West Brompton is a London Underground, London Overground and National Rail station on Old Brompton Road (A3218) in West Brompton, located in west London, and is on the District line and West London Line (WLL). It is immediately south of the demolished Earls Court Exhibition Centre and west of Brompton Cemetery in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

West Brompton
Station entrance
West Brompton Location of West Brompton in Greater London
Location	West Brompton
Local authority	Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Managed by	London Underground[1] London Overground (western platforms only)[2]
Station code	WBP
DfT category	E
Number of platforms	4
Accessible	Yes (except District westbound platform)[3]
Fare zone	2
London Underground annual entry and exit
2017	5.88 million[4]
2018	4.90 million[5]
2019	5.20 million[6]
2020	2.39 million[7]
2021	2.73 million[8]
National Rail annual entry and exit
2016–17	5.226 million[9]
2017–18	5.250 million[9]
2018–19	4.936 million[9]
2019–20	4.517 million[9]
2020–21	1.411 million[9]
Key dates
1 September 1866	Opened (WLEJR)
12 April 1869	Started (Terminus) (DR)
1 March 1880	Started (Through Service) (DR)
21 October 1940	Ended (WLL)
1 June 1999	Restarted (WLL)
Other information
External links	TfL station info page Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51.4866°N 0.1957°W / 51.4866; -0.1957
London transport portal

The station is on the Wimbledon branch of the District line between Earl's Court and Fulham Broadway stations. On the WLL, National Rail services are provided by Southern and London Overground, in between Kensington (Olympia) and Imperial Wharf stations.

The station's location on the WLL forms a borough boundary and its tracks are shared between Kensington & Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Since 2000 it has been a Grade II (starting category) Listed Building.[10]

History

The West London Extension Joint Railway (WLEJR) was opened in the early 1860s. It joined the southern end of the West London Joint Railway at Kensington (Olympia) station with Clapham Junction station and ran through West Brompton although a station was not opened until 1866.[11] The original station was designed by the chief engineer of the Metropolitan and District Railway, Sir John Fowler[12] and thus has local railway associations that go back to 1838.[13] The current Lillie (road) bridge dates from 1860 and is the work of Fowler.[13] The soon to disappear Lillie Bridge Railway and Engineering Depot, opened in 1872, is close by. Other historic associations are with the Lillie Bridge Grounds, a noted 19th c. athletics, cricket, ballooning and cycling venue adjacent to the West of the station and Brompton Cemetery adjacent to the East. From 1887, the station gave access to John Robinson Whitley's Earl's Court exhibition grounds and from 1937 to 2014 it was the alternative access to Earls Court Exhibition Centre, now demolished.

On 12 April 1869, the District Railway (DR, now the District line) opened its own station adjacent to the WLEJR station as the terminus and only station on its extension from Gloucester Road station (Earl's Court station did not open until 1871). The original plan was to connect the DR to the WLEJR but this did not take place.

On 1 March 1880, the DR opened an extension south from West Brompton to Putney Bridge.[14] In 1906 a heat wave affected the railway such that one of the Underground's electric rails was warped at the station; trains coasted over the affected track until it was repaired.[15]

In 1940, during World War II, several WLL stations sustained bomb damage. Passenger services on the WLL between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction were withdrawn on 21 October 1940. The Underground station remained in use and the WLL continued in use for freight traffic. The WLL station buildings and platforms were subsequently demolished.

Full passenger services resumed on the WLL in 1994, but it was not until 1 June 1999 that new Network Rail platforms were opened at West Brompton by the then Minister of Transport, Glenda Jackson. There is a commemorative plaque to this effect on the Western lift tower. The station design was by Robinson Kenning and Gallagher of Croydon.[16][17] The lift tower design is an echo of the decorative brickwork by the 19th c. City of London architect and surveyor, John Young designer of the nearby Empress Place and Lillie Road terrace in Fulham.[18] The works were funded by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham on whose border the station lies.

The WLL platforms do not have a separate entrance and access is from the Underground station. The District line serves platforms 1 and 2 and the WLL serves platforms 3 and 4. There is a fence between platforms 2 and 3, but they are on the same level and it is possible to pass directly between them.

There are lifts to both overground platforms for wheelchair access, and this means there is also step-free access to the eastbound District line platform, but not the westbound one. The station is in a cutting that is covered at one end.

Services

Typical off-peak services per hour:

London Underground District line[19]

• 3 eastbound to Tower Hill
• 3 eastbound to Barking via Tower Hill
• 6 eastbound to Edgware Road
• 12 westbound to Wimbledon

London Overground

• 4 northbound to Willesden Junction, of which 2 continue to Stratford.
• 4 southbound to Clapham Junction.[20]

Southern

• 1 northbound to Watford Junction.
• 1 southbound to East Croydon.

Additional District line services operate at peak times, with many trains continuing to Barking, Dagenham East or Upminster, while all 4 London Overground services per hour continue to Stratford. Some additional Southern services also operate between Shepherd's Bush and Clapham Junction.

Late evening London Overground services only run between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction. On Sundays, Southern services only run between Watford Junction and Clapham Junction.[20]

Image gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Brompton station.

• 
  Station, entrance on Old Brompton Road in 1963
• 
  West Brompton underground station platforms, with northbound train arriving (September 2006)
• 
  West Brompton underground station footbridges (September 2006)
• 
  West Brompton overground station – southbound Southern Class 377 Electrostar service at the platform (September 2006)
• 
  London Overground branded sign at West Brompton Station.
• 
  Vintage sign, from before the Johnston typeface was standardised
• 
  Green verges beside the track into West Brompton station, adjacent to Brompton Cemetery

References

• Hobhouse, Hermione, ed. (1986). "The Kensington Canal, railways and related developments". Survey of London: Volume 42, Kensington Square To Earl's Court. London. pp. 322–338. Retrieved 15 October 2016 – via British History Online (transcription).

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Construction of the District Railway's station at West Brompton, 1867
  • View of DR platforms, 1876
  • West Brompton Underground station, 1928
• London's Abandoned Tube stations – West London Line
• West Brompton, SubBrit disused stations project
• www.Old-maps.co.uk – West Brompton station, 1874
• Train times and station information for West Brompton station from National Rail

Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Fulham Broadway towards Wimbledon		District line		Earl's Court towards Upminster or High Street Kensington
Preceding station	London Overground			Following station
Kensington (Olympia) towards Willesden Junction or Stratford		West London Line		Imperial Wharf towards Clapham Junction
Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Kensington (Olympia) towards		Southern West London Route		Imperial Wharf towards
Former Services
Chelsea and Fulham		West London Route		Kensington (Olympia)