Rayners Lane is a London Underground station, located in the district of Rayners Lane, in north-west London, 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 lines. It is located to the west of the junction of Rayners Lane, Alexandra Avenue and Imperial Drive (A4090). It is in London fare 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.

History

The Metropolitan Railway (Harrow and Uxbridge Railway) constructed the line between Harrow on the Hill and Uxbridge and commenced services on 4 July 1904 with, initially, Ruislip being the only intermediate stop. At first, services were operated by steam trains, but track electrification was completed in the subsequent months and electric trains began operating on 1 January 1905.

Progressive development in the north Middlesex 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 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 Rayners Lane and Uxbridge from that date. On 23 October 1933, District line services were replaced by Piccadilly line trains.

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 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.

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:

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 routes 398, H9, H10 and H12 serve the station.

References

  • London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • One platform shows a London Underground style roundel name board, the other a Metropolitan Railway Diamond name board.