Hounslow West
General Info & History
Hounslow West is a London Underground station located in Travelcard zone 5. It is on the Heathrow branch of the Piccadilly line between Hatton Cross and Hounslow Central stations.
The station opened as Hounslow Barracks on 21 July 1884 on a single-track branch of the Hounslow & Metropolitan Railway, connecting to the District Railway (now the District line) at Mill Hill Park (now Acton Town). On 1 December 1925, the station was renamed to its present name. The station building was rebuilt to a design by Charles Holden in 1931, and the line ended directly behind it.
Piccadilly line services, running to Northfields since 9 January 1933, were extended to Hounslow West on 13 March 1933, making the branch jointly operated. District line services were reduced to rush-hour only in the late 1950s and withdrawn on 9 October 1964.
Plans to extend the line from Hounslow West to Heathrow began in the 1960s, but the original track and platform alignment were unsuitable. New underground platforms were built using cut-and-cover tunnels along Bath Road and Great South West Road. The 1930s station building was retained, with a new link to the platforms. The extension to Heathrow opened on 16 December 1977. The old platforms were demolished and the site was filled in to create parking spaces.
Architecture
The station has two platforms for the Piccadilly line, located below surface level. Platform 1 is for trains to Heathrow Airport, while Platform 2 is allocated to services bound for Cockfosters, which were built in 1975 together with the steel bridge connected to the ticket hall.
The platforms are accessed by stairs and a stairlift, making the station step-free only for manual wheelchair users. It is the only London Underground station with this limited level of accessibility.
Like other stations on the Heathrow extension, Hounslow West was meant to feature artwork with a motif by Tom Eckersley, but it was never installed. The image can be seen on the website of London Transport Museum.
The heptagonal ticket hall is distinguished by a striking ceiling chandelier composed of seven seven-sided lamps. The hall also retains the original station ticket booth, where several booklets about the history of the Piccadilly line are on display.
Name Origin
The name 'Hounslow' comes from Old English words 'Hund' - a personal name, which is not related to the word for dogs as the name may suggest, and 'hlaw' - a hill; thus meaning 'a hill where Hund lived'.
Me at Hounslow West
Hounslow West station is one of the stations I have visited multiple times on the London Underground, as I stayed nearby on a few occasions. To save on transport costs, however, I usually purchased a Travelcard covering Zones 1 - 4 and then took a bus to Hounslow Central, which is already within Zone 4.
That said, I did use Hounslow West station when travelling to Heathrow Airport, and I also stopped by a few times simply to explore the station itself out of curiosity. The photos below were taken during my various visits in 2022 and 2023.
Bibliography
“What’s in a name?” by Cyril M. Harris
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