Eastcote Underground station

Image: © Marathon Taken: 13 Apr 2016

Metropolitan trains started running between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Uxbridge on 4th July 1904. Traffic was at first extremely disappointing. The halt at Eastcote came into use on 26th May 1906, sited in rural seclusion between Harrow and Ruislip. Eastcote station was about a mile south of the village from which it took its name. It rapidly assumed popularity as a destination for children's treats and summer excursions. In July 1913, 93 children's parties were catered for which totaled 3,000 children a day. The District Railway opened its new extension from north of Ealing Common to Park Royal & Twyford Abbey on 23rd June 1903. The line was opened fully to South Harrow on 28th June 1903. District line trains started to run beyond South Harrow on 1st March 1910 to meet the Metropolitan Railway at Rayners Lane and continue on to Uxbridge, but they were only hourly for much of the day, increasing to a 20 minute service the following year. Building of estate roads started at the end of 1912. Serious building at Eastcote started in 1923. The new extension was, together with the existing tracks between Ealing Common and Acton Town, the first section of the Underground's surface lines to be electrified and operate electric instead of steam trains. In the early 1930s, Government money was on offer to combat unemployment and using some of this the Piccadilly line was extended to run west of its original terminus at Hammersmith sharing the route with the District line to Ealing Common. This change took place in two stages. From 4th July 1932 between Ealing Common and South Harrow, the District line was replaced by the Piccadilly line. On 23rd October 1933 Piccadilly line trains continued from South Harrow to Uxbridge and District line trains to Uxbridge ceased on the same date. During 1937 and 1938, the Metropolitan Railway's formerly rural halts at Rayners Lane, Eastcote and Ruislip Manor were transformed into modern Charles Holden stations. Ruislip Manor was completed in 1938 and Eastcote in 1939. Suburban growth took off at the end of the 1920s and by 1939 large-scale construction of small houses had covered most of the area.

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