Ealing Common tube station

Ealing Common is a London Underground station on the Uxbridge branch of the Piccadilly Line, and on the Ealing Broadway branch of the District Line. Eastbound the next station is Acton Town, westbound the next station is North Ealing on the Piccadilly Line and Ealing Broadway on the District Line.

The station is located on Uxbridge Road (A4020) about 450m east of the junction with Gunnersbury Avenue and Hanger Lane (A406, North Circular Road). It is in Travelcard Zone 3.

History

Ealing Common station was opened on 1 July 1879 by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR, now the District Line) on its extension from Turnham Green to Ealing Broadway. From 1886 until 1 March 1910 the station was known as Ealing Common and West Acton after which it changed to its current name.

On 23 June 1903 the MDR opened an extension of the tracks from north of Ealing Common. The extension initially reached as far as Park Royal & Twyford Abbey (closed and replaced by Park Royal in 1931), where the Royal Agricultural Society's Park Royal show grounds had been recently opened, before being opened to South Harrow on 28 June 1903.

This new extension was, together with the existing tracks between Ealing Common & 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. Electric trains started running on the section of line between Ealing Common and Ealing Broadway on 1 July 1905.

During 1930 and 1931 a new station building was constructed to replace the 1879 building. The new building, by Charles Holden in a style reminiscent of his designs for the 1926 Morden extension of the City & South London Railway (now part of the Northern Line), was constructed in Portland stone and features a tall heptagonal ticket hall with glazed screens to all sides. The new building opened on 1 March 1931 and is very similar to the reconstructed station at Hounslow West built at the same time.

On 4 July 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, from this date, District Line trains west from Ealing Common ran to Ealing Broadway only.

The station today

Ealing Common is now unusual in that the District and Piccadilly Lines share the same platforms. Where the lines run together between Barons Court and Acton Town, the services are separated on different tracks and, under normal conditions, they generally serve different platforms where the Piccadilly Line stops (at Barons Court, Hammersmith, Turnham Green and Acton Town). Previously, before the District Line service was withdrawn on the Hounslow branch in 1964, both Piccadilly and District Line trains used the same platforms at stations from Boston Manor to Hounslow West.

External links

* [http://photos.ltmcollection.org London Transport Museum Photographic Archive]
** ltmcollection|77/9870077.jpg|Ealing Common station, 1893
** ltmcollection|pt/i00001pt.jpg|View of station from platforms, 1928
** ltmcollection|q9/i0000gq9.jpg|Temporary station entrance in use whilst station is under construction, 1930
** ltmcollection|tn/i0000gtn.jpg|New station building being built, 1931
** ltmcollection|75/995675.jpg|New station building open, 1931
** ltmcollection|yy/i00005yy.jpg|Brick and Concrete, platform shelter and canopy, 1932
** ltmcollection|77/9889277.jpg|Ticket hall, 1957
** ltmcollection|7c/i000017c.jpg|Ealing Common station, 2001
** ltmcollection|7f/i000017f.jpg|View of station from platforms, 2001

Image gallery