West Brompton station

West Brompton
Station entrance
West Brompton Location of West Brompton in Greater London
Location	West Brompton
Local authority	Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Managed by	London Underground[1]
Station code	WBP
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	4
Accessible	Yes (except District westbound platform)[2]
Fare zone	2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2011	4.25 million[3]
2012	4.54 million[3]
2013	4.61 million[3]
2014	4.47 million[3]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2008–09	0.64 million[4]
2009–10	0.88 million[4]
2010–11	1.50 million[4]
2011–12	2.104 million[4]
2012–13	2.502 million[4]
2013–14	2.524 million[4]
Key dates
1866	Opened (WLEJR)
1869	Started (Terminus) (DR)
1880	Started (Through Service) (DR)
1940	Ended (WLL)
1999	Restarted (WLL)
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
London Transport portal UK Railways portalCoordinates: 51°29′12″N 0°11′45″W / 51.4866°N 0.1957°W

West Brompton is a Tube and National Rail station on the District line and West London Line (WLL) in west London, on Old Brompton Road (A3218) immediately south of Earls Court Exhibition Centre and west of Brompton Cemetery.

The station is on the Wimbledon branch of the District line between Earl's Court and Fulham Broadway stations.

On the WLL, National Rail services are provided by Southern and London Overground. The station is between Kensington (Olympia) and Imperial Wharf stations.

Since 2000 it has been a Grade II (starting category) Listed Building.^[5]

History

The West London Extension Joint Railway (WLEJR) was opened in the early 1860s. It joined the southern end of the West London Joint Railway at Kensington (Olympia) station with Clapham Junction station and ran through West Brompton although a station was not opened until 1866. The original station was designed by the chief engineer of the Metropolitan and District Railway, Sir John Fowler^[6] and thus has local railway associations that go back to 1838.^[7] The current Lillie (road) bridge 1860 is the work of Fowler.^[8] The soon to disappear Lillie Bridge Railway and Engineering Depot 1872 is close by. Other historic associations are with the Lillie Bridge Grounds, a noted 19th c. athletics, cricket, ballooning and cycling venue adjacent to the West of the station and Brompton Cemetery adjacent to the East. From 1887, the station gave access to John Robinson Whitley's Earl's Court exhibition grounds and from 1937 to 2014 it was the alternative access to Earl's Court exhibition centre, currently being demolished.

On 12 April 1869, the District Railway (DR, now the District line) opened its own station adjacent to the WLEJR station as the terminus and only station on its extension from Gloucester Road station (Earl's Court station did not open until 1871). The original plan was to connect the DR to the WLEJR but this did not take place.

On 1 March 1880, the DR opened an extension south from West Brompton to Putney Bridge.

In 1940, during World War II, several WLL stations sustained bomb damage. Passenger services on the WLL between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction were withdrawn on 21 October 1940. The Underground station remained in use and the WLL continued in use for freight traffic. The WLL station buildings and platforms were subsequently demolished.

Full passenger services resumed on the WLL in 1994, but it was not until 1 June 1999 that new Network Rail platforms were opened at West Brompton by the then Minister of Transport, Glenda Jackson. There is a commemorative plaque to this effect on the Western lift tower. The station design was by Robinson Kenning and Gallagher of Croydon.^[9][10] The lift tower design is an echo of the decorative brickwork by the 19th c. City of London architect and surveyor, John Young designer of the nearby Empress Place and Lillie Road terrace in Fulham.^[11] The works were funded by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham on whose border the station lies.

The WLL platforms do not have a separate entrance and access is from the Underground station. The District line serves platforms 1 and 2 and the WLL serves platforms 3 and 4. There is a fence between platforms 2 and 3, but they are on the same level and it is possible to pass directly between them.

There are lifts to both overground platforms for wheelchair access, and this means there is also step-free access to the eastbound District line platform, but not the westbound one.

Services

Typical off-peak services per hour:

London Underground District line^[12]

• 3 eastbound to Tower Hill
• 3 eastbound to Barking via Tower Hill
• 6 eastbound to Edgware Road
• 12 westbound to Wimbledon

London Overground

• 4 northbound to Willesden Junction, of which 2 continue to Stratford.
• 4 southbound to Clapham Junction.^[13]

Southern

• 1 northbound to Milton Keynes Central via Watford Junction.
• 1 southbound to South Croydon via Clapham Junction and East Croydon.

Additional District line services operate at peak times, with many trains continuing to Barking, Dagenham East or Upminster, while all 4 London Overground services per hour continue to Stratford. Some additional Southern services also operate between Shepherd's Bush and Clapham Junction.

Late evening London Overground services only run between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction. On Sundays, Southern services only run between Watford Junction and Clapham Junction.^[13]

Image gallery

• 

  Station, entrance on Old Brompton Road in 1963

• 

  West Brompton underground station platforms, with northbound train arriving (September 2006)

• 

  West Brompton underground station footbridges (September 2006)

• 

  West Brompton overground station - southbound Southern Class 377 Electrostar service at the platform (September 2006)

• 

  London Overground branded sign at West Brompton Station.

• 

  Vintage sign, from before the Johnston typeface was standardised

References

1. "Safety boost as London Underground to take control of 11 Silverlink stations". Transport for London. 5 December 2006. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
2. "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2015.
3. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures" (XLS). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
4. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
5. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1385365)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
6. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol5/pp224-242
7. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol42/pp322-338#fnn61
8. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vol42/pp322-338
9. https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/planningedm/img_planningapps
10. http://www.rkgpartnership.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55&Itemid=61
11. https://archive.org/details/blowersarchitec00unkngoog
12. London Underground Timetables
13. North London Line/West London Line timetable from 22 May 2011. Archived 23 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine.

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Construction of the District Railway's station at West Brompton, 1867
  • View of DR platforms, 1876
  • West Brompton Underground station, 1928
• London's Abandoned Tube stations - West London Line
• West Brompton, SubBrit disused stations project
• www.Old-maps.co.uk - West Brompton station, 1874

• Train times and station information for West Brompton station from National Rail