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Post by charleyfarley on Apr 19, 2012 3:18:50 GMT
I can't find anything on the web other than the fact the station burned down in 1875 and didn't reopen until 1878. Things seemed to be built very quickly in those days, and so three years seems a very long time for a station to be out of action.
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Post by phillw48 on Apr 19, 2012 9:04:17 GMT
In the 1870's Earls Court was a semi rural area and the custom available was not enough to justify the expense of rebuilding. But rapid development of the area resulted in a decision to rebuild the station.
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castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
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Post by castlebar on Apr 19, 2012 9:32:50 GMT
Phillw is spot on. Only by studying London local history will it be realised just how rural inner West London was 150 years ago, and "outer west London" only 75 years ago. The outer London railways were built BEFORE outer London became suburban, and several stations were just timber structures. The WLL was originally closed because of lack of traffic due to the fact that Wormwood Scrubbs etc was unpopulated open "bandit country" (the land around 'WhiteCity' was all farmland until 1908), and places like Wembley and Hampton were still mostly agricultural. Perivale provided hay for the royal stables and agricultural produce for Buckingham Palace until the end of Queen Victoria's reign. Uxbridge was still really a country town until about 1950/52 as was Pinner a country village until Art Deco 1930s housing came along.
I can remember the last two orchards in Hounslow being grubbed out for housing 1960 & '64.
A look at some easily available old maps of say 100, 150 & 200 years ago will provide lots of very useful info. It also begs the question as to why "Planners" failed to plan for the -----g obvious with rail infrastructure. Don't forget just how long it took to get the Heathrow extension built on the Picc from Hounslow West. Even in the 60s, "planners" considered that the Picc to Hounslow West then the 81B bus would be adequate for PAX journeys that didn't use the coach service from the "West London Air Terminal" (built atop the Cromwell Curve"), and most 140 bus journeys south from Harrow etc terminated at Hayes with only about 1 in 3 continuing to the airport!!
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Post by charleyfarley on Apr 19, 2012 12:08:19 GMT
Thanks for the great info philw48 and castlebar.
Rather amused by the typo in the Wikipedia entry for Uxbridge.
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Post by ianvisits on Apr 21, 2012 15:36:37 GMT
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Post by Dstock7080 on Apr 21, 2012 17:08:15 GMT
That map does indeed show the original position of the station, to the east of Earl's Court Road. |
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castlebar
Planners use hindsight, not foresight
Posts: 1,316
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Post by castlebar on Apr 22, 2012 17:03:29 GMT
Thank you so much for posting the link to this map, Dstock
It proves what l was saying about the rurality of W London. All those railway lines built by 1872 - so much potential. Just imagine what Perivale, Hanwell Ealing and Greenford were like back then. Brentford was surrounded by market gardens, but as you can see from the map, so was Putney!!
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Post by Dstock7080 on Apr 22, 2012 18:06:50 GMT
Thank you so much for posting the link to this map, Dstock I can't take any credit for posting the link! it was actually ianvisits |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Apr 24, 2012 21:09:54 GMT
I can't find anything on the web other than the fact the station burned down in 1875 and didn't reopen until 1878. Things seemed to be built very quickly in those days, and so three years seems a very long time for a station to be out of action. I don't know if it was out of action for that long. There is a picture in "100 Years of the District" which shows some people posing on the platform at "Earl's Court old station in May 1876." It also reports that "its modest timber building was destroyed by fire on 30 December 1875" - but nothing to suggest that it wasn't re-opened before its replacement took over. |
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