Looking west from West Ruislip station

Image: © Marathon Taken: 31 Jan 2018

On 20th November 1905 the Great Central Railway opened a new route for freight trains between Neasden Junction and Northolt Junction (just to the east of South Ruislip), and on 1st March 1906 passenger services began from High Wycombe to the Great Central's then new terminus at Marylebone. The line was built though open country, yet impressive stations were provided. What is now West Ruislip station was opened on 2nd April 1906 as Ruislip & Ickenham. However, passengers tended to opt for the parallel (now Piccadilly) line, and by 1968 the service was said to be the sparsest in London. Plans were afoot to close it between Neasden and South Ruislip and direct trains into Paddington, but the line has survived. Another line was built between 1903 and 1906 from the Great Western Main Line at Old Oak Common to the Chiltern Main Line at South Ruislip. A full history of these lines can be seen at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acton-Northolt_Line In no area at a comparable distance from London was development so slow. In the hamlet of West End at Northolt only three houses were built between 1837 and 1935. It was not until the late 1950s that most of the area out to West Ruislip had become built over. The Great Western Railway provided a number of halts in addition to Greenford and West Ruislip and served them by infrequent trains right up to 1947, in spite of the rising tide of suburban development after 1935. 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 1935-40 New Works programme included the extension of the Central line to run alongside the Great Western Railway tracks from North Acton to South Ruislip and from there as far as Denham. An extra pair of tracks were built to the south of the old tracks from Acton to Denham for the exclusive use of Central line trains. The widened lines were opened to Greenford on 30th June 1947 and on to West Ruislip on 21st November 1948. The section to Denham was not proceeded with because of the introduction of the London Green Belt after the Second World War. This is the view looking west from High Road with West Ruislip station being to the east of High Road, behind where I am standing. Preparatory work on the extension to Denham had started just before the Second World War and a section of trackbed constructed for the extension can be seen in the distance beyond the buffer stops of the Central line tracks alongside the National Rail line. The present West Ruislip station was built by British Railways for London Underground and was not completed until the 1960s. At about the same time the sub-title was omitted from the station name.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0