West Ruislip station

West Ruislip is a Network Rail station located on Ickenham Road between Ickenham and Ruislip in western Greater London; it is served by both London Underground (LU) and National Rail trains on independent platforms.It is the western terminus of the LU Central Line's West Ruislip branch, with Ruislip Gardens as the next Underground station towards London. National Rail services are provided by Chiltern Railways, West Ruislip is between South Ruislip and Denham. The station is managed by Chiltern Railways [ [http://nationalrail.co.uk/stations/wru/details.html National Rail - station information page for West Ruislip] ] .

History

The station was opened on 2 April 1906 as Ruislip & Ickenham by the Great Western & Great Central Joint Railway (GW&GCJR). The GW&GCJR connected London and the Midlands via High Wycombe and provided an alternative route to the Great Central Railway's (GCR's) main line through Aylesbury, Harrow and Wembley which shared its route with the Metropolitan Railway.

Prior to the Second World War plans had been made for a number of extensions to the Central Line. The London Passenger Transport Board's (LPTB's) 1935-40 New Works programme included the extension of the Central Line to run alongside the Great Western Railway (GWR) tracks from North Acton to South Ruislip and the GWGCJR tracks from there as far as Denham, although the post-war introduction of Green Belt legislation caused the extension to be cut back to West Ruislip. Had the extension been built in full, the next station would have been Harefield Road.

The additional tracks were constructed by the GWR on behalf of the LPTB and on 30 June 1947, the first section of the western extension opened from North Acton to Greenford. On the same date the station name was changed to West Ruislip (for Ickenham).

Central Line services began running from West Ruislip on 21 November 1948.

The station building was built by British Railways for London Underground and was not completed until the 1960s and at about the same time the sub-title was omitted from the station name. Some Central Line stations with older signage still show the longer name on the line diagrams on their platforms.

The station today

West Ruislip station is aligned approximately east-west with the main station buildings on the road overbridge across the lines at the western end of the station. The station has four platforms; two each for London Underground and National Rail services. The London Underground tracks are south of the National Rail ones and operate from an island platform whilst the National Rail platforms are outside of their tracks. The National Rail platforms are also served by a separate station building north of the tracks and adjacent to the car park. A single weekday service from Gerrards Cross calls at the station at 1012 hrs (as of July 2008), running non-stop to London Paddington. It traverses the rarely used former main line between Northolt Park Junction and Old Oak Common Junction, in many places reduced to a single track. This section is used more frequently by freight and waste trains, and also diversions during engineering works. The return service departs Paddington at 1112 hrs but doesn't call anywhere south of Gerrard's Cross, and terminates at Princes Risborough.

In a legacy of the original scheme to continue the extension to Denham, the Central Line tracks continue for a short distance beyond the station before ending at buffers. The intended alignment of the unbuilt tracks can be seen from the width of the unused railway land south of the existing tracks.

The Central Line's Ruislip depot is east of West Ruislip station. It has a connection via a shunting neck to the Network Rail westbound track west of the station provided for rolling stock and material deliveries. The depot also has a connection to the Uxbridge branch tracks of the Metropolitan and Piccadilly Lines which pass under the Central Line east of West Ruislip; it is used only for empty stock movements and works train access. Two sidings west of the station to the north of the running lines provide layover facilities for works trains.

Nearby places

* Ruislip
* Ickenham
* Adjacent to the station is RAF West Ruislip which was a co-located US Navy facility and elementary school, the US Navy turned the facility over to the UK MoD and the site is currently under going commercial development. Former site of a US Air Force facility.

References

External links

Gallery

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