Hammersmith & Chiswick railway station
| Hammersmith & Chiswick | |
|---|---|
The site of the former station in 2005
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| Location | Chiswick |
| Owner | North & South Western Junction Railway |
| Number of platforms | 1 |
| Key dates | |
| 8 April 1858 | Opened |
| 1 January 1917 | Closed |
| Replaced by | Stamford Brook |
| Other information | |
| Lists of stations | |
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Hammersmith & Chiswick was a railway terminus in west London that was opened in 1858 by the North & South Western Junction Railway and closed in 1917, during the First World War.
Originally named Hammersmith but renamed Hammersmith & Chiswick in 1880, the station was located midway between Chiswick and Hammersmith and was intended to serve both areas.
Hammersmith station was opened on 8 April 1858 by the North & South Western Junction Railway (N&SWJR) on the site of a goods yard which had opened on 1 May 1857 on Chiswick High Road in what was then a rural area. The station was at the end of a 1.5 mile (2.5 km) branch line which ran northward from the North London Railway (NLR) line at South Acton and turned sharply to run south into Hammersmith & Chiswick.
The station was not purpose-built but was a converted private house. In 1904, a writer described it as "abounding with flowers, and resembling rather the terminus of some far distant country branch line than what one might expect to find at a place bearing the dual distinction of the names of two west London suburbs".
Until the interchange station at South Acton was opened in 1880, at which time Hammersmith station was renamed Hammersmith & Chiswick, the line employed an unusual mode of operation. Southbound NLR trains to Kew (which was on the western chord to the Hounslow Loop near the current Kew Bridge station) included a carriage for passengers travelling to Hammersmith & Chiswick. This carriage was uncoupled from the train immediately south of the junction. The N&SWJR's sole locomotive would then reverse on to the main line, attach the carriage and take it down the short branch to Hammersmith & Chiswick.
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