West Acton

 

The Great Western Railway (GWR) built the Ealing Broadway branch (the western part of the former Ealing & Shepherd's Bush Railway) and opened it for freight trains in April 1917, and the Central London Railway trains used the line from 1920. West Acton and North Acton were built and owned by the GWR, and both opened on 5 November 1923. GWR steam freight trains also ran through West Acton until 1938, when the London Underground tracks were segregated further east, through East Acton station, and to the west of North Acton station. The current station, replacing the original building, was designed by the Great Western Railway, on behalf of London Transport as part of the LPTB's 1935-40 New Works Programme improvements and extensions to the Central line, by the GWR's architect Brian Lewis.

 

Landholders figuring in county records were resident by 1222 and houses were recorded from the late 13th century. The main settlement, Church Acton or Acton town, lay slightly west of the centre of the parish along the highway to Oxford (Uxbridge Road) at the 5-mile post out of London. By 1380 some of the tenements, such as The Tabard and The Cock, along the south side of the road, were inns. Acton was lauded as "blessed with very sweet air" in 1706 by a rector urging a friend in verse to move there. The fashion for medicinal waters brought a brief period of fame, with the exploitation of the wells at Old Oak common. The station is a Grade II listed building. It is in Travelcard Zone 3. The station is close to North Ealing tube station on the Piccadilly line, situated 550 metres away at the western end of Queens Drive. The station has payphones and a waiting room.

 

Connections: London Buses route 440 serve the station.

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