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Manor Road, LONDON, W13 0LH

Originally known as Ealing Dean Sorting Office, it was built c.1904 almost certainly to the designs of architect Jasper Wager. Wager worked for the London section of the Office of Works, the Government department responsible for the design of post office buildings. Similar buildings most probably designed by Wager, not all functioning as delivery offices, may be found in East Finchley, Hanwell, Kentish Town, Lee Green, Streatham, Tooting, Upper Edmonton, Walthamstow and Winchmore Hill.

This parade of shops is directly opposite to the entrance to the Elizabeth Line station at West Ealing.

In 2021 this building in Manor Road replaced the earlier station frontage of 1987 in Drayton Green Road in readiness for the inauguration of the full Elizabeth Line service in 2022.

Argyle Road in West Ealing, in the suburbs of West London.

What is this Chiltern Railways diesel multiple unit doing at West Ealing Station - nowhere near its usual route into Marylebone? It's the weekly 'Parliamentary train' to West Ruislip. The service has been through a number of permutations over the years. At the time of writing it was running on Wednesdays only at 1117 non-stop from West Ealing to West Ruislip. The aim is to familiarise Chiltern drivers with working the Greenford branch line in case regular services to and from Marylebone have to be diverted to Paddington in an emergency. Before 2018 the service started at Paddington and ran the entire length of the Acton to Northolt Line (then known as the 'New North Main Line'), but when the line was severed for HS2 construction, the ghost train was diverted to start from West Ealing instead. The weekly train ran non-stop to High Wycombe before being reduced to terminate at West Ruislip in December 2021. 'Parliamentary trains' began in the 1840s as statutory minimum services providing inexpensive transport for less affluent passengers. The Railway Regulation Act stipulated that at least one such service be run each day on each route. These days the term describes services that continue to run - typically once a week - to avoid the cost of formally closing a route or station. These 'ghost trains' have acquired a cult following among rail enthusiasts.

The sorting office serves the W13 postcode area. Originally known as Ealing Dean Sorting Office, it was built in 1904 almost certainly to the designs of architect Jasper Wager. Wager worked for the London section of the Office of Works, the Government department responsible for the design of post office buildings. Similar buildings most probably designed by Wager, not all functioning as delivery offices, may be found in East Finchley, Hanwell, Kentish Town, Lee Green, Streatham, Tooting, Upper Edmonton, Walthamstow and Winchmore Hill.

The new station building on Manor Road opened on 25 March 2021 as part of a £3bn upgrade to existing stations on the Elizabeth line. It replaced the old station on Drayton Green Road which had stood on the site since 1871. The new station features an airy ticket hall and step-free access to all platforms, including the new bay platform which forms the terminus of GWR's Greenford branch line. When the new station opened, West Ealing was also served by up to eight trains per hour between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington or Heathrow Airport on a service then branded as TfL Rail but using Elizabeth line rolling stock. In front of the building the picture shows some of the wooden planters which were previously used by Ealing Council to block several dozen residential roads in the controversial Low Traffic Neighbourhoods - most of which were scrapped in October 2021 following widespread opposition.

The station was opened in 1871 as "Castle Hill and Ealing Dene" by the Great Western Railway, which had opened its broad gauge tracks between Paddington and Taplow on 4th June 1838. The last broad-gauge services were operated in 1892. The station was located next to the London Co-operative Societies main creamery, and so was equipped with a dedicated milk train platform. The station originally consisted of four platforms, but platforms 1 and 2 (away to the right in this photograph) have been fenced off as trains on the main line no longer service the station. Platform 4 (from which this photograph is taken) was demolished and moved this side of the bridge in the distance in 1990, partially covering the site of the then long-closed milk depot. The current station building was completed in 1987, following the demolition of the previous one a year earlier. As part of the Crossrail proposal, services from the Greenford Branch Line will terminate at West Ealing and this will be enabled by converting the former LCS milk train bay into an extra bay platform.

The station facilities were extensively rebuilt in readiness for the start of the full service on the Elizabeth Line in 2022. Platforms 3 (westbound) and 4 (eastbound) seen here are served by Elizabeth Line trains and platform 5 (far left) serves the GWR branch to from West Ealing to Greenford. The GWR main line runs out of view to the right and was once served by the now-removed platforms 1 and 2.