The New West Ealing / Acton Main Line Stations

Three more stations on TfL Rail out west have gone step free, and two of them have got impressive new stations entrances to go along with them. Crossrail's #ElizabethLine is coming along nicely, so I went for a look at Hanwell, West Ealing and Acton Main Line to see what work had been done.
It's fun to go back and watch "Least Used ... Acton Main Line" from December 2019, when the works were still taking place, for a comparison: • Acton Main Line - Leas...
Ealing Times on Hanwell Station: www.ealingtime...
TfL Press Release on Acton Main Line: tfl-newsroom.p...

[@geofftech2]

So when the TfL Press Office invite me down for these sorts of things, they always try and stay out of shot - as they have to buy donuts/cakes for the rest of their team in the office if they accidentaly get on camera. So there's always a bit of a cat-and-mouse game between us when i try and get them IN SHOT at some surreptitious moment. I think they're safe at the moment though as their whole team are still all working from home (Covid) so i didn't cost the nice press man a box of donuts .... this time. ;-)

[@stevelknievel4183]

Even before you pointed him out you could see his reflection in the lift doors before you got in.

[@rileyludlow961]

i need your mask! best one ever!!! #purpletrain

[@martinnyberg9295]

Is there a difference between the purple trains and the orange ones? 🤔 They both run on proper size railways, have overhead power lines, and are both administered by the TfL, right? So why different colours?😄

[@highpath4776]

@@martinnyberg9295 Fares ?

[@martinnyberg9295]

@@highpath4776 Dunno 🤷 I haven’t been to London in 25 years (TfL wasn’t even a thing) but I would be surprised if there is not a common fare system for the whole shebang.

[@gh1851]

18 steps from main ticket hall to overbridge at West Ealing. That's equivalent to a 15 storey building 👍

[@GAMcIlwraith]

All that is missing is the sign to say so!

[@firesurfer]

@@GAMcIlwraith Nurtz, beat me to it.

[@theawesomegamer6204]

Nope

[@eesti_lv]

@@theawesomegamer6204yes it is??

[@kinocchio]

I like how the construction barriers outside west ealing station are also purple. 😁

[@steady_94]

Yess 😁😁 💜

[@isaactimmins8959]

why can i sense the eye roll from viki as Geoff brings home a full BR double arrow for the bathroom,

[@danielbettsmanwithautism6421]

Haha why not? I would. I know some road enthusiasts back in 2006 who bought back signs from a downgraded motorway (the A6144 (M)) after asking the Highway Agency. If TfL were really nice then we would all have them on our living room walls :D

[@EoRdE6]

The MBTA (Boston USA metro) sells off their old signs when they renovate stations, people will pay a few hundred dollars for those things

[@naruciakk]

I live the way how they separated National Rail platforms and Elizabeth ones visually in the passenger information system in West Ealing, it's clean and legible

[@daleferrier3050]

The white soffit at the new entrance of West Ealing and Acton Mainline was done by my family firm. It was installed last year. My dad did most of the design for these stations (the soffit only). I was much more involved with some other stations. These 2 stations have a blended seamless system. The seamless system for the later stations are using a triangular pattern to achieve the same thing. So for all these stations the white soffits look like one piece, but are composed of a number of smaller panels. The material used is GRP.

[@Jmaster009]

awesome stuff! lovely work. from an ealing resident

[@PlanetoftheDeaf]

Hanwell is a very nice station, great to see it's been sensitively modernised, something we're so much better at now than back in the 60s and 70s

[@sherondalewis8053]

Now 'Purple Rain' is playing in my head...Thanks Geoff!!

[@Loosehead]

Used to live 5 minutes from West Ealing station, and I am amazed at how it has changed. Grew up there in the 50s and 60s, and used to play on the roof of the shops just round the corner, which I presume is now the new entrance.

[@reptongeek]

'I think someone will come later and deactivate these' Now you've pointed it out I suppose they will 😄

[@acleray]

Don't bank on it. It all gets forgotten over a cup of railway tea and a box of donuts from Geoff. Lol 😊

[@jagman84]

Maybe he can have the validator for his bathroom? Possibly turn it into a cabinet or loo roll dispenser?

[@itsmtvgd8535]

I'll be the one to do that

[@mdhazeldine]

I never knew about Hanwell station but it looks really classy. Old the Victorians would put a fireplace in a station waiting room! Very nice renovation done on it. I hope they are able to keep it looking that good!

[@quintuscrinis8032]

Hanwell is well worth a visit. Great views of the viaduct from the park next door and they also have a small "zoo" with Flamingos, meerkats and leamas.

[@SteveMorton]

I really enjoy these updates to the transport infrastructure even though I’m unlikely to visit them! But it is great to see the improvements to stations.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

The West Ealing Station looks brilliant!

[@matthewdoyle3877]

Its a station, calm down

[@peterdowden7694]

Loved "we're stealing" in the auto captions for West Ealing.

[@MattMcIrvin]

to England will I steal, and there I'll steal

[@bullettube9863]

This is a good response to those who think one; that rail service can't be easy, and two; just how much work goes in to making things easy for rail customers to use! The area around London is almost impossibly hard to reconfigure; there are an incredible number of below ground water and sewage pipes and electrical pathways to dig around, and properties that can't be disturbed or are too expensive to work around. The modern system is thus stuck with the original route and all that can be done is upgrade the old stations and track bed. That they have done such a great job is a tribute to their ingenuity and efforts!

[@john3Lee]

Thanks Geoff - I have been watching this channel for about 6 months now...... The thing is, I didn't even know I was interested in the railways, but I find all this stuff fascinating !!

[@geofftech2]

Welcome aboard john! :-)

[@neilthehermit4655]

Well. My old stomping ground, has really changed. Hmmm, not sure if I like the new look,but these stations did need a revamp. Thanks for the video Geoff. - A "Prince" amongst men..... I'll get my coat.

[@highpath4776]

Any stations renamed ? formlery know as indeed per the West Ealing full name in shot but not referred to.

[@ianmcclavin]

@@highpath4776 No, but Hanwell still has one or two signs on the platforms reading the old name "Hanwell and Elthorne.."

[@Trapper3000]

A lot of allotments located in London leave little to love.

[@itsmtvgd8535]

Top comment

[@markfoxwell2411]

lol ...

[@isobellabrett]

That bench next to the lift is so cute and that waiting room is adorable

[@jmedz893]

What I like about these videos is that Geoff is the only one who really showcases a passion for modern transport infrastructure bits across the UK, & now here, in my hometown of Ealing. If no-one else does it, he's certainly the person to do it.

[@nuneatontim]

when you asked about the sign for your bathroom it sounded like Chris the engineer replying

[@yggdrasil9039]

I like the way they've fused together the old structures with the new upgrades in these stations.

[@martinrichardson4452]

Solid work as ever, Geoff! Thankfully I'm blessed enough to drive these platforms most days as a trainee driver for the purp line, but its amazing to see people like yourselves giving crossrail the exposure it deserves, it really is an awesome project and will be a great addition to the map! The people deserve an amazing line after the patience shown in waiting for the line to be fully finished. :) keep up the amazing videos, been a fan for a long time, and a long time to come hopefully! :)

[@geofftech2]

thanks Martin, very kind. I came away from filming this thinking “you know what it DOES actually feel like it’s all coming together now” and it will be here before we know it. Hope to see you on a test train soon!

[@martinrichardson4452]

@@geofftech2 likewise! I'll be sure to say hi! And also nice to see you finally come to my local town and do the croxley link for episode 14 of "Londons" lost railways. As for the ebury way part at the end, you say there's not much to see but there's actually still part of the narrow gauge railway in place that ran to the croxley Mills if you know where to look ;)

[@my_beer_stories]

West Ealing, for a while, had about 4 or 5 different TOC style signs on the platforms... - old NSE stuff hanging around, FGW Link style, New GWR style and then the temporary TfL style. I'm assuming they've all been covered over by TfL

[@michaelgeraghty4981]

I remember the "old" station being built by NSE in the mid 80s. I also remember the "old old" station before that when platform 4 was the other side (towards London) of the road bridge and you had to walk along a narrow walkway under the bridge to get to it. No bay platform then of course, that area was used as a milk train siding. There was a dairy on Manor Road called Craddocks. They used to deliver us milk.

[@traintastictrains3632]

I just love the way Geoff presses the lift buttons with such gumption!! He even punches the door of the Cross Purp Eliz Line Train at 10:01!! Love it! Keep up the great work!

[@RogersRamblings]

The "old" West Ealing Station building stands on Drayton Green Road (Argyle Road starts at the fork to the north, the junction with Manor Road) and was built (IIRC) c1988. It replaced the original GWR station dating from when the line was built. Along Manor Road, the redundant buildings backing on to the railway was series of shops one of which was a dairy which made milk deliveries with pedestrian operated electric floats. As a child I used to "help" one of the milkmen. The new station stands on the site of the milk dock where milk was transferred from rail tanks into road tanks and is where I first went on the footplate of a steam loco. The dock closed, I think, in the 1960s. On the downside (westbound) of the station where Waitrose now stands was a stone goods shed built to accommodate broad gauge vehicles. I think it was the last one although there is a timber shed at Didcot GWS depot. Westwards from the shed was a goods yard now occupied by industrial units.

[@geofftech2]

thanks Roger! good info. i couldn''t tell where Argyel road finished and Drayton Green Road started, it's not obvious on Google Maps! sounds like you're a local and have great memories of the area ... what's it like seeing it nowadays with Crossrail coming in??

[@RogersRamblings]

@@geofftech2 My grandparents moved into Drayton Gardens (two away from Manor Road) in 1934. My first paper round was with a newsagent just round the corner in The Avenue. Apart from a few years in the army, I lived in the area from 1959 until 1993.

[@michaelgeraghty4981]

I too remember the old old West Ealing Station and the milk train siding. The dairy was called Craddock's. A milkman called Wally used to deliver to us on Argyle Road.

[@RogersRamblings]

@@michaelgeraghty4981 I was trying to remember the name of the dairyman. Thanks for the reminder.

[@robv7340]

Finally,,,, this has been so long awaited I thought it would never happen 😱

[@brianfield792]

I had a paper round in the evenings.i would cycle to hanwell and pick up a load of evening papers from the train. Cycle back to puddlecombs shop in Boston road.he would sort out the papers,I would then go and deliver them all. Happy days .

[@christophersimpson-brooker840]

Notice the original GWR brown/cream colours at Hanwell was a loverly touch.

[@geofftech2]

pre-Grouping GWR colours, lovely ... isn't it?

[@davekirwin]

4:45 - spotted the West Ealing roundel mat on the floor! Spotted your man's reflect at 6:24. Nice to see what they look like now, I feel a trip is required...

[@username9175]

This type of content and any of the tube map videos, I think are the most enjoyable to watch

[@Gpcas9]

7:44 This joke made my doves cry :-)

[@transitimprover]

Wow. Crossrail actually revealed their look a few months ago

[@denishoulan1491]

Wow! What a change at West Ealing. Surely it will now be less confusing for passengers for Greenford finding their platform.

[@highpath4776]

Better if the service ran to Ealing broadway then off to Clapham Junction.

[@freddienz]

Nice, Geoff. Enjoyed that. It is great to keep up from New Zealand.

[@notthatmatterhornmatt]

Watched the Acton Main Line Least Used video and now I can’t get MMMBop out of my head... Thanks Geoff! Seriously though, keep up the good work!

[@VascoRoblox-yp5rw]

Geoff, Hanwell Is My Favourite National Rail/Elizabeth Line Station, It's a very lovely station.

[@2112jonr]

Wow, how lovely. Great to see a cosy waiting room in a station !

[@railnut21]

Hanwell is Grade 2 listed, but they could workaround it to make it step free due to preserving the heritage

[@RogersRamblings]

I remember when Hanwell was almost falling down and there was talk of demolishing it hence it was on the "heritage at risk" register. Geoff's shots show that TfL have done a nice job restoring it.

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Hanwell where I grew up. Would walk past there on way to park but hardly ever went in.

[@brianfield792]

I had a paper round

[@bobparsons77]

@@brianfield792 Worked weekends at the hotel by the station in the 60s.

[@bobparsons77]

Hanwell that is.

[@TheStevenWhiting]

@@bobparsons77 Park Hotel? On the corner by the train bridge? That was at bottom of our road. Only remember going in there once as a kid for someone's birthday. They had a disco. In the early 80s while I was still going to St Joseph's school, that hotel "suddenly" had a fire and was pulled down. I remember the land stayed empty for a few years until eventually, permission for posh flats was granted. They are still there to this day. Used to carry on cutting through them while at high school but would occasionally get moaned at by the residents that it was private property and not a cut through.

[@ArthurTK26]

Ah, I was there just last weekend (hanwell)! I think it’s lovely - so many modern features yet beautiful old platform signs etc.

[@jacksomb1]

Love the attention to detail at Hanwell station. Great work!

[@external3580]

I’ll never get over how much Geoff enjoys lifts, ALL THE LIFTS!

[@Nosregni]

A lift is a train that goes vertically

[@oldman1734]

I believe that as soon as COVID is over he’s going to visit all the lifts in Britain. Bit like “All the Stations” but lifts. Can’t wait!!!

[@nicklaylandguitar]

Hi Geoff! I absolutely LOVE your videos. Keep up the great work :D

[@andrewwebb3431]

I feel like that last snippet in the video could have been edited (sans mask) into any of Geoff's previous Cross-Purp-Liz Line videos and it would still be accurate for the time of upload. It's been "a-coming" for a very long time! 😆

[@AviationFRuk]

Awesome! Acton Main Line is my local and I've been using it every single day since it's opened! It is SO much better now

[@andyt2510]

Could have done with that canopy in Feb 2019 when getting off the Ghost Train to wait for the Paddington service - it really chucked it down and had to try and shelter in that now disused stairwell!!

[@BVEfan]

I was around Ealing Broadway a few days ago and the construction of the brand new entrance there looks very nice so far and it's nearly complete. The outdoor shelter looks very good especially when it's raining heavily, people will make more space under that big shelter so they can stay dry. The step free access lifts to Platforms 3 and 4 are being tested and the cladding to the lift shafts are now been fitted which is fantastic. I'm really looking forward to seeing the new Station entrance at Ealing Broadway when it opens later this month or in June because it will benefit a lot of people and it will be more spacious than before.

[@IBLRG]

Spare footbridge ? Give it to Pilning, and spare lifts for Brigg please 😂

[@Citydwellerpodcast]

When we’re finally able to travel to London, we’re planning to stay in Ealing, so I appreciated the tour around the new station!

[@532bluepeter1]

I am fifty two and grew up in Hanwell. In my lifetime this is now the third West Ealing station. The new station is located where the milk dock used to be.No one misses the Pressed Steel units.

[@trainsandplanes6801]

2018: crossrail will open next august 2019: crossrail will open this december 2020: crossrail will open this autumn 2021: crossrail will open this autumn Me: MAKE UP YOUR MIND!

[@eattherich9215]

@1:28, a tiny, one person lift and a chair designed for a child. 🤔 @1:42, unlocked just for you. I don't see it being kept open with so few station staff on hand to keep an eye on potential vandas. West Ealing station is a vast improvement as is Acton Main Line. @9:29, bigger lift. Thanks, Geoff for doing the footwork so we can enjoy your vids from the comfort of our armchair. 😊

[@keithkellogg6085]

Hi Geoff, wow. I know there’s controversy about the timelines going out the window, but the work really is beautiful - the care they took with Hanwell is wonderful.

[@scootbenet]

I'm a recent arrival in Geoff/ATS world so forgive me if everyone says this but an all the heritage stations series would be a really nice way to celebrate when the pandemic lifts. Should help the heritage industry too.

[@Sim0nTrains]

There 9 steps here and the Greenford Shuttle has arrive! Brilliant Geoff, love the editing as well, great video

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Was a crash in late 80s that end up near west Ealing station. When the carriages were removed from the track, they were laid into the Waitrose carpark that is next to the station.

[@tarquinmcbeard]

I love seeing all the brick-build station buildings. They look so pleasantly traditional. Too much concrete and steel these days... *the very next scene* ... Ah, yes. I see what they've done here with the new station buildings. :\

[@zahkrail572]

the station is looking so good like other new station

[@tomdavies8318]

'It's just a lift' says Geoff after making an 11 minute video about new lifts

[@amir_hamzah]

I love how Geoff treats the London Underground like doing renovations to your own house

[@snubby4624]

Hanwell looks nice, I like the way they mixed old and new together.

[@LaurenceBryarMusic]

Love the new West Ealing station. It's so good! Well worth the wait.

[@PokhrajRoy.]

*CROSSPURPELIZ*. I have waited to hear that term used in common parlance again 😂

[@geofftech2]

i can't remember if if "CrossPurpEliz" or "CrossElizPurp" now ... which did i say first ??

[@wilfbm9067]

@@geofftech2 i remember it as crosslizpurp

[@cameronyoungcg9270]

​@@geofftech2 Pretty sure it was CrossElizPurpRail

[@harryfoley2294]

“Ready for when the full line is up and running” So Never? Lol

[@ianmcclavin]

Well they've started testing through the Central London tunnels....take a deep breath...😂😂😂

[@iansmithtravels]

Great video Geoff. Exciting times especially with lockdown restrictions lifting and the city hopefully getting back to normal.

[@2H80vids]

That looks like an impressive fireplace in the waiting room. Nice to see it didn't get ripped out during the refurb but I think we'll have a bit of a wait before someone gets a fire going in it.

[@chrisambidge6470]

I was very favourably impressed with the waiting-room fireplace too

[@edchapman7081]

Nice to bump into you at Acton Main line 😁

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Went to school behind Hanwell station. Part of an episode of Not Going Out was filmed at the back of the station. Men Behaving Badly was filmed not only in Ealing Broadway Centre but also outside the train station, the original entrance.

[@tardismole]

"If only it was purple rain." The Prince of commentary. :)

[@minibonzogames]

On my website i have photos of all these stations before the refurbishment so sometime soon ill have to come and get new photos but I’ll probably wait until its all completely finished everywhere.

[@jrgboy]

I remember the old West Ealing station as my uncle used to live near, he died in 1981 that was the last time I ever went near there...

[@christophernoble6810]

Hi Geoff, used to live in Ealing many, many years ago. Good to see the old stations revamped. I hear class 387/3s are going to cover for the Hitachi sets. Test run from Reading to Bristol Parkway made yesterday. I suppose the comfort cannot be any worse bearing in mind these are specified as outer suburban commuter trains. 😳

[@Elitist20]

I remember the Greenford shuttle from when I lived a Greenford 30 years ago - back then it went all the way into Paddington.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

Does anyone else here want them to actually officially name that line 'CrossPurpEliz'... just because?

[@vincentkohlumcfan22]

You would be excited that Osterley, Debden, Amersham are either nearly or already step-free. Then it goes down to Ickenham, Sudbury Hill, Harrow-on-the-Hill and Wimbledon Park

[@Ketoko77]

How I enjoy these videos. Miss London. Love tube 🚇

[@insignificantaftermathPROJECTS]

That chair at 1:29 is for the moment the Help point puts you on hold for ETERNITY!!!

[@chriswood5205]

I can just about remember when West Ealing had staggered platforms, with the eastbound platform to the east of the road bridge. Never got out there then, so I don't know what it looked like at street level, but I'm guessing from its brickwork double-arrows that the 'old' station building dates from the previous station rebuild when that platform was moved. According to Wikipedia that rebuild was 'by early 1990', and the 'old' station building was built in 1987, so it is less than 35 years old!.

[@aldhous]

Amazing transformation, thanks Geoff. Used to live in both (and commute into the centre from) West Ealing and Hanwell... proper name for Hanwell, btw, is 'Ealing without feeling' and I would prefer if you gave it its correct title in future please). West Ealing was pokey and depressing and largely unpleasant to enter from Argyle Road... although incredible pub, Drayton Arms just across the road with monumental beer garden. Hanwell used to be single entrance (the Station Approach access was, ironically, boarded up, meaning a huge detour along Church Road and under the bridge if approaching from Uxbridge Road side). The station was also painfully slow on Oyster take-up compared to most others in zone 3/4, but always largely charming to commute from.

[@sarahjoyholden7856]

Even the barriers outside West Ealing are purple. Purple Geoff Marshall favourite colour. Please come do some Shropshire and other nearby counties soon. Gobowen, Shrewsbury, Chirk, Chester.

[@cookiemonster1823]

Managed to get to a train out of Hanwell without a bird exploding! 👏👏👏

[@michaelcampin1464]

So is Redcar British Steel now a disused station for Paul and Rebecca to visit???

[@delboy7039]

Will be difficult as its surrounded by Private Land...!

[@michaelcampin1464]

@@delboy7039 the station as it is still exists but a train journey from Middlesbrough to Redcar should enable a non stop visit.

[@yugotek]

Love this channel. Greetings from Des Moines, Iowa.

[@MsGrandunion]

Hanwell is impressive now, I used to battle those stairs with a pram and it was a nightmare. I like that the waiting rooms are cleaned up, I wonder if the fireplaces will ever be used again. And I didn't know that the Greenford train (aka push-you-pull-me) no longer continues on to Paddington. That was really useful for Hanwell folk, as we could hop on at Paddington to Drayton Green instead of waiting the full half hour for the next train stopping at Hanwell.

[@geofftech2]

so the first train of the day (to get it onto the branch) runs from Paddington to Greenford, and the last one at night (to get it off the branch) runs from Greenford to Paddington, but all the others inbetween shuttle back and forth at West Ealing, yup!

[@julian987r4]

Hanwell station is one of the nicest stations across the entire network in my opinion.

[@zigzogoid4591]

Used to go through Hanwell Station on the way to Paddington back in the 60's and 70's. It still had gas lighting on the platforms , rare even back then. Always deserted and few trains stopped there. How things have changed.

[@MrGreatplum]

I always get slightly nervous when I see you’ve left your camera on the platform while you are in the lift! So Crossrail opens in autumn? Which one? 2322? 😆

[@robinpayne125]

All those lifts have the angry teeth on them. Don't get your hand caught!

[@villageorganist]

Nice video! The external lift is reminiscent of Shrewsbury.....

[@mercilessmage7300]

I imagine that if the station at Silvertown (for London City airport) ever gets built that it would look similar in design to West Ealing or Acton. Uniformity but with a local motif/theme seems to be preferred build option on the Elizabeth line.

[@lapiswake6583]

Hanwell looks a beautiful station, love all the retro feel of so many GWR stations, especially Birmingham Moor St. I'll probably do West Ealing on a day I do all the stations on the Greenford branch, maybe also some more TfL Rail stations on that day too. Can't wait to spend more time in London on the railways and tube. I did Acton Main Line when I did Ealing Broadway a couple of years ago. TfL Rail 345 from Paddington to AML and back, then GWR 387 to Ealing Broadway before heading back into central london on the Central line (why is the labyrinth at West Acton still not there, 2 years on from my previous visit?)

[@robbiemorrison7085]

Always love the look of Hanwell station

[@curriehot]

At west Ealing Stn there used to be small shops at the side where the new part is a dry cleaners, car spares and mini cab office in the past

[@LiyangHU]

Still is, across the road! Minus car spares. Don't forget the greasy spoon café. Not sure where the Manor Road residential high-rise development has gotten to; haven't been following it the past year or so.

[@justlikehoney3133]

Most beautiful waiting room!

[@williammoore9609]

I like the way i found out more about the trail running with Geoff then crossrail's own website.

[@tcpnetworks]

Nice bit of infrastructure there - good upgrades...

[@teecefamilykent]

Brilliant video, are you going to do a disused railway video on the North Woolwich line and the stub between the old ww2 era Shoreditch Station and Broad Street?

[@tantive4]

Hanwell looking fine! One of my favourite stations

[@goughrmp]

GWR colours. Need more stations keeping that style

[@geofftech2]

pre-grouping colours isn't it? just gorgeous, yes.

[@ryanandroxy_yt104]

Hi Geoff Marshall

[@highpath4776]

The modern paint seems wrong somehow, the coverage seems incorrect and too thick and gloopy, I suspose being lead free makes a difference