Kensington (Olympia) is a combined rail and tube station in
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
, on the edge of
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
. Services are provided by
London Overground
London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a ...
, who manage the station, along with
Southern and
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
. It is in
Travelcard Zone 2
Fare zone 2 is an inner zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services.
Ba ...
. On the Underground it is the terminus of a short
District line
The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited servic ...
branch from , originally built as part of the
Middle Circle. On the main-line railway it is on the
West London Line from to , by which trains bypass inner London. The station's name is drawn from its location in Kensington and the adjacent
Olympia
The name Olympia may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games
* ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
exhibition centre.
The station was originally opened in 1844 by the
West London Railway
The West London Railway was conceived to link the London and Birmingham Railway and the Great Western Railway with the Kensington Basin of the Kensington Canal, enabling access to and from London docks for the carriage of goods. It opened in 184 ...
but closed shortly afterwards. It reopened in 1862 and began catering for
Great Western services the following year. In 1872 it became part of the Middle Circle train route that bypassed central London. The station was bombed during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and subsequently closed. It reopened in 1946 but the limited service to Clapham Junction was recommended for withdrawal in the 1960s
Beeching Report Beeching is an English surname. Either a derivative of the old English ''bece'', ''bæce'' "stream", hence "dweller by the stream" or of the old English ''bece'' "beech-tree" hence "dweller by the beech tree".''Oxford Dictionary of English Surnames' ...
. The main-line station was revitalised later in the decade as a terminus for national
Motorail
A motorail train or accompanied car train (ACT) is a passenger train on which passengers can take their car or automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger carriages or in sleeping carriages on longer ...
, and upgraded again in 1986 to serve a wider range of
InterCity
InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...
destinations. The station's Underground connection after World War II was limited to a shuttle service to and from Earl's Court.
With around million passenger journeys recorded in , Kensington (Olympia) is the station on the entire Underground network.
[
]
Name and location
In 1863, with the opening of the West London Extension Railway
The West London Railway was conceived to link the London and Birmingham Railway and the Great Western Railway with the Kensington Basin of the Kensington Canal, enabling access to and from London docks for the carriage of goods. It opened in 184 ...
, a station named Kensington was opened north of the junction with the West London Railway
The West London Railway was conceived to link the London and Birmingham Railway and the Great Western Railway with the Kensington Basin of the Kensington Canal, enabling access to and from London docks for the carriage of goods. It opened in 184 ...
, but when several underground
Underground most commonly refers to:
* Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth
Underground may also refer to:
Places
* The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston
* The Underground ...
lines opened stations at High Street Kensington and West Kensington
West Kensington, formerly North End, is an area in the ancient parish of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, England, 3.4 miles (5.5 km) west of Charing Cross. It covers most of the London postal area of W14, includin ...
, the station name was changed to Addison Road to avoid any confusion.
The station appears as Kensington Olympia on the National Rail website and on some of its maps and timetables. On London Underground and London Overground maps, station signage and the London Rail & Tube Services map, it is labelled Kensington (Olympia). On the automated announcements and the dot matrix
A dot matrix is a 2-dimensional patterned array, used to represent characters, symbols and images. Most types of modern technology use dot matrices for display of information, including mobile phones, televisions, and printers. The system is al ...
indicators on District line trains, the station is shown as simply Olympia.
The station is located alongside the namesake Olympia
The name Olympia may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games
* ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...
exhibition centre.[ The boundary between the ]Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the ...
and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borou ...
here runs parallel to and immediately to the west of the railway line.
The platforms are accessed via Russell Road from the east and Olympia Way from the west. A footbridge connects the two roads, and is segregated so it is possible to walk directly from Russell Road to Olympia Way without having to pass through any ticket barriers.[ Platform 1 serves the part-time District line services towards High Street Kensington via ]Earl's Court
Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
, platform 2 serves Overground trains towards Willesden, and platform 3 runs towards Clapham Junction.[
]London Buses
London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...
routes 9, 23, 27, 28, 49, 306, C1; night routes N9, N28 and Green Line Coaches services 701 and 702 call at and pass the station.
History
Opening
A station called Kensington was opened by the West London Railway
The West London Railway was conceived to link the London and Birmingham Railway and the Great Western Railway with the Kensington Basin of the Kensington Canal, enabling access to and from London docks for the carriage of goods. It opened in 184 ...
as its southern terminus on 27 May 1844, located just south of Hammersmith Road
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
It ...
. The line was not popular and it was closed on 1 December that year due to the losses made. A scant and erratic goods service continued. The line was re-opened to passengers on 2 June 1862 as part of the West London Extension Railway
The West London Railway was conceived to link the London and Birmingham Railway and the Great Western Railway with the Kensington Basin of the Kensington Canal, enabling access to and from London docks for the carriage of goods. It opened in 184 ...
with a new station, also called Kensington, to the north of Hammersmith Road, providing services to and .[ ]Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
trains started serving the station in 1863, with London & North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom.
In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...
trains arriving in 1872. A link to the Hammersmith & City Railway enabled the station to join the Middle Circle service, which operated via Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
to the north and South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
to the south. In 1868 the station was renamed Kensington Addison Road.
From 1869 the London & South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...
operated trains from Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
to London Waterloo
Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of ...
via Addison Road, until their branch via Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan.
Although primarily residential in character, i ...
closed in 1916. By 1907 the Middle Circle had been replaced by a link to Hammersmith. The station appears on the first 'London Underground' map in 1908 with Metropolitan and District Railway services.
There was an Express Dairies
Express Dairies is a former brand of Dairy Crest, that specialised almost entirely in home deliveries of milk, and other dairy products.
History
The company was founded by George Barham in 1864 as the 'Express County Milk Supply Company,' so na ...
creamery and milk bottling plant close to the station. It was served by milk trains running from the Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
at Old Oak Common
Old Oak Common is an area of Hammersmith, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, West London.
Together with neighbouring Park Royal, the area is intended to become the UK's largest regeneration scheme, the scale of which has led to ...
to a siding adjacent to the station.
Decline
In 1940, Addison Road and the link to the Metropolitan line at Latimer Road closed along with the other West London Line stations after the line was bombed, and it was not considered cost-effective to rebuild by the London Passenger Transport Board
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was Lond ...
. Due to its ability to access all lines radiating from London, its close location to SHAEF
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF th ...
headquarters and its relative quietness compared to the main London termini, it was the preferred embarkation point for US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
when he visited troops in Wales preparing for the June 1944 Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
.
On 19 December 1946, the station was renamed Kensington (Olympia) and became the northern terminus of a peak-hour shuttle service to Clapham Junction
Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea.
Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances durin ...
, serving workers at the Post Office Savings Bank (later National Savings Bank) in nearby Blythe Road. Until 1986, apart from Motorail services, this was the only British Rail service regularly stopping at the station. It was known as the "Kenny Belle" and was unadvertised, reportedly because the Post Office Savings Bank was under the Official Secrets Act. There was also a District line shuttle to Earl's Court
Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
, as the station had been left without a dedicated Underground connection. The service originally only ran when there was an exhibition at the centre, but a permanent platform opened on 3 March 1958. The station was sometimes used as a terminus during reconstruction and upgrading of mainline London terminal stations.
Cold War
Kensington (Olympia) was included in 1960s Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
plans to ensure continuity of government in the event of hostilities. Secret plans entailed use of the station, in the prelude to a nuclear war, to evacuate several thousand civil servants to the Central Government War Headquarters
The Central Government War Headquarters (CGWHQ) is a complex built underground as the United Kingdom's emergency government war headquarters – the hub of the country's alternative seat of power outside London during a nuclear war or conflict ...
underground bunker (codenamed "Burlington") in Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
. Civil servants tasked with staffing the facility would have been directed to join trains at this station, chosen since the West London Line connected to the Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the or ...
(and hence Wiltshire) at North Pole Junction, to the north. These trains would have connected with buses at Warminster
Warminster () is an ancient market town with a nearby garrison, and civil parish in south west Wiltshire, England, on the western edge of Salisbury Plain. The parish had a population of about 17,000 in 2011. The 11th-century Minster Church of S ...
for further transfer to the bunker near Corsham
Corsham is a historic market town and civil parish in west Wiltshire, England. It is at the south-eastern edge of the Cotswolds, just off the A4 national route, southwest of Swindon, southeast of Bristol, northeast of Bath and southwest o ...
.
Motorail
In 1966 Kensington (Olympia) became the main London terminus for British Rail Motorail
A motorail train or accompanied car train (ACT) is a passenger train on which passengers can take their car or automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger carriages or in sleeping carriages on longer ...
trains, which carried passengers and vehicles across Britain. In the London Midland Region
The London Midland Region (LMR) was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways (BR), and initially consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) lines in England, Wales and Northern Irelan ...
timetable for 1970–71, services are shown to Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
, Stirling
Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
, Carlisle
Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...
, St Austell
St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon.
St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958.
History
St Austell wa ...
, Totnes
Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-so ...
, Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the Sou ...
and Fishguard
Fishguard ( cy, Abergwaun, meaning "Mouth of the River Gwaun") is a coastal town in Pembrokeshire, Wales, with a population of 3,419 in 2011; the community of Fishguard and Goodwick had a population of 5,407. Modern Fishguard consists of two pa ...
(connecting with the ferry for Rosslare). This facility closed in 1981 with operations transferred to Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
, Euston and King's Cross.["In brief" '']Railway Gazette International
''Railway Gazette International'' is a monthly business magazine and news website covering the railway, metro, light rail and tram industries worldwide. Available by annual subscription, the magazine is read in over 140 countries by transport p ...
'' January 1982 page 20
The car park for the service is now used for exhibition vehicles, and by Europcar for car rental, and is called "Olympia Motorail Car Park P4".
Revival
From 12 May 1986 services at the station were greatly enhanced. The London Underground shuttle service started to run to a regular daily schedule, and inter-regional services from the Midlands and northern England stopped at Kensington (Olympia). Southern Region destinations included and . As part of this the footbridge was painted in InterCity colours. These trains were operated by the InterCity division of British Rail and later, after privatisation
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
, by Virgin CrossCountry
Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in t ...
and CrossCountry. Destinations included , , , and . The services were withdrawn in October 2008, by which time only two daily Brighton–Manchester journeys were operated. The station was part of the London Station Group
The London station group is a group of 18 railway stations served by the National Rail network in central London. The group contains all 14 terminal stations in central London, either serving major national services or local commuter routes, ...
, accepting "London Terminals" tickets, until it was delisted in May 1994. The same year, a full passenger service between Willesden Junction
Willesden Junction is a railway station in Harlesden, north-west London, UK. It is served by both London Overground and London Underground services.
History
The station developed on three contiguous sites: the West Coast Main Line (WCML) st ...
and Clapham Junction was reinstated after a gap of 54 years.
There were two bay platforms on the south-eastern side, mainly used by services to/from Clapham Junction. These platforms were removed in 1983 and the track was lifted; the space was used for an additional car park for the exhibition centre. One of the former platforms is now Olympia Garden, a community garden with 89 vegetable plots.
Before the Channel Tunnel Rail Link
High Speed 1 (HS1), legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel.
It is part of a line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe; ...
was proposed in 1996, Kensington (Olympia) was planned to be expanded to accommodate a car terminal for international services including Regional Eurostar
Regional Eurostar was a planned Eurostar train service from Paris and Brussels to locations in the United Kingdom beyond London. The services would have been run using a fleet of seven ''North of London'', 14-coach British Rail Class 373/3 trai ...
. The line would have run via the West London and South Eastern Main Line
The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are the ...
s to before entering the tunnel. Before Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Eurostar trains travel through the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated sep ...
transferred in November 2007 to St Pancras International, Eurostar trains passed through the station between Waterloo International station
Waterloo International station was the London terminus of the Eurostar international rail service from its opening on 14 November 1994 to its closure on 13 November 2007, when it was replaced by London St Pancras International as the terminal ...
and North Pole depot
North Pole depot (also known as North Pole Train Maintenance Centre) is a railway and maintenance depot built for Great Western Railway's AT300 units from the Hitachi A-train family. Located in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, the ...
, and the station was a backup terminus for the services in case Waterloo International became unusable; immigration facilities were maintained there.
In June 2011, Transport for London (TfL) announced that the District line shuttle between Kensington (Olympia) and Earl's Court would close on weekdays at the end of the year. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea unsuccessfully protested against the closure, and general weekday services ceased in December 2011. Some special weekday services continue to run on the District line when there is an exhibition on. In 2012 TfL announced plans to introduce ticket gates at the station to combat fare dodgers, which would remove access to the footbridge used by local residents for years. Both the councils within whose boundaries this station falls challenged this loss of an established right of way. The plan was abandoned the following year.
Services
National Rail
The station is on the West London line of the London Overground network, which is signed by Transport for London as the "Willesden Junction – Clapham Junction" line. The line lies entirely in zone 2, and can be used to bypass central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...
. National Rail
National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the p ...
services are provided by London Overground
London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a ...
and Southern.
The London Overground
London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a ...
services in trains per hour are:
* 4 northbound to , of which 2 continue to during the off-peak and all 4 during the peak.
* 4 southbound to .
* 1 northbound to Watford Junction
Watford Junction is a railway station that serves Watford, Hertfordshire. The station is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), 17 miles 34 chains from London Euston and the Abbey Line, a branch line to St Albans. Journeys to London take between 16 ...
* 1 southbound to East Croydon
East Croydon is a railway station and tram stop in Croydon, Greater London, England, and is located in Travelcard Zone 5. At from , it is one of the busiest non-terminal stations in London, and in the United Kingdom as a whole. It is one of t ...
This train is also served by 2 trains a day to and from Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500.
Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...
District line
The District line shuttle to Earl's Court and High Street Kensington runs at weekends and sometimes when there is an exhibition on. A very limited service also operates during the early morning and evening each weekday. There is no service New Year's Eve or New Year's Day when these days fall on or partly on a weekend.
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kensington (Olympia) Station
District line stations
Tube stations in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Railway stations in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Former West London Railway stations
London Underground stations located above ground
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1844
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1844
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1940
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1946
Railway stations served by London Overground
Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway
Single platform tube stations
Kensington
1844 establishments in England
London station group