Ruislip Gardens tube station

Ruislip Gardens is a London Underground station. It lies on the Central Line, between West Ruislip and South Ruislip, in Travelcard Zone 5.

History

As part of the 1935-40 New Works plan Central Line services were projected westwards from a new junction, west of North Acton on the line to Ealing Broadway. The original intention was to extend the services as far as Denham, but after the Second World War this was cut back to West Ruislip, with services starting in November 1948.

A GWR service out of Paddington, and a Great Central service out of Marylebone, both steam-hauled and meeting at Northolt Junction adjacent to South Ruislip (joint) station, began in 1908, with platforms at Ruislip Gardens. The main line services stopping at Ruislip Gardens ceased in 1958 and the station closed, leaving only the Central Line services in place. Until recently the entrance to a passenger stairwell was visible on the London-bound side of the Chiltern tracks.

The station today

The station has an island platform layout. Some services start or terminate here rather than West Ruislip, the trains leaving or entering the Central Line depot to the west of the station, south of the running lines. There is a link from the Central Line depot for stock movement to the Metropolitan Line just to the west of Ruislip via a shunting neck. Chiltern Line tracks towards High Wycombe run past the station, but there were never any platforms on them.

A running link round the southern boundary of the depot has several times been proposed, to make a connection with the Metropolitan Line. This would allow through running of Central Line trains onwards from Ruislip Gardens to Uxbridge, but nothing has ever come of these suggestions.

Local places of note

Northolt Aerodrome is close by.

References in popular culture

The station achieved poetic immortality in John Betjeman's poem "Middlesex":

:"Gaily into Ruislip Gardens"
:"Runs the red electric train,"
:"With a thousand Ta's and Pardon's"
:"Daintily alights Elaine;"
:"Hurries down the concrete station"
:"With a frown of concentration,"
:"Out into the outskirt's edges
:"Where a few surviving hedges"
:"Keep alive our lost Elysium - Rural Middlesex again."

. . . although the trains are now white and blue, and only the doors are red.

External links

* Picture from London Transport Archive::* [http://photos.ltmcollection.org/images/max/22/i0000522.jpgPlatform in 1950] :* [http://photos.ltmcollection.org/images/best/04/006504.jpgBooking hall, 1955] :* [http://photos.ltmcollection.org/images/max/96/9868296.jpgBooking hall, 1955]

Gallery

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