Chronoyster - 2 August 1880

On 2 August 1880, the Metropolitan Railway extended from Willesden Green to Harrow-on-the-Hill.

Route map of London Underground as it was 2 August 1880

Neasden

then Kingsbury & Neasden

I went to Neasden with no preconceived ideas of what I would blog about, but I soon discovered two temples of worship...

Ikea, the temple of consumerism.

BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, one of the biggest Hindu temples outside India.

While trying to find the second from the first, I got a little disorientated but, as a bonus, I did come across this completely by accident. Fans of The Big Fat Quiz, this is Mitchell Brook Primary School!

Harrow-on-the-Hill

then Harrow

The official station name has two hyphens, but the roundels have none and the two middle names are placed one above the other.

Open stations: 59

Next: 25 September 1882

Chronoyster - 1 March 1880

On 1 March 1880, the District Railway extended from West Brompton to Putney Bridge

Route map of London Underground as it was 1 March 1880

Fulham Broadway

then Walham Green

The original station building is now "Market Hall", containing bars and restaurants.

The main entrance to Fulham Broadway station is now part of a shopping centre.
The control room overlooks the ticket gateline.
I visited during the recent World Cup (the day after England beat Sweden) - note the flags of competing nations hung on the wall.

A walkway between the shopping centre and its car park allows you to look down into the station.

Home of the fifth best football team in England.

Parsons Green

The well-hidden side entrance

Putney Bridge

then Putney Bridge & Fulham

Open stations: 57

Next: 2 August 1880

Chronoyster - 24 November 1879

On 24 November 1879, the Metropolitan Railway extended from West Hampstead to Willesden Green

Route map of London Underground as it was 24 November 1879

Kilburn

then Kilburn and Brodesbury

Willesden Green

If you're looking for Willesden Green's labyrinth, it's in the waiting room.

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On an unknown date in 1880, Notting Hill was renamed Notting Hill & Ladbroke Grove. It is now Ladbroke Grove.

Open stations: 54

Next: 1 March 1880

Chronoyster - 1 July 1879

On 1 July 1879, the District Railway opened a branch between Turnham Green and Ealing Broadway.

Route map of London Underground as it was 1 July 1879

Chiswick Park

then Acton Green

Acton Town

then Mill Hill Park

Ealing Common

In Chiswick Park, Acton Town and Ealing Common we have three classic Charles Holden designs. They were all rebuilt in the early 1930s, in preparation for the Uxbridge branch being transferred to the Piccadilly line.

Ealing Broadway

Open stations: 52

Next: 24 November 1879

Chronoyster - 30 June 1879

On 30 June 1879, the Metropolitan Railway extended from Swiss Cottage to West Hampstead.

NB. This is not the same as the current Swiss Cottage station. It closed in 1940, after the new line, which is now the Jubilee line, and the current station, which is nearby, opened in 1939.

Route map of London Underground as it was 30 June 1879

Finchley Road

The nearby O2 Centre, which opened in 1998, four years before the BT Cellnet mobile network was rebranded.

West Hampstead

A tale of three stations.

Open stations: 48

Next: 1 July 1879

Chronoyster - 1 October 1877

On 1 October 1877, the Metropolitan Railway started serving Hammersmith (Grove Road).

Route map of London Underground as it was 1 October 1877

Hammersmith (Grove Road)

I won't normally blog about closed stations, but I think Hammersmith (Grove Road) deserves an explanation.

In 1869, the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened a new line that branched off north of Kensington (Olympia), then called Addison Road. The new line went in a loop, under then parallel to the Metropolitan Railway, now the Hammersmith & City line (HCR), then headed west towards Richmond. Hammersmith (Grove Road) was a new station on this line.

In 1870, a junction was opened north of Grove Road, connecting the LSWR line with the HCR and the Great Western Railway briefly ran services between Paddington and Richmond.

On 1 October 1877, the Metropolitan Railway also started running services along this route, so that is the date that Grove Road became an "Underground" station.

The stations between Hammersmith and Richmond that featured on my last blog (1 June 1877) come from when the District Railway extended from their Hammersmith station to a junction with the LSWR line. The District Railway had a competitive advantage with a more direct route to central London, and gradually the other train companies withdrew from the Richmond route. The Metropolitan service ended 31 December 1906, so that's when Grove Road ceased to be an "Underground" station. Eventually, the LSWR loop, Grove Road (and LSWR's Shepherd's Bush station) closed completely in 1916.

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On 1 February 1878, Earl's Court was relocated to its current position.

Open stations: 46

Next: 30 June 1879

Berlin

I recently got back from spectating at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin. While I was there I did, of course, find a few interesting things on the U-Bahn.

Leaving Friedrichstraße station, I almost thought I was outside Liverpool Street! Both this sculpture and the one in London are part of a series commemorating the "Kindertransport" which saved the lives of many Jewish refugee children before World War II. The sculptor, Frank Meisler, who passed away in February at the age of 92, was one of those children. There are also sculptures at Gdansk in Poland and at the Hook of Holland.

Wittenbergplatz station, with its marvelous entrance building in the middle of the square, is worth a visit anyway, but on platform 1 you can find this London Underground roundel. The plaque below explains that it was a gift from the London Transport Executive in 1952, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Berlin U-Bahn.

Wittenbergplatz, along with many other notable stations, is the work of Swedish architect Alfred Grenander. He worked on U-Bahn stations from 1902 until his death in 1931. I went to the end of line U3 to visit one of his 1929 works, Krumme Lanke, which is said to have inspired Charles Holden in his 1930s designs for the Piccadilly line, including Chiswick Park.