Hounslow Town tube station

Hounslow Town
Location Hounslow
Owner District Railway
Number of platforms 2
Key dates
1883 Opened
1886 Closed
1903 Reopened
1909 Closed
Replaced by Hounslow East
Other information
Lists of stations
London Transport portal

Hounslow Town was a London Underground station located in Hounslow, west London. It was first opened in 1883 by the District Railway, the precursor to today's District line, on a branch line which is now disused.

The station was situated at the eastern end of Hounslow High Street, at the junction with Kingsley Road. It closed permanently in 1909. Its site is now occupied by Hounslow bus garage.

History

Hounslow Town station was opened by the District Railway (DR) on 1 May 1883 as the terminus of a new extension of the DR from Acton Town. The station was constructed with the intention of continuing the line south to join the tracks of the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) close to Hounslow station. To facilitate this, the tracks were built at an elevated level in readiness to cross the high street via a bridge. The LSWR objected to the DR connecting to its tracks, as the new DR route to central London would compete with the LSWR's own route to Waterloo, so the extension was never undertaken.

In 1884, a branch was constructed from just north of Hounslow Town to Hounslow Barracks station (now called Hounslow West). The branch line was constructed as single track and initially had no intermediate stations between the terminus and Osterley & Spring Grove station (now simply called Osterley).

Following its failure to extend south from Hounslow Town, the DR turned its attention to the new Barracks branch and closed Hounslow Town station on 31 March 1886, less than three years after it had opened. A new station, Heston & Hounslow (now Hounslow Central), was opened on the Barracks branch as its replacement on the following day.

In 1903, Hounslow Town was reopened. Services were divided at Osterley with some running to Hounslow West and others to Hounslow Town as a short shuttle. Electrification of the DR's tracks took place between 1903 and 1905 with electric trains replacing steam locomotives on the Hounslow branch from 13 June 1905. When the branch was electrified, the track between Osterley and Hounslow Central was closed and a new loop was opened from Hounslow Town back to Hounslow Central. Trains would run from Osterley to Hounslow Town, then reverse and run to Hounslow West.

This method of operation was unsuccessful and short-lived. On 1 May 1909 the track between Hounslow Central and Osterley was reopened with a new Hounslow Town station (now named Hounslow East) about 300 metres west of the loop to the old station. The old Hounslow Town station and its two loop tracks were closed permanently.

Today, nothing remains of the original Hounslow Town station, and the site is occupied by Hounslow bus station. A plaque in front of the bus garage gives a brief history of the old Underground station.

Diagram showing operational dates for lines and stations around Hounslow
  Former services  
Preceding station   London Underground   Following station
TerminusDistrict line
Hounslow Town branch
(1883-86)
towards Upminster
District line
Hounslow Town branch
(1903-05)
towards Hounslow West
District line
Hounslow West branch
(1905-09)

Coordinates: 51°28′18″N 0°21′16″W / 51.47167°N 0.35444°W / 51.47167; -0.35444

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