RAILWAYS
The advent of the railways cut both journey times
and fares by more than half. Brentford's first railway
line opened on 22 August 1849. With the London & South
Western Railway's loop line between Isleworth (extended
to Hounslow in February 1850) and Barnes, so linking
Brentford to Waterloo. Brentford station in Boston Manor
Rd (renamed Brentford Central in June1950) and Kew
Bridge Station were both opened on the day the railway
service was inaugurated. The latter station was designed
by Sir William Tite, best known as the architect of the
Royal Exchange, There were was another railway line with
its own station at Kew Bridge. This linked the London &
South Western Railway to the London& North Western
railway. It run from the L&NWR's junction on the north
side of Kew Bridge, on the original line to Brentford.
This later became part of the North London line (now
Silverlink) and most of it was electrified in October
1916. The junction line opened to freight traffic in
February 1853, soon becoming an important route for
coal from the north of England to the south. Passenger
trains began in August 1853 and a station was built
in Lionel Rd and name Old Kew. In February 1862 a
new one, also in Lionel Rd but much nearer to Chiswick
High Rd, replaced this station. After July 1913 this
didn't have a booking office of its own and access
to it was always through Kew Bridge station on the
Isleworth line, thence under a tunnel to Lionel Rd.
The station and the railway line were closed on 12
September 1940 but the entrance to the tunnel can
still be seen on the up platform of Kew bridge
station. The extensive goods yard and the buildings
still standing in Lionel Rd were connected with the
station; the building engraved with the words Stratton
Gentry Coal Depot was the offices of one of many coal
merchants in this small area between the railways.
The next building, 'Station House' was the home of
the stationmaster from at least 1888 Yet another
railway company the Great Western built a line and
a station in Brentford (Brentford Town). The GWR's
chief engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, had designed
his railway to use 'board gauge' track, which was wider
than the stranded gauge track adopted by most other
railway companies making the GWR lines incompatible
with other tracks. The GWR laid a spur line from Southall
to Brentford so that goods arriving from the west of
England could be transported by train straight to Brentford
(where the GWR also built its own dock and then onwards by
barge along the Thames.) This line opened for goods traffic
in July 1859 and for passengers in may 1860. The passenger
station was just north of London Rd, more than half a mile
short of the end of the railway. In 1876 the board gauge
track was converted to stranded gauge and some of the old
track section were removed to Dock Rd where they can be
seen supporting the fence on the eastern side. The line
was finally closed to passenger traffic in May 1942
(although passengers had not been carried between March
1915 and April 1920 The last mile of the line was closed
to freight in December 1964 when the dock itself was
abandoned. The line is still open for goods traffic
from Southall to the goods depot north of the Great
West Rd. The bridge that now carries motor traffic
over Augustus close is the old railway bridge designed
by Brunel. The railway bridge that run across London
Rd was dismantled in 1966 but its arched supports and
the railway embankment can be seen just west of
Brentford Bridge and commerce Rd. The railway bridge
across the Great West Rd was demolished in 1976 when
still less than fifty years old.
From May 1883 the Metropolitan Distant Railway worked
an east-west line from Mill Hill Park (renamed Acton
Town in March1910) to Hounslow with a station at
Boston Rd (renamed Boston Manor in December 1911)
Stream engines were used to pull the trains until
the service was electrified in June 1905. Both
District and Piccadilly lines used the station from
March 1933 to October 1964, thereafter just the
Piccadilly line. A new station building, designed
by Charles Holden, was opened on 25 March 1934,
although the original 19th- century valanced
canopies over the platforms still remain.

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Last Updated: 21st NOVEMBER 2005