So i'm outside Acton Town tube station
gateway on the Piccadilly Line
to Uxbridge, Rayners Lane, and also
the Heathrow branch
Piccadilly Lines haven't always run to Heathrow in fact it used to be the District Line
so today, we're gonna take a ride west
from Acton, down towards Heathrow
and explain the history ... of this branch.
The line out to Heathrow starts at Acton Town
which opened in 1879 as Mill Hill Park
it would get renamed to Acton Town later
it was in 1883 that the railways went west
back then, the Piccadilly Line didn't exist , and it was built
as part of the Metropolitan District Railway
what we know now, as the District Line
the station that first opened, were ... South Ealing
... Boston Road ...
... Osterley & Spring Grove ...
and Hounslow, which was quickly renamed to Hounslow Town.
Osterley & Spring Grove is now an abandoned station
later replaced by Osterley
but you can still see the original platforms today
and the old station building is still there too
it's now been turned into a book shop
it's about a five minute walk down the main road, from the current day Osterley station
if you ever want to go and see it.
In 1884,
just a year after the line had first opened
it extended west again
with a station called Hounslow Barracks
followed swiftly, by a station ... at Heston & Hounslow
At the same time, the spur down to Hounslow Town
closed, with trains running straight through
except that in 1903, it opened up again
with also a new curve of track
that allowed trains that had gone to Hounslow Town, to keep heading west
but that didn't last long
and in the year of 1908 to 1909
that loop of track closed
Hounslow Town closed .. oh!
and Northfield (Ealing) station opened
and if you get out at Osterly station there's a neat thiing you can do
you can walk along the path the railway used to be on
to take it down to Hounslow Town
if you cross the road by going through the subway
and then, with the Picaddily line on your right
you keep walking
until you get to Spring Grove Road
here, there's a bride where trains go across the road
but this was the point where the curve of track
used to come off and head towards the original station
and it's now this footpath here
which you can walk down
and that's the footpath i'm on now with
Piccadilly line trains up there, hello
welcome to the new bit
for 2023, yes
this path runs parrallel
to the side of the piccadilly line until it gets to this point
here which i'm just about to go around, it bends
to the left, there we go, down here
away from the railway, and this now following the path
of the old line, down to Hounslow Town
and that bring out here to this housing estate
which we'll cut through in a minute
what this is though if the curve of track of course
to the east of Hounslow Town station that sort of curves down
you can very clearly see it on Google Maps
what i can't see on Google Maps there's no trace of, i've looked
is the curve of track that would have come out of Hounslow Town
and then sort of curved back
west, i can't find that
but going into this housing estate here
what's fun to note
is that there's a wall here
and up behind that
is where the track would have gone, and through there there's like some buildings
there, but again - it's easier to see
on Google 3D view
if you zoom in and sort of rotate around
you can see a path, very clearly
where either there's been a gap left
or some buildings have been infilled
and that's where, the railway would have run, but we are approaching
Hounslow Town, which is now a bus station
and there is nothing left of Hounslow tube station today
the site of it in fact, is this
very pretty building
is Hounslow bus garage, it does have ...
... a nice roundel though
a new Hounslow station though was built on the direct line through
and then two years later in 1911
Northfields Ealing station was renamed to Northfields and Little Ealing
Boston Road, was renamed to Boston Manor
and then in 1925, some more renaming took place
So Hounslow Central ...
... cute station, got renamed and one stop down the line
Hounslow Barracks also got renamed, and moved
in fact Hounslow Town was renamed to Hounslow East
Heston and Hounslow was renamed to Hounslow Central
and Hounslow Barracks became Hounslow West
but the current day Hounslow West
is now where it originally used to be
yes where the original tracks and platforms used to be at Hounslow West
that's now been turned into the station car park
to get to the new platforms, a long boring walkway
has been constructed which looks well out of place
compared to the rest of the gorgeous station building
but you can also come up to this brick wall
and peer over
for excellent views, of the trains down below
the car park though, it just a car park
with the occassional shopping trolley
and planes ... flying overhead
And so into the modern era ...
where in 1933 trains from the Piccadilly Line now started to run down this way
although District Line trains still also ran, up until 1964
a new Northfields station then opened
and Osterley & Spring Grove that we saw earlier closed
with the current day Osterley opening in its place just a little way down the line
into the 1970's
and the old Hounslow West closes
and new one, opens on the same day
with the line now going down to a new station
at Hatton Cross.
Which is where I find myself now, and it's still looking as bland as it did
when it was first built in the 1970's, and to go to the airport back then
because trains terminated here
you had to get a bus, to take you down, but the line
was eventually extended.
In 1977, Heatrow Central tube station opened
which was later renamed to Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3
that was followed by Heathrow Terminal 4 in 1986
and the into this century
Heathrow Terminal 5 station opened in 2008
until finally Heathrow Teminal 1,2,3
was renamed to just 2 and 3
when Terminal 1 at the airport closed
Which brings us ... all the way
to where we are now.
i'll leave you from the delights
of Hatton Cross Underground station
and that is the history of the Heathrow Branch ... of the Piccadilly Line.