Turnham Green is a

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 ...

station in

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and ...

of the

London Borough of Hounslow The London Borough of Hounslow () is a London borough in West London, England, forming part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 when three smaller borough councils (forming part of the former Middlesex County Council area) amalgamated under ...

, west

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The station is served by the

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

and

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are ...

s although currently Piccadilly line trains normally stop at the station only at the beginning and end of the day, running through non-stop at other times. To the east, District line trains stop at and Piccadilly line trains stop at . To the west, District line trains run to either or and Piccadilly line trains stop at . The station is in both

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. ...

and Zone 3. The station is located on Turnham Green Terrace (B491) on the eastern edge of Chiswick Common. It is about north of

Chiswick High Road Chiswick High Road is the principal shopping and dining street of Chiswick, a district in the west of London. It was part of the main Roman road running west out of London, and remained the main road until the 1950s when the A4 was built across ...

( A315), and as well as Central Chiswick the station serves the Bedford Park area.Google Maps – Turnham Green Tube Station
/ref> The actual Turnham Green park is much closer to Chiswick Park station.

History

The station is located close to the site of the Battle of Turnham Green (1642), during the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Angl ...

District line

Turnham Green station was opened on 1 January 1869 by the

London and 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, Exete ...

(L&SWR) on a new branch line to built from the West London Joint Railway starting north of Addison Road station (now ). The line ran through

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, ...

and

Hammersmith 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. ...

via a now unused curve and initially the next station towards central London was

Grove Road The A1205 is a road in east London which runs north to south parallel to the Regent's Canal and connects South Hackney and Victoria Park with the A13 at Limehouse. It is approximately 2 miles (3 km) in length, and runs in a roughly SS ...

station in Hammersmith (also now closed). Between 1 June 1870 and 31 October 1870 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 ...

(GWR) briefly ran services from to Richmond via the Hammersmith & City Railway (now the

Hammersmith & City line The Hammersmith & City line is a London Underground line that runs between Hammersmith in west London and in east London. Printed in pink on the Tube map, it serves 29 stations over . Between and it skirts the City of London, the capital's fin ...

) tracks to Grove Road then on the L&SWR tracks through Turnham Green.Clive's Underground Line Guides – Hammersmith & City line
/ref> On 1 June 1877, the

District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the first par ...

(DR, now the District line) opened a short extension from its terminus at Hammersmith to connect to the L&SWR tracks east of station (which had opened in 1873).Clive's Underground Line Guides – District line
/ref> The DR then began running trains over the L&SWR tracks to Richmond. On 1 October 1877, the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

(MR, now the Metropolitan line) restarted the GWR's former service to Richmond via Grove Road station. On 5 May 1878 The

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

began running a circuitous service known as the Super Outer Circle from to via and . It operated over a now disused connection between the

North London Railway The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the East and West India Docks further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fell ...

and the L&SWR Richmond branch. The service was not a success and was ended on 30 September 1880. The DR's service between Richmond, Hammersmith and central London was more direct than either the L&SWR's or the MR's routes via Grove Road station or the L&SWR's other route from Richmond via . The success of the DR's operations lead it, on 1 July 1879, to open a branch from Turnham Green to . From 1 January 1894, the GWR began sharing the MR's Richmond service and served Turnham Green once again, meaning that passengers from Turnham Green could travel on the services of four operators. Following the

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histo ...

of the DR's own tracks north of Acton Town in 1903, the DR funded the electrification of the tracks through Turnham Green. The tracks between Acton Town and central London were electrified on 1 July 1905 and those on the Richmond branch on 1 August 1905. Whilst DR services were operated with electric trains, the L&SWR, GWR and MR services continued to be

steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. ...

hauled. MR services were withdrawn on 31 December 1906 and GWR services were withdrawn on 31 December 1910 leaving operations at Turnham Green to the DR (by then known as the District Railway) and L&SWR. The L&SWR constructed an additional pair of non-electrified tracks between Turnham Green and its junction with the District at Hammersmith and opened these on 3 December 1911 although their use was short-lived as the District's trains out-competed the L&SWR's to the extent that the L&SWR withdrew its service between Richmond and Addison Road on 3 June 1916, leaving the District as the sole operator. In 1913, the

Central London Railway The Central London Railway (CLR), also known as the Twopenny Tube, was a deep-level, underground "tube" railwayA "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a cylindrical tunnel by the use of a tunnelling shield, usually deep below gr ...

(now the Central line) obtained parliamentary approval for an extension to Richmond.Clive's Underground Line Guides – Central line
/ref> This would have had a deep-level station at Turnham Green. The stations each side would have been at Heathfield Terrace and Emlyn Road. The plan was delayed by the First World War and an alternative route was adopted in 1920, which was not progressed.

Piccadilly line

In the early 1930s, the London Electric Railway, precursor of the London Underground and owner of the District and Piccadilly lines, began the reconstruction of the tracks between and to enable the Piccadilly line to be extended from Hammersmith to and (then the terminus of what is now the Heathrow branch).Clive's Underground Line Guides – Piccadilly line
/ref> Express non-stop tracks were provided for the Piccadilly line between the stopping lines of the District line. Services on the Piccadilly line began running through Turnham Green on 4 July 1932. To provide a better interchange with the Richmond branch of the District line, Piccadilly line trains began stopping at Turnham Green station in the early mornings (from the first train until 06:50 Monday to Saturday, 07:45 on Sunday) and late evenings (from 22:30 until the last train) only from 23 June 1963. During the rest of the day they run non-stop through the station as before. Local residents have been campaigning for more Piccadilly line trains to stop at Turnham Green with trains only stopping in the event of delays to the District line whereby large numbers of passengers are left waiting on the platform or occasionally while scheduled maintenance work is carried out. However, in December 2013, it was announced that Turnham Green will be made a permanent stop on the Piccadilly line once the line has been upgraded, with work scheduled to commence in 2019 and introduction of the first new train in 2022. A consultation published in January 2014, concluded that the business case would currently have an overall negative impact on business across London from introducing increased stopping at Turnham Green, but did outline the future plans to do so when upgrades had taken place, with passengers benefiting from improvements to the District line and the

Night Tube The Night Tube and London Overground Night Service, often referred to simply as Night Tube, is a service pattern on the London Underground ("Tube") and London Overground systems which provides through-the-night services on Friday and Saturday ni ...

(on Friday and Saturday nights, beginning with the Jubilee, Victoria, Central, Northern and most of the Piccadilly line, then expanding across other lines in subsequent years) from Autumn 2015 in the interim, giving the following conclusion:

''However, we recognise the continued frustration among those who wish for the Piccadilly line to stop for more of the day at Turnham Green station. The signalling constraints and the size of the train fleet mean that we are unlikely to be able to implement changes in the short term. TfL therefore plans to stop Piccadilly line trains at Turnham Green station all day once the line is modernised and we have a new and larger fleet of trains and a new signalling system. This upgrade is set to commence in 2019 with introduction of the first new train in 2022. ''In the interim, passengers using Turnham Green station will benefit from the upgrade of the District line. The introduction of a fleet of new larger and walk-through, air-conditioned trains will start this year and be complete by 2016. This will be followed by a new signalling system enabling a faster, more frequent and more reliable service from 2018. ''Additionally, the Piccadilly line will stop throughout the night at Turnham Green when the Night Tube network starts in 2015.''

However this upgrade was suspended indefinitely by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, due to a lack of funding because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The station today

There is a newsagent near the ticket hall. There are four ticket barriers and a gate that control access to all platforms. Refurbishment work in the station was completed in 2006.

Services and connections

Services

District line

Train frequencies vary throughout the day, but generally every 2–8 minutes between 05:16 and 00:15 eastbound, every 6–12 minutes between 06:59 and 01:08 westbound to Ealing Broadway and between 06:28 and 00:37 westbound to Richmond.

Piccadilly line

During late nights, early mornings and evenings, Piccadilly line trains stop here in order to provide a better interchange with the Richmond branch of the District line. Until 06:50 Mondays to Saturdays and 07:45 on Sundays, and after 22:30, trains stop at this station. Late night trains and Night Tube services also stop at Turnham Green. At all other times (rush hours, middays and weekends), the Piccadilly line does not stop here.

Connections

London Bus routes 94, 272 and E3 serve the station directly, while routes 110, 237, 267, H91 and night bus route N9 run along Chiswick High Road, about 300 yards south of the station. Route 94 runs 24 hours a day, and night bus route N11 serves the station itself.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* ** ** ** ** {{Central line navbox District line stations Piccadilly line stations London Underground Night Tube stations London Underground stations located above ground Tube stations in the London Borough of Hounslow Former London and South Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1869 Buildings and structures in Chiswick 1869 establishments in England