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Westbourne Park BR station

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Sprinter107

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I did use the BR platforms on one occasion sometime around 1990. At the time I was commuting daily into Paddington and then via the H&C line to Shepherds Bush. One day there was a total bus and Tube strike in London but even though the station was staffed by London Underground the BR platforms stayed open and I took a Greenford DMU for one stop back out of Paddington to Westbourne Park as I could walk to work from there (it took about 30 minutes on a warm but not too hot summer's day, but walking from Paddington would have been too far). I did the journey in reverse in the evening and I remember that the LU staff had to pause kicking a ball around on the footbridge to let me past! (I'm pretty sure I was the only person who boarded the train to go into Paddington.)
It would appear from that then, that if Westbourne Park wasn't used by Paddington bound passengers during disruption to the adjacent London Transport services, then it probably had no Paddington bound passengers at all. It must have been west bound passengers that were the stations main punters.
 
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JonathanH

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It would appear from that then, that if Westbourne Park wasn't used by Paddington bound passengers during disruption to the adjacent London Transport services, then it probably had no Paddington bound passengers at all. It must have been west bound passengers that were the stations main punters.
Even for Shepherds Bush, it would be easier to change at Ealing Broadway for the Central Line than Westbourne Park for the Hammersmith & City Line. Similarly, for Hammersmith, a change at Ealing Broadway to the District Line is possible.

It is quite difficult to see how many people really suffered a hardship when it closed. It didn't get a mention in parliament.
 

Ashley Hill

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'Royal Oak, another station on the Hammersmith & City line, was also once served by the GWR, but its services were withdrawn in 1934.'
This station is of course now under LU ownership and management, but am I right in thinking that right up until the 1960s it was owned (though not served) by the GWR/BR? I seem to remember the station signs being Western Region brown totems rather than LT roundels. Rather like the Wimbledon branch of the District which was in BR branding until the 1990s.
Indeed it did carry BR (W) totems.
Here's one. Not mine sadly.
20201207_130749-1-1.jpg
 

matt_world2004

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Is the furniture shop that is in the style of a station building at westbourne park a former seperate station for the British rail platforms. It appears to even have a doorway that leads down to the tracks at the side.
 

Sprinter107

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Is the furniture shop that is in the style of a station building at westbourne park a former seperate station for the British rail platforms. It appears to even have a doorway that leads down to the tracks at the side.
I think that may be the GWR coffee house, that was eventually used by accounts, if its the building I'm thinking of, (across the railway bridge from the main station building ?). the GWR opened about 5 or 6 to encourage train crew to drink coffee and not alcohol, so it was saying in the article about Westbourne Park in the London Railway Record. After they started closing them, Westbourne Park was the last one still open.
 

matt_world2004

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I think that may be the GWR coffee house, that was eventually used by accounts, if its the building I'm thinking of, (across the railway bridge from the main station building ?). the GWR opened about 5 or 6 to encourage train crew to drink coffee and not alcohol, so it was saying in the article about Westbourne Park in the London Railway Record. After they started closing them, Westbourne Park was the last one still open.
Maybe this is the building I'm thinking of.
 

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Sprinter107

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Maybe this is the building I'm thinking of.
Yes, thats the one. According to the article, it opened on Monday 17th June 1901 at 5am, replacing an earlier building, which was demolished, due to the widening of the road bridge. It remained open after the loco staff had moved to Old Oak Common, it closed about 1911/1912. It was converted into a Deeds Office by the GWR, and the upstairs rooms at the back were converted into a flat, for the caretaker and his wife, who remained there for over 30 years. British Railways finished with the building about 1966.
It goes onto say that it was due for demolition to make way for an electricity sub station for Crossrail, but due to local protests was saved.
An early photograph shows the lettering in the pediment:
THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY
COFFEE TAVERN COMPANY LIMITED.
 
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