South Acton railway station

South Acton railway station is in the London Borough of Ealing in South Acton, west London. It is on the North London Line, and the station and all trains serving it are operated by London Overground. It is in Travelcard Zone 3. Until 1959 it was also served by the District line of the London Underground.

History
Between 1880 and 1917 the station served as an interchange station between the North London Line and the Hammersmith & Chiswick branch.

Construction
A short spur of the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR) from station, 1,232 yards (1,126 metres) long, was authorised by the Metropolitan Railway Act of 1874. When first opened, the spur was used for goods trains from 15 May 1899 onwards. Passenger services were introduced on 13 June 1905 to provide an interchange with the North London Railway which ran services from north London to the MDR's branch. It thus provided an easier interchange for Richmond for eastbound passengers than changing trains at further east.

The South Acton station on the District line of the London Underground was located adjacent to South Acton station on the North London Line on the north-west side of the tracks.

Initially, the line had through passenger services to Hounslow Barracks (now ). However, the line was relatively little used and in 1932 the line was reduced to a single track, operated by a one-car shuttle service between Acton Town and South Acton.

In 1933 the railway became part of the London Passenger Transport Board, becoming a branch line of the District line.

In later years, the shuttle train was normally worked by a single car of London Underground G Stock, specially modified for one person operation and fitted with additional brakes. Given the (then highly unusual) driver-only operation, the branch line was equipped with a two wire emergency telephone system at window level, a feature normally found only in tunnels on the London Underground.

Closure
The South Acton shuttle was withdrawn on 28 February 1959. Nothing now remains of the spur, except for a few bridgeheads and sections of the old trackbed, which indicate the route. Currently the rest of station of the same name continues to be well used.

Service
The typical service (as of 2009) at the station is four trains per hour westbound to, and four trains per hour eastbound to via Willesden, Highbury and Hackney.

Transport links
The station lies on London bus route 440.