Acton Town Tube Station - History

History

Acton Town station was opened as Mill Hill Park on 1 July 1879 by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District line) on its extension from Turnham Green to Ealing Broadway. On 1 May 1883 the MDR opened a branch from Acton Town to the now defunct Hounslow Town station, that branch developed into the Heathrow branch.

On 23 June 1903 the MDR tracks north of Acton Town to a new station at Park Royal & Twyford Abbey became the first of the Underground's surface lines to use electric traction instead of steam. The existing deep tube lines, (City & South London Railway, Waterloo & City Railway and Central London Railway) had always been electrically powered. Services on the Hounslow branch and to central London were electrified on 13 June 1905 and 1 July 1905 respectively.

Also on 13 June 1905 passenger service began on the short branch to South Acton. At first the service ran to Hounslow West and to Uxbridge but it was later reduced to a shuttle between Acton Town and South Acton.

In 1910 the station building was reconstructed and on 1 March 1910 the station was given its present name.

In 1931 and 1932 the station was rebuilt in preparation for changing the Uxbridge branch from the District line to the Piccadilly line. The new station was designed by Charles Holden in a modern European geometric style using brick, reinforced concrete and glass. As other stations Holden designed, Sudbury Town and Sudbury Hill to the north, and others on the east and west Piccadilly line extensions such as Oakwood, Acton Town station features a tall block-like ticket hall rising above a low horizontal structure housing the station offices and shops. The brick walls of the ticket hall are punctuated with panels of clerestory windows and the structure is capped with a flat concrete slab roof. Reinforced concrete platform canopies replaced the original timber canopies. A short fifth platform for the single car train of the South Acton branch was provided to the north of the eastbound island platform.

On 4 July 1932 the Piccadilly line was extended west from its original terminus at Hammersmith and shared the route with the District line to Ealing Common. From Ealing Common to South Harrow, the District line was replaced by the Piccadilly line and, from that date, District line trains from Acton Town ran only either to Hounslow West or to Ealing Broadway. On 9 January 1933 Piccadilly line trains, sharing with the District line, began serving Northfields on the Hounslow branch, and their service was extended to Hounslow West on 13 March 1933, however Piccadilly line trains did not call at South Ealing until 1935.

The South Acton branch was closed on 28 February 1959 due to low usage, its platform at Acton Town has been removed and little of the branch remains except a bridge abutment on the south side of Bollo Lane.

District line services on the Hounslow branch were withdrawn from 10 October 1964 after which operations were provided by the Piccadilly line alone.

To the north of the station is Ealing Common Depot. It is also here where the London Transport Museum houses its reserve collection of rail and road vehicles in the former Repair Shop known as The Depot. The Museum Depot is opened to the public on a number of weekends throughout the year. To the south west of the station, served by a siding just south of the west bound platform, is Acton Works, the former central overhaul and engineering works for the London Underground.