@@highpath4776: surely you buy a ticket based on the zone to which you are travelling and not a particular station? However, I haven't had to buy network rail tickets since being issued a 60+ Oystercard. I can go pretty much anywhere within the 1 to 9 travel zones.
@@eattherich9215 National Rail covers the whole of Britain, not just the London zones, so as High Path rightly says in many areas there are "X Stations" tickets covering a group of stations. Buy an open ticket from London to Birmingham and the ticket will say "Birmingham Stations"; to Manchester it will say "Manchester Stations" and so on. Although @High Path is confusing Network Rail and National Rail. ;-)
@@atraindriver The exception being Glasgow, where tickets used to say "Glasgow Stations" but people using them to go to Charing Cross - which many people regard as a City Centre station - would sometimes find themselves being surcharged. This led to complaints made by companies at a high level, as the fare from Charing Cross to Edinburgh (for example) was exactly the same as that from Queen Street, so why the surcharge? At the time companies were able to buy discounted books of tickets valid between Glasgow Stations and Edinburgh for employees' business travel. So ScotRail got round this by getting "Glasgow Stations" altered to "Glasgow Central/QueenSt". I know this because I worked at Charing Cross for many years, and used these vouchers to get to meetings in Edinburgh before ScotRail clamped down. To put Glasgow Central/Queen St on all tickets is slightly illogical as in order to get from my local station (Stepps) to Glasgow Central (rather than Queen Street), I would have to go via Greenfaulds and Motherwell, which would take most of the morning, and probably get me a surcharge too! Although, when Queen Street was closed for reconstruction for 6 weeks, trains from Aberdeen/Inverness etc. did in fact run into Central via a circuituous route through Carmyle - at no extra cost to the passenger!
Finally, a video that tells me the answer to a question I have been asking for ages - "why are there so many stations in Acton?" Now I know! Gives me something to act on.
At least they're all called something different, unlike West Hamsptead. We need more West Hampstead's IMO too. Like Finchley Road. "You can see West Hampstead from here" station. You actually can if you walk to the far end of the platform...either station.
Personally I don't think enough stations are called "Acton". Park Royal can become "North West Acton", Old Oak Common on HS2 can become "Acton High Speed", Harlesden can become "Very North Acton"...
The different railway companies probably built a station every time they crossed the area as part of some promise... plus, Acton speaks louder than words!
There was an episode of Hancock's Half Hour where an unexploded German bomb was uncovered in East Cheam. The Teutonic wording on the bomb included the word "Achtung" which Hancock assumed was German for Acton. He commented that "they weren't that far out!"
6:04 One definition for the difference between a halt and a station I once heard was; A "halt" is a just stopping point along a line. A "station" also requires switches for shunting / changing track / reversing (this was ofcourse expecially relevant when all trains were still locomotive-hauled and shunting was required when changing direction).
Is a halt the same as what we used to call a Rail Motor Stopping Place down here in Victoria, Australia? They were just short platforms with no facilities but a tin shed to shelter from the rain. Trains didn't stop at RMSPs unless a traveller on a platform waved at them. Of course they have all been abolished now in the name of speeding up services by a few seconds.
We see this definition today in Dutch, where for example a 'bus halte' is just a bus stop along a route (and thus buses will only stop by request), while a 'bus station' is a larger area, usually containing several bus stops, where people can change onto different lines.
Chiswick and South Acton- known as 'Soapsud Island' due to the fact there were over 600 laundries in the area. My Gran worked in one from the age of 14 until she retired.
It was indeed. And the reason so many commercial laundries established themselves in the area back then was the profusion of natural water wells in the area. There's a very good reason why the name Acton Wells came by it's name!
@analogueman123456787 Acton Wells was a short- lived spa with assembly rooms and all. It was east of present Victoria Road and south of Wells House Road, among the railways. Other spas soon became fashionable. When the area of North Kensington and Notting Hill, where the laundries were, eventually turned into slums and the railways made the South Acton area accessible, the developers followed and used clever advertising, as they do, to attract the laundry businesses to the area. Of course, the waters and the whole area was not yet polluted at the time... Soon, the name Acton became synonymous with laundries and working classes. Hence, the nearby station name of Acton Green was replaced with Chiswick Park and Acton Green to become Chiswick Park in 1910. That change was to attract middle classes to the more upmarket developments near the station. Of course, Chiswick Park is nowhere near the station. Interestingly, many people who live near the station, on the Acton side, like to say they live in Chiswick. There are debates on the topic...
Loved the views of three trains at North Acton (7:30). I remember the shuttle to South Acton and used it many times in the 1950's as a lad living in South Harrow when my friend and I would buy a Twin Rover ticket and travel the Underground and Red buses all day just for fun! Excellent video and narrative as usual, Jago, which brings back many memories.
I used to work at North Acton as a ticket collector come cleaner back in the 80s. Used to talk and have fun with some of the Celebs of the day as there was maybe still is a BBC rehearsal rooms not far from station. I also had to cover if needed West Acton & East Acton. North Acton got very busy in the early mornings as the Elizabeth Arden perfume factory workers used to clock on at the crack of dawn.
Unfortunately, the entire area surrounding North Acton station has been completely redeveloped (some of which is still ongoing). I doubt you'd recognise it now. The BBC Rehearsal Studios were demolished some years ago. Among those in the profession, it was colloquially known as 'The Acton Hilton'. And the pub opposite the station (The Castle), regularly frequented by visiting actors, was closed down largely as a result of the national Covid restrictions and was finally knocked down late last year.
There used to be a Halt not far from me many moons ago, the train halted and they put the milk churns on, then it chugged off sometimes leaving parcels.
Also, quite often, "halts" would either only have some of the trains stop there, or would even be request or flag stops. Did the Underground ever officially have any stop on request stops (I heard that after it officially closed, for some time on the Epping-to-Ongar branch people could get a stop requested at Blake Hall, until London Transport told them to knock it off)
My understanding of the BR WR policy was that a halt was an unstaffed "station" with no ticket office, usually no proper barrier, but where the guard collected tickets from departing passengers and later sold tickets on the train to passengers who had joined. My earliest such experience was at South Greenford Halt; served by a push & pull tank engine service running between Ealing Broadway and Greenford. The halt was since upgraded to the status of a station but without the addition of staff or ticket office, showing the power of appatent upgrading simply by giving a more pretentious label. That was back in the day when all stations were, by definition almost, staffed and when those travelling were referred to as passengers. Tell youngsters that today and they call you a boomer.
Nothing to do with your Acton, but for a very long time my uncle sold cars at a dealership called Acton Toyota in OUR Acton, Mass. In the early 2000s they built a new upgraded modern dealership in the neighboring town of Littleton, although they continue to call themselves Acton Toyota albeit now with the suffix "of Littleton". It's a nice place and this reminds me that my truck is overdue for service. Maybe they'll have those complimentary donuts I like. Mmmm.
Jago - I was about to say how attractive I found the mauve-grey twilight-hour shade on the platform at the end of the video but I encountered Acton-packed and, subsequently, Acton stations. Anyway, thank you for this nine-fold accolade.
Years ago I lived in Acton, and my then-girlfriend referred to me as Acton Man. I worked in The City, and used to get there via the North London Line and the Navarino Road curve that they built so they could close Broad Street. So.much more civilised than using the Tube in rush hour!
Have you thought about starting a mini-series on 'short working' stations (both current and past), those places that allow trains to turn around enabling higher frequencies in the central areas? One example that comes to mind (from the past) is Colindale on the Northern where back in the 70's, 1 in 3 of the off peak services terminated.
Thanks for showing the inside of Chiswick Park. It was the nearest station to my Uni flat for 3 years but I never used it because it was just in zone 3 and so too expensive. I'd always walk from Turnham Green instead :)
There used to be a dock line off the line between Willesden and Shepherds Bush that brushed the low parts of Acton if memory serves me right as it was a bit of a pickle to get stuff into Willesden yards as it branched off the Clapham to Willesden link and I imagine all trace of has long long gone.
I did always wonder this, when I was young. So many Actons! Acton gets like nine stations and towns near me get, I dunno, 1 or 2. Also 'Acton packed'; tremendous. Great video!
The Nine Stations of Acton sounds more like a Fantasy Novel series. I can imagine them being at war with the Five Stations of Ruislip or the Five Stations of Watford for control of the throne or at the very least control of Zones 3 to 7 of the London Underground Map and the rights for a Freedom Pass
Underrated comment. Don’t forget the 3-member Clapham Clan… They control a good chunk of Souff London turf and mandem ought not to be taken lightly, fam
Another masterpiece from the Railway Bard: As You Like It, a comedy in Nine Actons 🎭 Great to see a bit about the South Acton branch. I went to Acton purely to see the abandoned platform and find the remaining abutments of the raised section a few years ago when in the capital with not a lot to do 🤷🏻♂️ It seems an odd thing to say but, it was kind of…cute…Yeah, I never thought I’d say that about an underground station and I feel a bit silly now 🙄 Thanks as ever Jago 👍🍀🍻
I actually travelled on the branch line as a child shortly before it closed - we used to use it to cross from the District Line to the old Broad Street to Richmond line (ex North London Railway now London Overgrond) to visit my mother's friends. Even mentioning Broad Street dates me now!
and Acton is STILL missing a station at the most important place -- DOWNTOWN ACTON. Where all the shops are, like the Morrison's. God knows how many bus routes go thru. Acton Central is like calling Regents Pk station (Bakerloo) Oxford Circus. "It's only a short walk."
Several years ago, when I looked into the differences between a halt and a station due to trying to understand a story about a railways in England I learned a halt was an unmanned very short platform (usually only five to fifteen feet in length) with no facilities beyond a platform to allow getting onto the train and the train only stopped when someone set the flag for train service, a different flag for each direction. While a station was a lot larger and was manned as well as having trains stopping there on a regular basis of some sort - a weekly train counted.
Harrow has a similar amount. North Harrow, West Harrow, South Harrow, Harrow on the Hill and Harrow & Wealdstone. However the actual borough of Harrow possibly has some the most underground stations in the entire city. It's served by the Metropolitan, Piccadilly, Jubilee, Bakerloo, Central and Overground lines.
MOAR MAPS PLS! Also, a "halt" was once a place where a train stopped, that often had little or no supporting structures like a platform or a station house. It was generally for occasional passengers to get on and off the train, back when trains were slower and safety concerns were less of an issue. Now that trains are faster, bigger, more frequent, and thanks to electrified rail systems, the use of "halts" has fallen out of use, so the names are mainly historical now...
I read somewhere that the Great Eastern Railway defined a 'halt', as opposed to a 'Station' as one where staff had no toilet facilities. Roding Valley, now on the Central Line, started off as Roding Valley Holt and toilets were only added when the Underground made it a 'station'. (It also was so quiet that the solitary member of staff, right up to the 1980's, would issue tickets with a Gibson Bus Conductors machine!)
I don't know if the definitions match, but in Germany at least, a station is a place for trains to begin, end, or reverse with at least one switch. A halt is just a place for trains to stop and load/unload passengers.
No, they don't. One of the things about railways is that terminology doesn't usually transfer well between different railways; the German (and German-influenced) railways developed in a noticeably different way to British railways, with the German(ic) basic railway being a single track with loops (and therefore points/switches) only at stations whereas the British basic railway was a single track with loops (and points) wherever they were felt necessary and stations wherever they were felt necessary, which wasn't necessarily the same place! Partly it comes down to the Germanic railway deciding to give the movement control authority to the station master (leaving the points operators as subordinates) whereas the British railway gave that authority to the points operators (making them signalmen and elevating their responsibility), which in turn meant that the station wasn't as important an operational location on the British railway as it was on the Germanic railways. There have always been full-stations on the British railways where there are no points or signals, or those signals are only there to break up signalling sections to increase capacity.
Spent six years going to school from Acton Town to Ravenscourt Park. Just outside Acton Town there was a factory which proudly proclaimed the company as Tony Brothers of (Acton) - brackets exactly thus. I have always wondered what they did, and why they didn't sack their signwriter.
Nice bit of filming when explaining the "the tea run" with a train running out in one direction closely followed by another coming back (for their tea?) in the other direction.
In Germany this is - of course - clearly regulated. A halt is a passenger platform where trains can only stop and proceed in the same direction. A station involves at least one turnout for a siding or a bay platform. Special case is a single track no turnout station with signals for changing direction and therefore terminate trains. This leads to the sometimes odd situations. Hamburg Dammtor has 400 m long platforms, Intercity and ICE trains stopping and a S-Bahn station served every few minutes, a ticket hall and a large roof over all tracks, looking like a city station which it is in terms of passenger demand (number 3 in the city). However, technically it is a 4 track halt between Hamburg Central Station and Holstenstraße Junction. Fair to say it used to be a station but turnouts were later removed. On the other hand you may find a stop in the wilderness with a 2 coaches long gravel platform but either a goods branch going off to some large industry close by or it used to be a halt and now serves as a terminus of a branch line cut off there and beacuse of this is technically a station.
In Germany, the difference beween a station and a halt is as follows: A station is a piece of railway related piece of infrastructure with at least one set of points, where trains may turn around, start, end, overtake, cross and stop. An halt is an railway related piece of infrastructure without any points where trains may stop, start and end. Hope that helps
1:18 "housing started to appear" - missed opportunity there to have some houses appearing on the map along with suitable background 'plop' sounds (as houses make when they appear)...
I live about five miles away from this "Acton" of which you speak. I even have a favourite Chinese restaurant which purports to be there...but I still don't know where it is! If anyone finds it, please get in touch. Thanks.
oh acton! i had the dubious pleasure of visiting it for the first time this week. Had to get out unexpectedly at Acton South because it turns out the North London overground line is about the only bloody line on the network that requires oyster cards/tickets but debit cards don't count of course I only find this out when the train was already in transit would it kill them to put a sign up at Richmond station? So I think there must be a tube station near near so I walk thru an endless beige 70s/80s council estate for what feels like three hours. No tube station! It is a vision of hell! I finally get to the high street I walk up and down for what seems like an hour! No Tube station! I know that Acton has more than one of them but I cannot find one of the bastards! In the end I catch a bus to kensington (and the journey takes forever) so I can join the piccadilly line at Hyde Park Corner. I hope that will be my first and last visit to Acton. I hate it.
The new Abbot&Costello,version of,"Who's on First",will be,"Where's The Action in Acton",naming the stations,in less than 30 seconds!! Oh,yes,in geographical order!! Thanks, Jago,your punnning has risen to new heights,just as yeasty as usual 🙏 🙌 😀 😊 😄 ☺! Thanks,you made my Sunday!!
Stations generally serve a town or city and had a station building, ticket hall and porters. Halts were generally in the countryside, had no station building or other facilities.
So the line starts at Disbay Leave, followed by Shocke, next up is Dean Isle, Gillt&Payne, and Angre, then it's Bargayning across the river, Depression Junction crosses with the northern line and skips two abandoned stations, and Acceptance Park is the end of the line.
A halt is usually smaller than a station . In North America, flag (or request) stops are typically mapped as halts. In German-speaking countries, stations without points ("switches") where only passenger trains stop are tagged as halt
I'd agree with you that that curve looks wrong as the Central line only curves away from the GWML east of the bridge where they both cross under the District and Piccadilly.
A station is the immediate area around a block post (usually a signal box, but doesn't have to be). A station does not have to have platforms etc, it's an operations device, not 'retail' so to speak, but in general parlance most think of platforms etc. Access in and out, is controlled by signals (or other working arrangements) thus controlling the trains. 'Station' comes from 'station limits', which is the area (absolute block/semaphore signalling) controlled by a signal box between the outermost home signal and the outermost starter signal, aka section, signal, in which trains can be moved around without interacting with adjacent signal boxes (there's the clearing point too, but lets ignore that here, it just adds complication) . A halt is just a platform; no signals, no block post, no signal box, no points - just the platform. Trains stopping there are still 'in the section' between signal boxes (block posts), a train stopping there is one of the few non-emergency reasons to stop in the section. Under MAS (TCB if you prefer,) the difference is essentially the same - stations will have signals etc, halts will have none (that specifically relate to them). This difference between station and halt is the same throughout Europe, maybe world-wide.
There is technical language and there is colloquial language. If they don't match, neither one is wrong. The traveller doesn't care for the difference of halts and stations. The railway guy does. It's the same with doctors, they talk one language with patients, and another with their colleagues.
I imagine it comes down to Acton just being a very big and non-descript suburb; one could easily imagine an alternate tube map where Angel became 'South Islington', Holloway Road 'Islington central', Cally Road 'West Islington' and Archway 'Islington North', etc. etc.
5:51 Could somebody tell me if the single track, almost hidden in the bushes, was once the Western Region main line from Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill?
This is the Acton-Northolt line, which runs, not, as you might expect, from Northolt to Acton, but from West Ruislip to Old Oak Common. It was opened in 1903 as the New North Main Line. It's not used today for any significant freight or passenger traffic, but there are various half-hearted proposals to do something with it when funds are available, so it's still officially open.
@@jimthorne304 Yes, it's still open. There used to be a parliamentary train that ran on it once a week (Geoff Marshall, of course, did a video on it), but that ended in 2018.
A lovely round-up. I always wonder if Acton was the inspiration for Pagwell, the home of Norman Hunter's Professor Branestawm: there were at least N, S, E, W and Central, and (I think) Pagwell Green, and Gardens, as well as Upper and Lower (Acton missed a trick there). Not sure about 'Town'... It is distressing that transferring between the various lines (GW, OG, Central, Dist-Picc) is not made easy - it's a mess, quite frankly. When the Elizabeth line and Overground get stations at Old Oak Common, that will sort that link out (though there may be a bit of a walk - like Canary Wharf). When the SW orbital line (Kew/Hounslow to Cricklewood/Mill Hill) gets off the ground, it would be so good if it had an interchange station where it goes under the District/Piccadilly line; maybe there could also be platforms there for the Overground to Richmond. That just leaves the Central - does anyone have any good suggestions? Better bus links would help; at least they could be set up quickly - but TfL buses show little interest in proper integration with TfL rail/tube (see Roger French's excellent 'BusandTrainUser' blog about the Elizabeth line opening).
I was really looking forward to a line at the end, which I can _completely_ hear in Jago's voice, saying "There's also Acton Bridge, but that's in Cheshire so it doesn't count."
"...this Acton-packed..."
One of your best, sir!
Living la Vida Loco
agreed...
Or worst. Same thing.
The witometer reading is high with this one.
Cor, had to wait until nearly the end of the video for the classic 'Jagoism'.
“Hello. I’d like a ticket from Acton to Hammersmith, please”
“Certainly. I’ll just get you the menu”.
😂 😂 😂
@@eattherich9215 many network rail tickets will say x location Stations, so wish there was indeed one for this area saying Acton Stations
@@highpath4776: surely you buy a ticket based on the zone to which you are travelling and not a particular station? However, I haven't had to buy network rail tickets since being issued a 60+ Oystercard. I can go pretty much anywhere within the 1 to 9 travel zones.
@@eattherich9215 National Rail covers the whole of Britain, not just the London zones, so as High Path rightly says in many areas there are "X Stations" tickets covering a group of stations. Buy an open ticket from London to Birmingham and the ticket will say "Birmingham Stations"; to Manchester it will say "Manchester Stations" and so on.
Although @High Path is confusing Network Rail and National Rail. ;-)
@@atraindriver The exception being Glasgow, where tickets used to say "Glasgow Stations" but people using them to go to Charing Cross - which many people regard as a City Centre station - would sometimes find themselves being surcharged. This led to complaints made by companies at a high level, as the fare from Charing Cross to Edinburgh (for example) was exactly the same as that from Queen Street, so why the surcharge? At the time companies were able to buy discounted books of tickets valid between Glasgow Stations and Edinburgh for employees' business travel. So ScotRail got round this by getting "Glasgow Stations" altered to "Glasgow Central/QueenSt".
I know this because I worked at Charing Cross for many years, and used these vouchers to get to meetings in Edinburgh before ScotRail clamped down.
To put Glasgow Central/Queen St on all tickets is slightly illogical as in order to get from my local station (Stepps) to Glasgow Central (rather than Queen Street), I would have to go via Greenfaulds and Motherwell, which would take most of the morning, and probably get me a surcharge too! Although, when Queen Street was closed for reconstruction for 6 weeks, trains from Aberdeen/Inverness etc. did in fact run into Central via a circuituous route through Carmyle - at no extra cost to the passenger!
Finally, a video that tells me the answer to a question I have been asking for ages - "why are there so many stations in Acton?" Now I know! Gives me something to act on.
At least they're all called something different, unlike West Hamsptead. We need more West Hampstead's IMO too. Like Finchley Road. "You can see West Hampstead from here" station. You actually can if you walk to the far end of the platform...either station.
Act on see what u did there
Personally I don't think enough stations are called "Acton". Park Royal can become "North West Acton", Old Oak Common on HS2 can become "Acton High Speed", Harlesden can become "Very North Acton"...
Then Cardiff can be "Extremely West Acton", Exeter "Extremely South West Acton" and Glasgow "Extremely North Acton".
Abbey Wood: 17 miles East Of Acton
@@henrybest4057 Dunedin is the furthest railway station away so that can be "Least Acton"
...and which posh suburb will be the first to claim "Definitely Not Acton"?
@@stevieinselby Lowestoft can be Far East Acton.
The different railway companies probably built a station every time they crossed the area as part of some promise... plus, Acton speaks louder than words!
Stop Acton the fool!
Lights,camera , Acton
There was an episode of Hancock's Half Hour where an unexploded German bomb was uncovered in East Cheam. The Teutonic wording on the bomb included the word "Achtung" which Hancock assumed was German for Acton. He commented that "they weren't that far out!"
That really does sound like a classic Hancock-ism.
It was such an important place the old ITV television company made documentaries about it - ‘World in Acton’
Don’t forget the toy soldier doll, ‘Acton Man’, or indeed the U2 album, ‘Acton Baby’.
Elvis Presley wanted "A Little Less Conversation and a Little More Acton".
The Human League loved your Love Acton,but the Sweet settled for any Acton they could get,as did Def Leppard.
When young I was often accused of Acton Up.
That would of course be a good name for Acton Mainline if they ever close the westbound platform there.
Thank you for that Acton packed video. Great fun as usual, I always act on your request to click the like button.
What an opening line, wow
I wish I could say that you were Akton but I can’t
I can’t help it, I just Acton impulse. That’s what you get for being old.
I was expecting another pun in the second sentence... 'act on your request stop to click'
My reacton to these puns is one of disgust.
6:04 One definition for the difference between a halt and a station I once heard was; A "halt" is a just stopping point along a line. A "station" also requires switches for shunting / changing track / reversing (this was ofcourse expecially relevant when all trains were still locomotive-hauled and shunting was required when changing direction).
A halt is where Catweazle moved to in the second series.
Is a halt the same as what we used to call a Rail Motor Stopping Place down here in Victoria, Australia? They were just short platforms with no facilities but a tin shed to shelter from the rain. Trains didn't stop at RMSPs unless a traveller on a platform waved at them. Of course they have all been abolished now in the name of speeding up services by a few seconds.
A halt was open to the elements and pretty much a "request stop". There wasn't much of a platform either.
@@eattherich9215 Network Rail glossary backs that up. "A railway station with minimal facilities where trains will usually stop only on request"
We see this definition today in Dutch, where for example a 'bus halte' is just a bus stop along a route (and thus buses will only stop by request), while a 'bus station' is a larger area, usually containing several bus stops, where people can change onto different lines.
Chiswick and South Acton- known as 'Soapsud Island' due to the fact there were over 600 laundries in the area. My Gran worked in one from the age of 14 until she retired.
Sudbury Hill should have been Suds-bury Hill
It was indeed. And the reason so many commercial laundries established themselves in the area back then was the profusion of natural water wells in the area. There's a very good reason why the name Acton Wells came by it's name!
@analogueman123456787 Acton Wells was a short- lived spa with assembly rooms and all. It was east of present Victoria Road and south of Wells House Road, among the railways. Other spas soon became fashionable. When the area of North Kensington and Notting Hill, where the laundries were, eventually turned into slums and the railways made the South Acton area accessible, the developers followed and used clever advertising, as they do, to attract the laundry businesses to the area. Of course, the waters and the whole area was not yet polluted at the time... Soon, the name Acton became synonymous with laundries and working classes. Hence, the nearby station name of Acton Green was replaced with Chiswick Park and Acton Green to become Chiswick Park in 1910. That change was to attract middle classes to the more upmarket developments near the station. Of course, Chiswick Park is nowhere near the station. Interestingly, many people who live near the station, on the Acton side, like to say they live in Chiswick. There are debates on the topic...
Loved the views of three trains at North Acton (7:30). I remember the shuttle to South Acton and used it many times in the 1950's as a lad living in South Harrow when my friend and I would buy a Twin Rover ticket and travel the Underground and Red buses all day just for fun! Excellent video and narrative as usual, Jago, which brings back many memories.
North Acton is a great place for filming.
I still think any video about Acton is incomplete without a WoWS sponsorship. "ACTON STATIONS!"
Acton on impulse? Better than that great Marvin Gaye song..."Sexual Ealing"
Awoooooga!
Awoooooga!
Awoooooga!
ACTON STATIONS! ACTION STATIONS! All men, man your Underground Trivia Stations!
@@paullestrange or Otis Redding's Sitting on the Dock of West India Quay
@@emjackson2289 Sitting on the Dock of the Bayswater.
The other railed transport was the tram, that operated from Acton Tram Depot. Alas too Acton Town Hall is now residential accomodation
Wierdly called Acton Old Town Hall even though there isn't a new one...
I used to work at North Acton as a ticket collector come cleaner back in the 80s. Used to talk and have fun with some of the Celebs of the day as there was maybe still is a BBC rehearsal rooms not far from station. I also had to cover if needed West Acton & East Acton. North Acton got very busy in the early mornings as the Elizabeth Arden perfume factory workers used to clock on at the crack of dawn.
Unfortunately, the entire area surrounding North Acton station has been completely redeveloped (some of which is still ongoing). I doubt you'd recognise it now.
The BBC Rehearsal Studios were demolished some years ago. Among those in the profession, it was colloquially known as 'The Acton Hilton'.
And the pub opposite the station (The Castle), regularly frequented by visiting actors, was closed down largely as a result of the national Covid restrictions and was finally knocked down late last year.
There used to be a Halt not far from me many moons ago, the train halted and they put the milk churns on, then it chugged off sometimes leaving parcels.
Also, quite often, "halts" would either only have some of the trains stop there, or would even be request or flag stops. Did the Underground ever officially have any stop on request stops (I heard that after it officially closed, for some time on the Epping-to-Ongar branch people could get a stop requested at Blake Hall, until London Transport told them to knock it off)
Then they put in those terrible buffers...
I really appreciate your use of maps in this vid Jago. Keep up the good work!
My understanding of the BR WR policy was that a halt was an unstaffed "station" with no ticket office, usually no proper barrier, but where the guard collected tickets from departing passengers and later sold tickets on the train to passengers who had joined.
My earliest such experience was at South Greenford Halt; served by a push & pull tank engine service running between Ealing Broadway and Greenford.
The halt was since upgraded to the status of a station but without the addition of staff or ticket office, showing the power of appatent upgrading simply by giving a more pretentious label.
That was back in the day when all stations were, by definition almost, staffed and when those travelling were referred to as passengers. Tell youngsters that today and they call you a boomer.
Nothing to do with your Acton, but for a very long time my uncle sold cars at a dealership called Acton Toyota in OUR Acton, Mass. In the early 2000s they built a new upgraded modern dealership in the neighboring town of Littleton, although they continue to call themselves Acton Toyota albeit now with the suffix "of Littleton". It's a nice place and this reminds me that my truck is overdue for service. Maybe they'll have those complimentary donuts I like. Mmmm.
Jago - I was about to say how attractive I found the mauve-grey twilight-hour shade on the platform at the end of the video but I encountered Acton-packed and, subsequently, Acton stations. Anyway, thank you for this nine-fold accolade.
Years ago I lived in Acton, and my then-girlfriend referred to me as Acton Man.
I worked in The City, and used to get there via the North London Line and the Navarino Road curve that they built so they could close Broad Street. So.much more civilised than using the Tube in rush hour!
That Tea Branch anecdote is British humour in a nutshell
Have you thought about starting a mini-series on 'short working' stations (both current and past), those places that allow trains to turn around enabling higher frequencies in the central areas?
One example that comes to mind (from the past) is Colindale on the Northern where back in the 70's, 1 in 3 of the off peak services terminated.
Victoria and King’s Cross, on the Victoria line being two examples.
Thanks for showing the inside of Chiswick Park. It was the nearest station to my Uni flat for 3 years but I never used it because it was just in zone 3 and so too expensive. I'd always walk from Turnham Green instead :)
There used to be a dock line off the line between Willesden and Shepherds Bush that brushed the low parts of Acton if memory serves me right as it was a bit of a pickle to get stuff into Willesden yards as it branched off the Clapham to Willesden link and I imagine all trace of has long long gone.
Acton Town was my stop (Back in the Day)! Cheers Jago, for all your wonderful posts!
Lights... Camera... Chiswick Park!
Oh, I think I may have made a slight error there.
Lights... Camera... Acton Halt!
No, it's Cut! Media types say Cut, not Halt.
I did always wonder this, when I was young. So many Actons! Acton gets like nine stations and towns near me get, I dunno, 1 or 2.
Also 'Acton packed'; tremendous.
Great video!
7:20 the whole video is working up to this punchline. Well done Jago, brilliant as ever.
The Nine Stations of Acton sounds more like a Fantasy Novel series. I can imagine them being at war with the Five Stations of Ruislip or the Five Stations of Watford for control of the throne or at the very least control of Zones 3 to 7 of the London Underground Map and the rights for a Freedom Pass
Underrated comment. Don’t forget the 3-member Clapham Clan… They control a good chunk of Souff London turf and mandem ought not to be taken lightly, fam
North; South; East; West; Town; Central; Main Line. . . . . . .
Because men can't help Acton on Impulse!
Another masterpiece from the Railway Bard: As You Like It, a comedy in Nine Actons 🎭
Great to see a bit about the South Acton branch. I went to Acton purely to see the abandoned platform and find the remaining abutments of the raised section a few years ago when in the capital with not a lot to do 🤷🏻♂️ It seems an odd thing to say but, it was kind of…cute…Yeah, I never thought I’d say that about an underground station and I feel a bit silly now 🙄
Thanks as ever Jago 👍🍀🍻
We used to go to the funfair on an expanse of grass in Acton in the summertime in the 90s.
I actually travelled on the branch line as a child shortly before it closed - we used to use it to cross from the District Line to the old Broad Street to Richmond line (ex North London Railway now London Overgrond) to visit my mother's friends. Even mentioning Broad Street dates me now!
I've been to Acton stations, I got lost but I had fun. Went to a pub and had a beer. Gave up and took a train back to Kilburn. Thanks I love trains.
That bizarre moment when you had to walk across from north ealing to west Acton, not knowing where you were or what part of the compass you're at!!
so many tracks cross over there that the girl's school is, in effect, on an island!
How you managed to make East Acton look nice and not the grim nightmare it is, is a miracle
Indeed. Not so Croydon upon Acton.
One of your best acton videos so far!
More West London train stuff would be cool (Love from Southall). Oddly satisfying to watch.
Great video as always Jago. Loved the comments. Thanks for sharing. The research must take ages. Roy.
Acton packed…..you can’t write it any better 😎. Bravo Zulu sir.
and Acton is STILL missing a station at the most important place -- DOWNTOWN ACTON. Where all the shops are, like the Morrison's. God knows how many bus routes go thru. Acton Central is like calling Regents Pk station (Bakerloo) Oxford Circus. "It's only a short walk."
Several years ago, when I looked into the differences between a halt and a station due to trying to understand a story about a railways in England I learned a halt was an unmanned very short platform (usually only five to fifteen feet in length) with no facilities beyond a platform to allow getting onto the train and the train only stopped when someone set the flag for train service, a different flag for each direction. While a station was a lot larger and was manned as well as having trains stopping there on a regular basis of some sort - a weekly train counted.
Harrow has a similar amount. North Harrow, West Harrow, South Harrow, Harrow on the Hill and Harrow & Wealdstone.
However the actual borough of Harrow possibly has some the most underground stations in the entire city. It's served by the Metropolitan, Piccadilly, Jubilee, Bakerloo, Central and Overground lines.
Wow my old stomping grounds. I recognised every lil spot
"It's a bit dodgy saying Acton Town is actually *in* Acton."
Scoffs "That's not likely!"
_map shows Acton Town is south of South Acton_
"uuhhh..."
MOAR MAPS PLS!
Also, a "halt" was once a place where a train stopped, that often had little or no supporting structures like a platform or a station house. It was generally for occasional passengers to get on and off the train, back when trains were slower and safety concerns were less of an issue. Now that trains are faster, bigger, more frequent, and thanks to electrified rail systems, the use of "halts" has fallen out of use, so the names are mainly historical now...
Acton-packed: pun of the day, I think.
6:50 in the early 1990s I worked on the security team for Acton Works
I read somewhere that the Great Eastern Railway defined a 'halt', as opposed to a 'Station' as one where staff had no toilet facilities.
Roding Valley, now on the Central Line, started off as Roding Valley Holt and toilets were only added when the Underground made it a 'station'.
(It also was so quiet that the solitary member of staff, right up to the 1980's, would issue tickets with a Gibson Bus Conductors machine!)
No wonder soldiers go "Missing in Acton".
Brilliant video. I’m going to visit all seven ( or nine) very soon. I’ve put it on my list.
I don't know if the definitions match, but in Germany at least, a station is a place for trains to begin, end, or reverse with at least one switch. A halt is just a place for trains to stop and load/unload passengers.
No, they don't. One of the things about railways is that terminology doesn't usually transfer well between different railways; the German (and German-influenced) railways developed in a noticeably different way to British railways, with the German(ic) basic railway being a single track with loops (and therefore points/switches) only at stations whereas the British basic railway was a single track with loops (and points) wherever they were felt necessary and stations wherever they were felt necessary, which wasn't necessarily the same place!
Partly it comes down to the Germanic railway deciding to give the movement control authority to the station master (leaving the points operators as subordinates) whereas the British railway gave that authority to the points operators (making them signalmen and elevating their responsibility), which in turn meant that the station wasn't as important an operational location on the British railway as it was on the Germanic railways. There have always been full-stations on the British railways where there are no points or signals, or those signals are only there to break up signalling sections to increase capacity.
Jago....always at the centre of the Acton...
Acton Town, home of the London Transport Museum Depot, an Aladin's cave of transport delights.
Fantastic place. One of my favorite museums, it ranks far higher than Covent Garden.
Brilliant, just Brilliant sir.
Wonderful stuff and Old Oak station on the borders of East Acton is due to open on the Elizabeth Line/Cross Rail
Spent six years going to school from Acton Town to Ravenscourt Park. Just outside Acton Town there was a factory which proudly proclaimed the company as Tony Brothers of (Acton) - brackets exactly thus. I have always wondered what they did, and why they didn't sack their signwriter.
They make ice cream
Google it and you will find that they made ice(cream) lol.
Nice bit of filming when explaining the "the tea run" with a train running out in one direction closely followed by another coming back (for their tea?) in the other direction.
In Germany this is - of course - clearly regulated. A halt is a passenger platform where trains can only stop and proceed in the same direction. A station involves at least one turnout for a siding or a bay platform. Special case is a single track no turnout station with signals for changing direction and therefore terminate trains.
This leads to the sometimes odd situations. Hamburg Dammtor has 400 m long platforms, Intercity and ICE trains stopping and a S-Bahn station served every few minutes, a ticket hall and a large roof over all tracks, looking like a city station which it is in terms of passenger demand (number 3 in the city). However, technically it is a 4 track halt between Hamburg Central Station and Holstenstraße Junction. Fair to say it used to be a station but turnouts were later removed.
On the other hand you may find a stop in the wilderness with a 2 coaches long gravel platform but either a goods branch going off to some large industry close by or it used to be a halt and now serves as a terminus of a branch line cut off there and beacuse of this is technically a station.
In Germany, the difference beween a station and a halt is as follows:
A station is a piece of railway related piece of infrastructure with at least one set of points, where trains may turn around, start, end, overtake, cross and stop.
An halt is an railway related piece of infrastructure without any points where trains may stop, start and end.
Hope that helps
Ah, just love the ubiquitous green wheelie bins cluttering the East Acton Garden Village at 4:23 ... 🧐
1:18 "housing started to appear" - missed opportunity there to have some houses appearing on the map along with suitable background 'plop' sounds (as houses make when they appear)...
You overestimate my graphical ability.
I live about five miles away from this "Acton" of which you speak. I even have a favourite Chinese restaurant which purports to be there...but I still don't know where it is! If anyone finds it, please get in touch. Thanks.
oh acton! i had the dubious pleasure of visiting it for the first time this week. Had to get out unexpectedly at Acton South because it turns out the North London overground line is about the only bloody line on the network that requires oyster cards/tickets but debit cards don't count of course I only find this out when the train was already in transit would it kill them to put a sign up at Richmond station? So I think there must be a tube station near near so I walk thru an endless beige 70s/80s council estate for what feels like three hours. No tube station! It is a vision of hell! I finally get to the high street I walk up and down for what seems like an hour! No Tube station! I know that Acton has more than one of them but I cannot find one of the bastards! In the end I catch a bus to kensington (and the journey takes forever) so I can join the piccadilly line at Hyde Park Corner. I hope that will be my first and last visit to Acton. I hate it.
The new Abbot&Costello,version of,"Who's on First",will be,"Where's The Action in Acton",naming the stations,in less than 30 seconds!! Oh,yes,in geographical order!! Thanks, Jago,your punnning has risen to new heights,just as yeasty as usual 🙏 🙌 😀 😊 😄 ☺! Thanks,you made my Sunday!!
Great video 👍
Nearby Ealing isn't far behind, with five stations
There’s more stations in Acton then I have hot meals today
this WEEK, even!
Don't forget the station that was built on a whim.....
Acton Impulse....
Acton-packed video? Beyond eye-rolling!
Stations generally serve a town or city and had a station building, ticket hall and porters. Halts were generally in the countryside, had no station building or other facilities.
Jago Hazzard - All Acton Hero? Excellent video good sir!
So the line starts at Disbay Leave, followed by Shocke, next up is Dean Isle, Gillt&Payne, and Angre, then it's Bargayning across the river, Depression Junction crosses with the northern line and skips two abandoned stations, and Acceptance Park is the end of the line.
"Acton packed tale from the tube." That pun is worthy of a face-palm. But it's also worth a gold medal. Brilliant.
Loving the footage from Didcot - I love that place!
MAPS! They’re brilliant, thanks jago
Stand by for Acton!
Anything can happen in the next half hour!
Lights, camera, Acton!
A halt is usually smaller than a station . In North America, flag (or request) stops are typically mapped as halts. In German-speaking countries, stations without points ("switches") where only passenger trains stop are tagged as halt
NB Acton comes from "oak town", -tun itself meaning an enclosure. There are also 9 other places called Acton in the UK.
The Old Oak , of common fame ?
I'd agree with you that that curve looks wrong as the Central line only curves away from the GWML east of the bridge where they both cross under the District and Piccadilly.
A station is the immediate area around a block post (usually a signal box, but doesn't have to be). A station does not have to have platforms etc, it's an operations device, not 'retail' so to speak, but in general parlance most think of platforms etc. Access in and out, is controlled by signals (or other working arrangements) thus controlling the trains. 'Station' comes from 'station limits', which is the area (absolute block/semaphore signalling) controlled by a signal box between the outermost home signal and the outermost starter signal, aka section, signal, in which trains can be moved around without interacting with adjacent signal boxes (there's the clearing point too, but lets ignore that here, it just adds complication) . A halt is just a platform; no signals, no block post, no signal box, no points - just the platform. Trains stopping there are still 'in the section' between signal boxes (block posts), a train stopping there is one of the few non-emergency reasons to stop in the section. Under MAS (TCB if you prefer,) the difference is essentially the same - stations will have signals etc, halts will have none (that specifically relate to them). This difference between station and halt is the same throughout Europe, maybe world-wide.
There is technical language and there is colloquial language. If they don't match, neither one is wrong. The traveller doesn't care for the difference of halts and stations. The railway guy does.
It's the same with doctors, they talk one language with patients, and another with their colleagues.
@@holger_p That is very true.
Yes, I actually laughed out loud at that last pun. Thank you much for that!
I imagine it comes down to Acton just being a very big and non-descript suburb; one could easily imagine an alternate tube map where Angel became 'South Islington', Holloway Road 'Islington central', Cally Road 'West Islington' and Archway 'Islington North', etc. etc.
3:06 I`ve noticed that the Electrostars on the Overground have black in their livery now is that recent or were they always like that?
Thanks Jago. 😉 Keep Safe .
Are those steam locomotives in Old oak Common Depot?
I am one of the people who have travelled on the Acton Town to South Acton line.
Did you actually say "Lights, Camera.... Acton!" while filming this? I bet you did!
Best episode yet
I though the GWR estate was at West Acton, the housing between Noel Road, Saxon Drive and ending just to the west of North Acton Playing Fields
It is.
Acton packed !!. I love it 🤣🤣
5:51 Could somebody tell me if the single track, almost hidden in the bushes, was once the Western Region main line from Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill?
This is the Acton-Northolt line, which runs, not, as you might expect, from Northolt to Acton, but from West Ruislip to Old Oak Common. It was opened in 1903 as the New North Main Line. It's not used today for any significant freight or passenger traffic, but there are various half-hearted proposals to do something with it when funds are available, so it's still officially open.
@@Tevildo I believe it's used if the line to Marylebone is shut for maintenance.
@@jimthorne304 Yes, it's still open. There used to be a parliamentary train that ran on it once a week (Geoff Marshall, of course, did a video on it), but that ended in 2018.
@@Tevildo Once a day as I remember, from Paddington to West Ruislip at about 11.30
Great video. ☺️
as an Acton Resident, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched this video and said “I WENT THERE BEFORE” and recognise the surroundings 😂
A lovely round-up. I always wonder if Acton was the inspiration for Pagwell, the home of Norman Hunter's Professor Branestawm: there were at least N, S, E, W and Central, and (I think) Pagwell Green, and Gardens, as well as Upper and Lower (Acton missed a trick there). Not sure about 'Town'...
It is distressing that transferring between the various lines (GW, OG, Central, Dist-Picc) is not made easy - it's a mess, quite frankly. When the Elizabeth line and Overground get stations at Old Oak Common, that will sort that link out (though there may be a bit of a walk - like Canary Wharf). When the SW orbital line (Kew/Hounslow to Cricklewood/Mill Hill) gets off the ground, it would be so good if it had an interchange station where it goes under the District/Piccadilly line; maybe there could also be platforms there for the Overground to Richmond. That just leaves the Central - does anyone have any good suggestions? Better bus links would help; at least they could be set up quickly - but TfL buses show little interest in proper integration with TfL rail/tube (see Roger French's excellent 'BusandTrainUser' blog about the Elizabeth line opening).
what i find faszinationg - 7 stations, 4 lines and not one interchange....
So there is definitely potential for an Acton Junction........
Acton town is an interchange station
Yes, that was an 'Acton Packed' episode indeed! Nice shots that included the Acton Depot Museum, any chance of a video or two about it?
Probably, next time it’s open.
i always come back for the 'youre my x to my y' lines at the end
2:12 so South Acton appears to be Northeast of Acton Town.
Makes perfect sense using London Transport logic. 🤔😉
I was really looking forward to a line at the end, which I can _completely_ hear in Jago's voice, saying "There's also Acton Bridge, but that's in Cheshire so it doesn't count."
So now I have to visit Acton as well. The Jago Tour is becoming quite a long day.
Acton packed! Love it