Richmond, also known as Richmond (London), is a
National Rail
National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...
station in
Richmond,
Greater London on the
Waterloo to Reading and
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire.
The term ''nor ...
Lines.
South Western Railway services on the
Waterloo to Reading Line are routed through Richmond, which is between and
St Margarets stations, down the line from . For
London Overground
London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...
and
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The ...
services, the next station is .
Architecture
The station building, designed by
James Robb Scott
James Robb Scott (11 February 1882 – 1965) was a Scottish architect who became the Chief Architect of the Southern Railway.
He was born on 11 February 1882 in the Gorbals, Glasgow, the son of Andrew Robb Scott (architect) and Mary Fletcher. H ...
in
Portland stone and dating from 1937, is in
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style and its facade includes a square clock.
The area in front of the station main entrance was pedestrianised in 2013
and includes a
war memorial
A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.
Symbolism
Historical usage
It has ...
to soldier
Bernard Freyberg, who was born in Richmond.
History
The Richmond and West End Railway (R&WER) opened the first station at Richmond on 27 July 1846,
[Clive's Underground Line Guides – Hammersmith & City Line](_blank)
/ref> as the terminus of its line from .
/ref> This station was on a site to the south of the present through platforms, which later became a goods yard and where a multi-storey car park
A multistorey car park ( British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a bui ...
now stands. The Windsor, Staines and South Western Railway (WS&SWR) extended the line westward, resiting the station to the west side of The Quadrant, on the extended tracks and slightly west of the present through platforms. Both the R&WER and WS&SWR were subsidiary companies of the London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...
(L&SWR).
On 1 January 1869,[Clive's Underground Line Guides – District Line]
/ref> the L&SWR opened a line to Richmond from north of Addison Road station (now Kensington (Olympia) station
Kensington (Olympia) is a combined rail and tube station in Kensington, on the edge of Central London. Services are provided by London Overground, who manage the station, along with Southern and London Underground. It is in Travelcard Zone 2. O ...
) on the West London Joint Railway. This line ran through Hammersmith (Grove Road) station
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
It ...
, since closed, and and had connection with the North & South Western Junction Railway
The North and South Western Junction Railway (NSWJR) was a short railway in west London, England. It opened in 1853, connecting Willesden on the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) with Brentford on the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) ...
(N&SWJR) near . Most of this line is now part of the London Underground District line; the line south from Gunnersbury was also served by the North London Railway
The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the East and West India Docks further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fe ...
(NLR) and is now used also by London Overground. Before this line was built, services north from Richmond ran somewhat circuitously via chords at Kew Bridge
Kew Bridge is a wide-span bridge over the Tideway (upper estuary of the Thames) linking the London Boroughs of Richmond upon Thames and Hounslow. The present bridge, which was opened in 1903 as King Edward VII Bridge by King Edward VII and Quee ...
and Barnes.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) briefly (1 June to 31 October 1870) ran a service from to Richmond via the Hammersmith & City Railway (now the Hammersmith & City line) tracks to Grove Road and then over the L&SWR tracks through Turnham Green
Turnham Green is a public park on Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London, and the neighbourhood and conservation area around it; historically, it was one of the four medieval villages in the Chiswick area, the others being Old Chiswick, Little S ...
.
On 1 June 1877, the District Railway (DR) linked its then terminus at Hammersmith to the nearby L&SWR tracks east of the present station. The DR began running trains over the L&SWR tracks to Richmond. On 1 October 1877, the Metropolitan Railway (MR, now the Metropolitan line) restarted the former GWR service to Richmond via Grove Road station.
The DR route from Richmond to central London via Hammersmith was more direct than those of the NLR via , of the L&SWR and the MR via Grove Road station and of the L&SWR via Clapham Junction
Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea.
Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances during ...
to Waterloo. From 1 January 1894, the GWR began sharing the MR Richmond service, resulting in Gunnersbury having the services of five operators.
After electrifying its tracks north of in 1903, the DR funded the electrification, completed on 1 August 1905, from Gunnersbury to Richmond. The DR ran electric
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...
trains on the branch, while the L&SWR, NLR, GWR and MR services continued to be steam hauled.
MR services ceased on 31 December 1906 and those of the GWR on 31 December 1910, leaving operations northwards through Kew Gardens
Kew Gardens is a botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botanical and mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1840, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its living collections include some of the ...
and Gunnersbury to the DR, the NLR and L&SWR. On 3 June 1916, the L&SWR withdrew its service from Richmond to Addison Road through Hammersmith due to competition from the District line
The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited serv ...
, leaving the District as the sole operator over that route and the NLR providing main line services via Willesden Junction.
Under the grouping of 1923, the L&SWR became part of the Southern Railway (SR) and the NLR became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS); both were subsequently nationalised into British Railways. On 1 August 1937, the SR opened its rebuilt station with the station building and the through platforms moved east to be next to the terminal platforms. At around the same time, the SR moved the goods yard from the site of the original terminus to a new location north-east of the station.
Accident
On 18 September 1987, an accident occurred at Richmond when a westbound District line hit the buffers of platform 6 and broke the glass/perspex panels behind. No passengers were seriously injured.
Crossrail
A Crossrail
Crossrail is a railway construction project mainly in central London. Its aim is to provide a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system crossing the capital from suburbs on the west to east, by connecting two major railway l ...
branch to Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...
via Richmond was proposed in 2003, but was dropped in 2004 due to a combination of local opposition, complex choices and engineering at the start of the route, cost, and insufficient return on investment. It could have run either overland or via a tunnel to and on the existing track through to Richmond (which would have lost the District line
The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited serv ...
service) and thence to Kingston.
Platforms
The station has seven platforms numbered from south to north:
* Platforms 1 and 2 are through platforms for South Western Railway services.
* Platforms 3 to 7 are terminating platforms used by:
** London Overground North London line services (normally platforms 3 and 4 but sometimes 5, 6 and 7)
** London Underground District line services (normally platforms 5, 6 and 7. Occasionally 4 but never 3 due to 3's lack of a fourth rail, which the District Line uses for electric power).
As of September 2011, work was under way to extend platforms 1 and 2 to accept 10-car trains. The bulk of the lengthening was to be at the west (country) end; extending eastwards was deemed unviable by Network Rail as Church Road Bridge would have needed widening.
As part of these works, the platform canopies were also being refurbished.
The wide gap between platforms 3 and 4 originally had a third, run-around track for steam locomotives.
Eight retail units are at the station: four eatery-cafés on alternate sides of the barriers (two on the rail side being thin and smaller) similarly two kiosks, the upper one being a hot drinks kiosk through to a M&S Simply Food grocery store. A florist and a WH Smith flank the entrance.
Off peak service
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
* 8 direct to (South Western Railway)
** 2 fast calling at only
** 2 semi fast calling at , Clapham Junction and
** 4 all stations
* 8 direct from Waterloo (South Western Railway)
** 2 to
** 2 to
** 2 indirectly returning to Waterloo via Hounslow and Brentford
** 2 indirectly returning to Waterloo via Kingston and Wimbledon
* 4 to (London Overground
London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...
)
* 6 to via (District line
The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One branch runs to in south-west London and a short branch, with a limited serv ...
)
Transport links
London Buses serving nearby are:
A taxi rank is near the station entrance on Kew Road. Steps or lifts can be used to reach all platforms.
An extensive bike storage facility is east outside the back entrance, Church Road, linked by 27 steps to a set of ticket barriers and the main platform area connecting platforms 2–7.
References
External links
Transport for London Richmond station
*
{{LB Richmond
Art Deco railway stations
District line stations
Former London and South Western Railway stations
Railway stations in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846
Railway stations served by London Overground
Railway stations served by South Western Railway
London Underground stations located above ground
Tube stations in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Richmond, London
1846 establishments in England
James Robb Scott buildings
Art Deco architecture in London