Willesden Green tube station explained

Willesden Green
Fare Zone:2
Fare Zone 1:3
Platforms:4
Tubeexits05:7.304
Tubeexits06:8.402
Tubeexits07: 8.516
Tubeexits08: 8.140
Tubeexits09: 7.33-->
Listing Grade:II
Listing Entry:1391808
Coordinates:51.5492°N -0.2217°W
Symbol:underground
Gridref:TQ233849
Original:Metropolitan Railway
Years2:1 June 1894
Years3:1938
Years4:20 November 1939
Years5:7 December 1940
Years6:3 January 1966
Years7:1 May 1979
Events1:Opened as Willesden Green[1] [2]
Events2:Renamed Willesden Green and Cricklewood[3]
Events3:Renamed Willesden Green
Events4:Bakerloo line service introduced
Events5:Metropolitan line service withdrawn
Events6:Goods yard closed[4]
Events7:Bakerloo line service replaced by Jubilee line

Willesden Green is a London Underground station on Walm Lane in Willesden. It is served by the Jubilee line and is between Dollis Hill and Kilburn stations. Metropolitan line trains also pass through the station, but do not stop. The station is in both Travelcard Zone 2 and Zone 3.

History

The original station opened on 24 November 1879 on the Metropolitan Railway (later the Metropolitan line). From 1894 to 1938, the station was known as Willesden Green and Cricklewood. From 20 November 1939, it also served the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line, with Met services being withdrawn in the following year. It transferred to the Jubilee line in 1979. A connecting tunnel at Embankment station mistakenly shows Willesden Green as part of the Bakerloo line, as a result of a typo which should say Willesden Junction instead; this can be found on a printed map on the wall of Embankment station.[5]

The new main station buildings, which date from the reconstruction of 1925, are fine examples of the work of Charles Walter Clark, the Metropolitan Railway's architect, who used this style of marble white faience for several 'central' area stations. The diamond-shaped clock is also a trademark of his style. The ticket hall interior retains much of the rare original green tesserae mosaic tiling and was one of the reasons that led to the station being made a Grade II Listed Building in December 2006.

Willesden Green is one of the few stations on the southern section of the former Metropolitan main line still to have its original platform buildings intact and its architecture is typical for a station serving a medium-sized town; Baker Street and Neasden are the other stations to have their platform buildings intact. The line between Finchley Road and Harrow-on-the-Hill was quadrupled between 1914 and 1916, and many intermediate stations had to be rebuilt to enable the fast lines to be built.

A goods yard, which was in use until 1966, was located to the north of the station. From 1933, when the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) took over service, trains from the north would be run by the LNER to Neasden Depot where they would be then hauled by LPTB steam locos to Willesden.

From the beginning of October 2022 to September 2023, this station was used to trial an artificial intelligence that would detect events such as fare evasion, anti-social behaviour and injured persons.[6] This was done by installing a processing device that had access to the CCTV cameras present in the station.[7]

Services

There are frequent Jubilee line trains at Willesden Green. Jubilee line trains heading southbound terminate at North Greenwich or Stratford. It previously served Charing Cross until 1999, when the Jubilee line extension isolated the station from the rest of the line. Those heading northbound either terminate here, at Wembley Park or Stanmore. Willesden Green is also served as part of the Night Tube, which is run overnight on Fridays and Saturdays.

The station still has side platforms for the Metropolitan line, but these are not in regular use and are only used when the Jubilee line is not serving the station due to planned engineering works or severe service disruption.[8]

Connections

London Buses routes 260, 266 and 460 serve the station.

Gallery

Notes and References

  1. Book: Butt, R. V. J. . The Directory of Railway Stations . 1995 . Patrick Stephens Ltd . Yeovil . 1-85260-508-1 . R508 . 251 .
  2. Book: Rose, Douglas . The London Underground: A Diagrammatic History . 8th . December 2007 . 1980 . Capital Transport . Harrow Weald . 978-1-85414-315-0 .
  3. Book: Spencer, Adam. Willesden – Britain in Old Photographs. 1996. 88. 0750911719.
  4. How it used to be – freight on The Underground 50 years ago. Underground News. March 2011. 591. 175–183. Brian. Hardy. London Underground Railway Society. 0306-8617.
  5. Marshall, Geoff (presenter). 1 October 2015. Bonus Secrets of the Underground . en . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/iQeFFbstRD0 . 2021-12-21 . live. 18 June 2018 . 4:44 . Londonist Ltd.
  6. Web site: 2024-02-09 . London Underground Is Testing Real-Time AI Surveillance Tools to Spot Crime WIRED . 2024-02-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240209161307/https://www.wired.com/story/london-underground-ai-surveillance-documents/ . 9 February 2024 .
  7. Web site: 2024-02-13 . TfL's AI Tube Station experiment is amazing and slightly terrifying . 2024-02-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240213105032/https://takes.jamesomalley.co.uk/p/tfls-ai-tube-station-experiment-is . 13 February 2024 .
  8. Web site: Mayor answers to London: Willesden Green. The London Assembly. 16 February 2014. 14 September 2011. During Jubilee line closures, starting in 2009, the Metropolitan line stopped at Willesden Green for a total of 37 days. Over this two-year period 323,088 passengers used the station an average of 8,732 on each day, compared with a typical Saturday and Sunday usage by Jubilee line customers at the station of 14,131 and 10,804 respectively.. 4 March 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084238/http://mqt.london.gov.uk/mqt/public/question.do?id=37580. dead.