Rayners Lane is a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

station, located in the district of

Rayners Lane Rayners Lane is a suburban district in the London Borough of Harrow that forms the western part of Harrow, London, Harrow in northwest London. Located between Pinner and West Harrow, it takes its name from a road in the area, also called Rayners ...

, in north-west

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. It lies amid a 1930s development, originally named '' Harrow Garden Village''. The station is on the Uxbridge branches of both the Metropolitan and

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

lines. It is located to the west of the junction of Rayners Lane, Alexandra Avenue and Imperial Drive ( A4090). It is in Travelcard Zone 5. Just east of the station, the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines tracks join for westbound services to Uxbridge and separate for eastbound services towards

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

History

The

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

( Harrow and Uxbridge Railway) constructed the line between

Harrow on the Hill Harrow on the Hill or Harrow-on-the-Hill is a locality and historic village in the borough of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow in Greater London, England. The name refers to Harrow Hill, ,Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) ...

and

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

and commenced services on 4 July 1904 with, initially,

Ruislip Ruislip ( ) is a suburb in the London Borough of Hillingdon in northwest London. Prior to 1965 it was in Middlesex. Ruislip lies west-north-west of Charing Cross, London. The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the ear ...

being the only intermediate stop. At first, services were operated by steam trains, but track

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

was completed in the subsequent months and electric trains began operating on 1 January 1905. Progressive development in the north

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

area over the next two decades led to the gradual opening of additional stations along the Uxbridge branch to encourage the growth of new residential areas. Rayners Lane opened as ''Rayners Lane Halt'' on 26 May 1906, and was named after a local farmer called Daniel Rayner. It was nicknamed ''Pneumonia Junction'' because of its exposed location. On 1 March 1910, an extension of the

District line The District line is a London Underground line running from in the east and Edgware Road tube station (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines), Edgware Road in the west to in west London, where it splits into multiple branches. One br ...

was opened from South Harrow to connect with the Metropolitan Railway at Rayners Lane junction east of the station enabling District line trains to serve stations between

and Uxbridge from that date. On 23 October 1933, District line services were replaced by Piccadilly line trains.Rails Through The Clay : Croome & Jackson : Lond.: 1962

Design

The station, more a halt, was rebuilt, following the start of house building in the locality in the 1930s that saw passenger figures rise from 22,000 per annum in 1930 to 4 million in 1937 by a new station to a design by

Charles Holden Charles Henry Holden (12 May 1875 – 1 May 1960) was an English architect best known for designing many London Underground stations during the 1920s and 1930s, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's headquarters at 55 Broadwa ...

and Reginald Uren that opened on 8 August 1938. Work had started in earnest with the opening of a temporary timber booking hall and shops on 14 March 1935 allowing work on the new station to proceed. The station, now

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Listed by Historic England, features the large cube-shaped brick and glass ticket hall capped with a flat

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

roof and geometrical forms typical of the new stations built in this period. To the west of the station, there is a reversing siding between the running tracks and, during the day, half of the Piccadilly line service reverses here. Two sidings were located south of the station but these were no longer used, with no connection with the running lines. In late 2017, these sidings were lifted.

Services

Metropolitan line

On the Metropolitan line, Rayners Lane station is between

Eastcote Eastcote is a suburban area in the London Borough of Hillingdon, in West London, west Greater London, London. In the Middle Ages, Eastcote was one of the three areas that made up the parish of Ruislip, under the name of Ascot. The name came fr ...

to the west and West Harrow to the east. The off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is: * 8tph eastbound to Aldgate (all stations) * 8tph westbound to Uxbridge The morning peak service in trains per hour (tph) is: * 2tph eastbound to Aldgate (semi-fast, running non-stop between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Wembley Park) * 4tph eastbound to Aldgate (all stations) * 4tph eastbound to Baker Street (all stations) * 10tph westbound to Uxbridge The evening peak service in trains per hour (tph) is: * 7tph eastbound to Aldgate (all stations) * 3tph eastbound to Baker Street (all stations) * 10tph westbound to Uxbridge This is the only line in the network to operate an express service, though currently for Metropolitan Line trains on the Uxbridge branch this is eastbound only in the morning peaks (06:30 to 09:30) Monday to Friday. Metropolitan Line trains are able to terminate at Rayners Lane from the westbound platform either by a crossover to the east of the station or via a centre reversing siding to the west, under normal circumstances all westbound Metropolitan Line trains continue to the terminus of the branch at Uxbridge.

Piccadilly line

On the Piccadilly line, Rayners Lane station is between Eastcote to the west and South Harrow to the east. The off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is: * 6tph eastbound to Cockfosters * 3tph westbound to Uxbridge The peak time service in trains per hour (tph) is: * 12tph eastbound to Cockfosters * 8tph westbound to Uxbridge. Between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge, there is no Piccadilly Line service before approximately 06:30 (Monday - Friday) and 08:45 (Saturday - Sunday), except for one early morning departure from Uxbridge at 05:18 (Monday - Saturday) and 06:46 (Sunday). Trains are able to terminate here by means of a crossover to the east of the station (separate from the Metropolitan Line crossover) and via the centre reversing siding, although only the latter is used in normal service.

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

routes

398 __NOTOC__ Year 398 ( CCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Augustus and Eutychianus (or, less frequently, year 1151 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomin ...

, H9, H10 and H12 serve the station.

References

External links

*
London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** ** One platform shows a London Underground style roundel name board, the other a Metropolitan Railway Diamond name board. ** ** {{District line navbox Metropolitan line stations Piccadilly line stations Tube stations in the London Borough of Harrow Former Metropolitan Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1906 Charles Holden railway stations Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Harrow Grade II listed railway stations 1906 establishments in England