Richmond station (London)

The station building, designed by James Robb Scott in Portland stone[10] and dating from 1937, is in Art Deco style and its facade includes a square clock.[11] The area in front of the station main entrance was pedestrianised in 2013[12] and includes a war memorial to soldier Bernard Freyberg, who was born in Richmond.

The Richmond and West End Railway (R&WER) opened the first station at Richmond on 27 July 1846,[13] as the terminus of its line from Clapham Junction.[14] 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 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 (L&SWR).

On 1 January 1869,[15] the L&SWR opened the Kensington and Richmond line from north of Addison Road station (now Kensington (Olympia) station) on the West London Joint Railway. This line ran through Hammersmith (Grove Road) station, since closed, and Turnham Green and had connection with the North & South Western Junction Railway (N&SWJR) near Gunnersbury. 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 (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 and Barnes.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) briefly (1 June to 31 October 1870)[13] ran a service from Paddington 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.

On 1 June 1877, the District Railway (DR) linked its then terminus at Hammersmith to the nearby L&SWR tracks east of the present Ravenscourt Park station. The DR began running trains over the L&SWR tracks to Richmond.[15] On 1 October 1877,[13] 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 Willesden Junction, of the L&SWR and the MR via Grove Road station and of the L&SWR via Clapham Junction to Waterloo. From 1 January 1894,[13] the GWR began sharing the MR Richmond service, resulting in Gunnersbury having the services of five operators.

After electrifying its tracks north of Acton Town in 1903, the DR funded the electrification, completed on 1 August 1905, from Gunnersbury to Richmond.[15] The DR ran electric 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,[13] leaving operations northwards through Kew Gardens 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,[13] 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.

Richmond station
Ticket hall & cafés (above) 7 6 District line &    eastbound 5 4 North London line westbound     3 2 1 Waterloo to Reading line eastbound westbound stairs/lift

An Overground train at the station

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.[18] 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.[19] 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.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

• 8 direct to Waterloo (South Western Railway)
  • 2 fast calling at Clapham Junction only
  • 2 semi fast calling at Putney, Clapham Junction and Vauxhall
  • 4 all stations
• 8 direct from Waterloo (South Western Railway)
  • 2 to Reading
  • 2 to Windsor & Eton Riverside
  • 2 indirectly returning to Waterloo via Hounslow and Brentford
  • 2 indirectly returning to Waterloo via Kingston and Wimbledon
• 4 to Stratford (London Overground)
• 6 to Upminster via Tower Hill (District line)

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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richmond station (London).

• Train times and station information for Richmond station (London) from National Rail
• Transport for London Richmond station
• www.Old-maps.co.uk — Richmond station, 1871

Preceding station	London Overground			Following station
Terminus		North London line		Kew Gardens towards Stratford
Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Terminus		District line Richmond branch		Kew Gardens towards Upminster
Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
North Sheen		South Western Railway Hounslow/Kingston loop line		St Margarets
Putney		South Western Railway Waterloo – Windsor		Twickenham
Clapham Junction		South Western Railway Waterloo – Reading		Twickenham
Former services
Terminus		London and South Western Railway (1869-1916)		Kew Gardens towards West Brompton
		Metropolitan Railway (1877-1906)		Kew Gardens towards Paddington
		Great Western Railway (1894-1910)
Abandoned plans
Preceding station	London Underground			Following station
Terminus		Central line (1913 & 1920)		Kew Gardens towards Liverpool Street