Hammersmith & Chiswick railway station

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Template other Hammersmith & Chiswick was a railway terminus in west London that was opened in 1858 by the North & South Western Junction Railway and closed in 1917, during the First World War.

Originally named Hammersmith but renamed Hammersmith & Chiswick in 1880, the station was located midway between Chiswick and Hammersmith and was intended to serve both areas.

History

Hammersmith station was opened on 8 April 1858 by the North & South Western Junction Railway (N&SWJR) on the site of a goods yard, which had opened on 1 May 1857, on Chiswick High Road in what was then a rural area. The station was at the end of a 1.5 mile (2.5 km) branch line which ran northward from the North London Railway (NLR) line at South Acton and turned sharply to run south into Hammersmith & Chiswick.

The station building was not purpose-built but was a converted private house. In 1904, a writer described it as "abounding with flowers, and resembling rather the terminus of some far distant country branch line than what one might expect to find at a place bearing the dual distinction of the names of two west London suburbs".

Until the interchange station at South Acton was opened on 1 January 1880, the branch line to Hammersmith & Chiswick employed an unusual mode of operation. Southbound NLR trains to Kew (which was on the western chord to the Hounslow Loop near the current Kew Bridge station) included a carriage for passengers travelling to Hammersmith & Chiswick. This carriage was uncoupled from the rest of the train immediately south of the junction. The N&SWJR's sole locomotive would then reverse onto the mainline, be attached to the carriage, and take it down the short branch to Hammersmith & Chiswick. From 1 January 1880, on the station opening at South Acton, passengers could change there from Broad Street to Richmond trains onto the Hammersmith & Chiswick services.

Before the interchange at South Acton opened, one train per hour served the branch, while thereafter until closure there was one train every half-hour.

In an effort to boost passenger numbers, which had been badly affected by the opening of the nearby District line station at Stamford Brook, three intermediate halts were opened on 8 April 1909: Rugby Road Halt, Woodstock Road Halt, and Bath Road Halt. These were little used, so trains stopped only on request.

File:Hammersmith & Chiswick station site geograph-3596502-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg

The site of the station, 2005

During the First World War, in 1917, all passenger services on the branch were suspended as a wartime economy measure and were never resumed. The three halts were closed only eight years after their opening. Hammersmith & Chiswick remained in use as a goods yard, primarily to serve a large coal depot. As the demand for coal reduced the branch was permanently closed on 3 May 1965.

The station site was redeveloped in the 1980s and no trace remains.

External links

• Subterranea Britannica entry on the station with photographs of the station in the last days of operation
• Disused Railways entry on the branch
• Photographs of the remaining structures on the route (2005)

Template:Disused Rail Start |- | rowspan="1" style="vertical-align: middle; text-align:center; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 1px #aaa solid; border-top: 1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;"| Bath Road | style="background:#Template:Temporary rail colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;" |   | rowspan="1" style="vertical-align: middle; text-align: center; border-left: 1px #aaa solid; border-right: 1px #aaa solid; border-top:solid 1px #aaa; border-bottom:0px none;" | North & South Western Junction Railway
Hammersmith branch | style="background:#Template:Temporary rail colour; color:inherit; border-left: 0px none; border-right: 0px none; border-top:1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;" |   | rowspan="1" style="vertical-align: middle; text-align:center; border-left: 1px #aaa solid; border-right: 0px none; border-top: 1px #aaa solid; border-bottom:0px none;"|Terminus |}