Alperton tube station
Encyclopedia
Alperton is a London Underground
station on the Uxbridge
branch of the Piccadilly Line
. The station is between Sudbury Town
and Park Royal
. It is located on Ealing Road (A4089 road) a short distance from the junction with Bridgewater Road (A4005
) and is close to Alperton Bus Garage and the Paddington
branch of the Grand Union Canal
. The station is in Travelcard Zone 4
.
(MDR, now the District Line
) on its new extension to South Harrow
from Park Royal & Twyford Abbey
. Park Royal & Twyford Abbey had itself opened five days earlier.
This new extension was, together with the existing tracks back to Acton Town
, the first section of the Underground's surface lines to be electrified
and operate electric
instead of steam
trains. The Deep level tube lines open at that time (City & South London Railway
, Waterloo & City Railway and Central London Railway
) had been electrically powered from the start.
The station was subsequently renamed Alperton on October 7, 1910.
The original station building was a modest timber framed structure and in 1930 and 1931 this was demolished and replaced by a new station in preparation for the handover of the branch from the District Line
to the Piccadilly Line
. The new station was designed by Charles Holden
in a modern Europe
an style using brick, reinforced concrete
and glass. Like the stations at Sudbury Town
and Sudbury Hill
to the north and others that Holden designed elsewhere for the east and west Piccadilly Line extensions such as Acton Town
and Oakwood
, Alperton station features a tall block-like ticket hall rising above a low horizontal structure that contains 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. Alperton shared with Greenford (on the Central Line
) the distinction of being one of the only two stations to have an escalator going up to a platform. The escalator served the eastbound platform and had originally been used at the South Bank
exhibition of the Festival of Britain
. Now out of use, the escalator remains in place behind a wall.
On July 4, 1932, the Piccadilly Line was extended to run west of its original terminus at Hammersmith
sharing 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 the other half continue to the terminus of the line at Uxbridge.
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London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
station on the Uxbridge
Uxbridge tube station
Uxbridge is a London Underground station in Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon, north-west London. The station is the terminus of the Uxbridge branches of both the Metropolitan Line and the Piccadilly Line. The next station towards London is Hillingdon. The station is 15.5 miles west of...
branch of the Piccadilly Line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
. The station is between Sudbury Town
Sudbury Town tube station
Sudbury Town is a London Underground station on the Uxbridge branch of the Piccadilly Line. The station is between Sudbury Hill and Alperton. It is located on Station Approach in Sudbury, a short distance from the junction of Bridgewater Road and Harrow Road . The forecourt of the station is...
and Park Royal
Park Royal tube station
Park Royal is a station on the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground. It is between and and is in Travelcard Zone 3. It is situated on the south side of the east-west Western Avenue , surrounded by residential Ealing and industrial Park Royal...
. It is located on Ealing Road (A4089 road) a short distance from the junction with Bridgewater Road (A4005
A4005 road
The A4005 is a suburban link road running between Hanger Lane roundabout, where the A40 meets the A406 , and Harrow. The A4005 now runs along Roxeth Hill to its junction with the A312 in South Harrow, then merges with it northbound until its junction with the A404 before splitting away again to...
) and is close to Alperton Bus Garage and the Paddington
Paddington
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
branch of the Grand Union Canal
Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. Its main line connects London and Birmingham, stretching for 137 miles with 166 locks...
. The station is in Travelcard Zone 4
Travelcard Zone 4
Fare zone 4 is a zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services...
.
History
Perivale Alperton station was opened on June 28, 1903 by the Metropolitan District RailwayMetropolitan District Railway
The Metropolitan District Railway was the predecessor of the District line of the London Underground. Set up on 29 July 1864, at first to complete the "Inner Circle" railway around central London, it was gradually extended into the suburbs...
(MDR, now the District Line
District Line
The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...
) on its new extension to South Harrow
South Harrow tube station
South Harrow is a London Underground station on the Uxbridge branch of the Piccadilly Line. The station is between Sudbury Hill and Rayners Lane. It is located on Northolt Road . The station is in Travelcard Zone 5...
from Park Royal & Twyford Abbey
Park Royal & Twyford Abbey tube station
Park Royal & Twyford Abbey is a closed station on the route of the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground. It was located near Twyford Abbey Road a short distance north of the current Park Royal station which replaced it on 6 July 1931....
. Park Royal & Twyford Abbey had itself opened five days earlier.
This new extension was, together with the existing tracks back to Acton Town
Acton Town tube station
Acton Town is a London Underground station in Acton, west London, served by the Piccadilly and District lines. The station is at the junction of Gunnersbury Lane and Bollo Lane and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-Services:...
, the first section of the Underground's surface lines to be electrified
Electrification
Electrification originally referred to the build out of the electrical generating and distribution systems which occurred in the United States, England and other countries from the mid 1880's until around 1940 and is in progress in developing countries. This also included the change over from line...
and operate electric
Electric locomotive
An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from overhead lines, a third rail or an on-board energy storage device...
instead of steam
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
trains. The Deep level tube lines open at that time (City & South London Railway
City & South London Railway
The City and South London Railway was the first deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction...
, Waterloo & City Railway and Central London Railway
Central London Railway
The Central London Railway , also known as the Twopenny Tube, was a deep-level, underground "tube" railway that opened in London in 1900...
) had been electrically powered from the start.
The station was subsequently renamed Alperton on October 7, 1910.
The original station building was a modest timber framed structure and in 1930 and 1931 this was demolished and replaced by a new station in preparation for the handover of the branch from the District Line
District Line
The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...
to the Piccadilly Line
Piccadilly Line
The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
. The new station was designed by Charles Holden
Charles Holden
Charles Henry Holden, Litt. D., FRIBA, MRTPI, RDI was a Bolton-born English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, for Bristol Central Library, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadway and for the...
in a modern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an style using brick, reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
and glass. Like the stations at Sudbury Town
Sudbury Town tube station
Sudbury Town is a London Underground station on the Uxbridge branch of the Piccadilly Line. The station is between Sudbury Hill and Alperton. It is located on Station Approach in Sudbury, a short distance from the junction of Bridgewater Road and Harrow Road . The forecourt of the station is...
and Sudbury Hill
Sudbury Hill tube station
Sudbury Hill is a London Underground station on the Uxbridge branch of the Piccadilly Line in Sudbury / Greenford, in northwest London. The station is between Sudbury Town and South Harrow. The station is in Travelcard Zone 4...
to the north and others that Holden designed elsewhere for the east and west Piccadilly Line extensions such as Acton Town
Acton Town tube station
Acton Town is a London Underground station in Acton, west London, served by the Piccadilly and District lines. The station is at the junction of Gunnersbury Lane and Bollo Lane and is in Travelcard Zone 3.-Services:...
and Oakwood
Oakwood tube station
Oakwood is a London Underground station on the Piccadilly Line. It is the second most northerly station on the line, between Southgate and Cockfosters stations, and is in Travelcard Zone 5...
, Alperton station features a tall block-like ticket hall rising above a low horizontal structure that contains station offices and shops. The brick walls of the ticket hall are punctuated with panels of clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
windows and the structure is capped with a flat concrete slab roof. Alperton shared with Greenford (on the Central Line
Central Line
The Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground...
) the distinction of being one of the only two stations to have an escalator going up to a platform. The escalator served the eastbound platform and had originally been used at the South Bank
South Bank
South Bank is an area of London, England located immediately adjacent to the south side of the River Thames. It forms a long and narrow section of riverside development that is within the London Borough of Lambeth to the border with the London Borough of Southwark and was formerly simply known as...
exhibition of the Festival of Britain
Festival of Britain
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition in Britain in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give Britons a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote good quality design in the rebuilding of British towns and cities. The Festival's centrepiece was in...
. Now out of use, the escalator remains in place behind a wall.
On July 4, 1932, the Piccadilly Line was extended to run west of its original terminus at Hammersmith
Hammersmith tube station (Piccadilly & District Line)
Hammersmith tube station is a London Underground station in Hammersmith. It is on the District Line line between Barons Court and Ravenscourt Park, and on the Piccadilly Line between Barons Court and Acton Town or Turnham Green at very early morning and late evening hours...
sharing the route with the District Line to Ealing Common
Ealing Common
Ealing Common is a large open space in Ealing, west London, bounded by Gunnersbury Ave to the east and the Uxbridge Road to the north. A smaller area of the common extends to the east of Gunnersbury Ave, including Leopold Road...
. From Ealing Common to South Harrow
South Harrow
South Harrow has grown out of the village of Roxeth as a result of urbanization and easier access from Central London by rail. South of the old village centre , and beyond the newly developed shopping area, lies South Harrow tube station and the High Street .-History:Much of the local history,...
, the District Line was replaced by the Piccadilly Line.
Services
The typical off-peak service is a train in each direction every ten minutes. Half of northbound trains terminate at Rayners LaneRayners Lane tube station
Rayners Lane is a London Underground station in the district of Rayners Lane in north west London, amid a 1930s development originally named Harrow Garden Village. The station is on the Uxbridge branch of both the Metropolitan Line, between Eastcote and West Harrow stations, and the Piccadilly...
and the other half continue to the terminus of the line at Uxbridge.
Transport links
London bus routes 79, 83, 224, 297 pass the station and route 245 and 487 walk 3min to the station.External links
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} Showing structure of reinforced concrete roof
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} With appearance marred by rooftop safety barriers