Ravenscourt Park tube station
Encyclopedia
Ravenscourt Park is a London Underground
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 located in west Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...

, west London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. The station is served by 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...

 and is between 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...

 and Stamford Brook
Stamford Brook tube station
Stamford Brook is a London Underground station on the eastern edge of Chiswick in west London. The station is served by the District Line and is between Ravenscourt Park and Turnham Green stations. The main entrance is located on Goldhawk Road with a secondary entrance on Prebend Gardens. It is in...

 stations.

The station is located between Dalling Road (B408) and Ravenscourt Road and is about 100 m north of King Street (A315). The station takes its name from the nearby Ravenscourt Park
Ravenscourt Park
This article is about the public park. For the London Underground station of this name see Ravenscourt Park tube station and for the Electoral Division see Ravenscourt Park ...

 and is in Travelcard Zone 2
Travelcard Zone 2
Fare zone 2 is an inner 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.-Background:...

.

The station also maintains platforms for 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...

 but these are only put to use occasionally. This is usually on the occasion of engineering works taking place on other sections of 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...

, and during all-night services on New Year's Eve. London Assembly
London Assembly
The London Assembly is an elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds majority, to amend the mayor's annual budget. The assembly was established in 2000 and is headquartered at City Hall on the south...

 member Murad Qureshi
Murad Qureshi
Murad Qureshi is a British Labour Party politician, and a Member of the London Assembly.-Background:Qureshi was born in May 1965 in Stockport, Cheshire, but he was brought up in Westminster, London, when his parents moved in July 1965...

 has called for Piccadilly Line trains to stop at Ravenscourt Park on a regular basis.

History

The line through Ravenscourt Park station was opened on 1 January 1869 by the London and South Western Railway
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...

 (L&SWR) on a new branch line to Richmond
Richmond station (London)
Richmond station is a National Rail and London Underground station in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London which is managed by South West Trains....

. The branch was built from the West London Joint Railway
West London Line
The West London Line is a short railway in inner West London which links lines at in the south to lines near Willesden Junction in the north. It has always been an important cross-London link especially for freight services...

 starting north of Addison Road station (now Kensington (Olympia)
Kensington (Olympia) station
Kensington station is a station in West London managed and served by London Overground and also served by Southern and London Underground. It is in Travelcard Zone 2...

). The line ran through Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush railway station (L&SWR)
Shepherd's Bush is a closed London and South Western Railway station in Shepherd's Bush, west London. The station was situated on the L&SWR's line between Richmond and the West London Joint Railway...

 and Hammersmith via a now closed curve and initially the next station west from Hammersmith (Grove Road) (also now closed) was Turnham Green
Turnham Green tube station
Turnham Green is a London Underground station in Chiswick in west London. The station is located on Turnham Green Terrace, but the actual green is much closer to Chiswick Park station. The station is served by the District and Piccadilly Lines although Piccadilly Line trains normally only stop at...

.

Ravenscourt Park station was opened as Shaftesbury Road by the L&SWR on 1 April 1873.

On 1 June 1877, the Metropolitan District Railway
Metropolitan 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) opened a short extension from its terminus at Hammersmith to connect to the L&SWR tracks east of Ravenscourt Park station. The MDR then began running trains over the L&SWR tracks to Richmond. On 1 October 1877, the Metropolitan Railway
Metropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...

 (MR, now the Metropolitan Line) also started a service to Richmond via Grove Road station.

On 5 May 1878 The Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....

 began running a circuitous service known as the Super Outer Circle from St Pancras to Earl's Court
Earl's Court tube station
Earl's Court tube station is a London Underground station in Earls Court. The station is located between Earls Court Road and Warwick Road . It is on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and 2 and is in both zones....

 via Cricklewood
Cricklewood railway station
Cricklewood railway station is in the London Borough of Barnet in North London. The station lies on the north-south Midland Main Line where it crosses Cricklewood Lane. It is served by First Capital Connect services as part of the Thameslink service...

 and South Acton
South Acton railway station
South Acton railway station is in the London Borough of Ealing in South Acton, west London. It is on the North London Line, and the station and all trains serving it are operated by London Overground. It is in Travelcard Zone 3...

. It operated over a now disused connection between the North London Railway
North London Line
The North London Line is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of north London, England. Its route is a rough semicircle from the south west to the north east, avoiding central London. The line is owned and maintained by Network Rail...

 and the L&SWR Richmond branch. The service was not a success and was ended on 30 September 1880.

Following an accident at on 9 April 1878 when a passenger fell trying to climb the 24 inches (609.6 mm) from the platform into an MDR carriage, the platforms at Shaftesbury Road were experimentally raised from the L&SWR standard height of 1 in 9 in (533.4 mm) above rail level to 2 in 10 in (863.6 mm), which was lower than the MDR standard height of 3 foot.

The Richmond branch was a major stimulus to residential development along the route and traffic on the line was high. The MDR's service between Richmond, Hammersmith and central London was more direct than either the L&SWR's or the MR's routes via Grove Road station or the L&SWR's other route from Richmond via Clapham Junction
Clapham Junction railway station
Clapham Junction railway station is near St John's Hill in the south-west of Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. Although it is in Battersea, the area around the station is commonly identified as Clapham Junction....

 and it took much of the custom.

On 1 March 1888, the station was given its present name in advance of the nearby park being opened to the public.

From 1 January 1894, the GWR began sharing the MR's Richmond service and served Turnham Green once again, meaning that passengers from Ravenscourt Park could travel on the services of four operators.

Following the electrification
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...

 of the MDR's own tracks north of 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:...

 in 1903, the MDR funded the electrification of the tracks through Ravenscourt Park. The tracks between Acton Town and central London were electrified on 1 July 1905. Whilst MDR services were operated with 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...

 trains, the L&SWR, GWR and MR services continued to be 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...

 hauled.

MR services were withdrawn on 31 December 1906 and GWR services were withdrawn on 31 December 1910 leaving operations at Ravenscourt Park to the MDR (by then known as the District Railway) and L&SWR. The L&SWR constructed an additional pair of non-electrified tracks between Turnham Green and its junction with the District at Hammersmith and opened these on 3 December 1911 although their use was short-lived as the District's trains out-competed the L&SWR's to the extent that the L&SWR withdrew its service between Richmond and Addison Road on 3 June 1916, leaving the District as the sole operator.

In the early 1930s, the London Electric Railway, precursor of the London Underground and owner of the District and Piccadilly Lines, began the reconstruction of the tracks between Hammersmith and Acton Town to enable the Piccadilly Line to be extended from Hammersmith to 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...

 and Hounslow West
Hounslow West tube station
Hounslow West is a London Underground station in Hounslow in west London. The station is on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly Line, between Hatton Cross and Hounslow Central stations. The station is located on Bath Road about 600m from the junction of Bath Road, Great West Road and Great...

 (then the terminus of what is now the Heathrow branch). The inner tracks at Ravenscourt Park were designated for the Piccadilly Line between the stopping lines of the District Line. Services on the Piccadilly Line began running through Ravenscourt Park on 4 July 1932.

To the east of the station, the remaining parts of the viaduct taking the L&SWR's tracks to Grove Road station are situated between the eastbound District and Piccadilly Lines on the approach to Hammersmith station.

Transport links

London bus routes 27
London Buses route 27
London Buses route 27 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London. The service is currently contracted to London United.-History:...

, 190, 266
London Buses route 266
London Buses route 266 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, England. The service is currently contracted to Metroline.-History:The 266 replaced the former trolleybus route 666 between Edgware and Hammersmith in 1962...

, 391
London Buses route 391
London Buses route 391 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to London United.-History:...

, H91
London Buses route H91
London Buses route H91 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. The service is currently contracted to London United.-History:...

 and night route N9, N11 pass the station and 237
London Buses route 237
London Buses route 237 is a Transport for London contracted bus route in London, United Kingdom. This route is currently contracted to Metroline.-History:...

 stops a 15-minute walk from the station on Dalling Road.

External links


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