%20diagrams.htm#West%20Kensington%20and%20Lillie%20Bridge Tube Professional's Rumour Network - Lillie Bridge depot]
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