Public Transport in Eastcote

Eastcote is served by one station on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines of the London Underground and by three local Transport for London bus routes (which also connect to further stations on the Central and Metropolitan lines).

Fig 3 Mast mounted bullseye with station name. The book London Underground By Design By Mark Ovenden gives a history of the roundel however the timing of certain design features varies and whilst the word ‘Underground’ was used from 1947 onwards some lines did not use station names until 1969. The date of this picture is circa 1960. An attempt to explain the use of designs at various times is attempted here lu-roundel-chronology Image; londonscreenarchives.com
Fig 2 The Mast mounted bullseye today with corporate lettering. The book London Underground By Design By Mark Ovenden says that around 1908 the ribbon or dashes were added under the letters ‘ndergoun’
To and from London

Underground timings below are correct as of 8th October 2018 with the introduction of the autumn leaf fall timetable on the Piccadilly line; this operates until 20th December and there are minor changes to timings of trains on both lines throughout this period.

Metropolitan Line
Fig 1 Train Types

The Metropolitan line service runs daily between Uxbridge and Baker Street/Aldgate via Rayners Lane, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Wembley Park, Finchley Road, Baker Street and Kings Cross St. Pancras. Trains run approximately every 5 to 10 minutes during Monday to Friday peak hours and every 7 to 8 minutes at most other times. In the morning peak, seven trains run non-stop between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Finchley Road; these depart at 0625, 0656, 0725, 0759, 0833, 0905 and 0938. There is also one train in the early evening at 1809. At all other times trains call at all stations. On Mondays to Saturdays trains run from 0522 until 0046 and on Sundays from 0647 until 0025.

The last train to leave Baker Street for Uxbridge on Mondays to Saturdays (but see below) is at 0043 and on Sundays at 0020.

Piccadilly Line

The Piccadilly line service runs daily between Uxbridge and central London via Rayners Lane, Acton Town, Hammersmith, Earls Court and South Kensington. Trains run approximately every 5 to 10 minutes during Monday to Friday peak hours and every 20 minutes at most other times. During Monday to Friday peak hours, generally one train in three and at other times one train in two starts from Rayners Lane; it may be quicker to take the first Metropolitan line train and change at Rayners Lane for stations beyond there. On Mondays to Saturdays trains run at 0527 then from 0628 (Mondays to Fridays) or 0853 (Saturdays) until 0036; on Sundays they run at 0655 then from 0853 until 0013.

The last train from central London with an onward connection towards Uxbridge departs Green Park at 0034 on Mondays to Thursdays, 0035 on Fridays and Saturdays and 2340 on Sundays (changing at Acton Town).

To and from Uxbridge

Metropolitan and Piccadilly line trains run to Uxbridge from 0549 until 0123 on Mondays to Saturdays and from 0711 until 0047 on Sundays.

From Uxbridge back to Eastcote, trains run from 0512 until 0036 on Mondays to Saturdays and from 0636 until 0014 on Sundays.

Live departure boards for the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines can be found here.
Tube map can be found here (pdf).

Fig 4 Buses via Eastcote                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Buses Route 282 runs daily between Mount Vernon Hospital and Ealing Hospital via Northwood, Northwood Hills, Eastcote, Eastcote Lane, Northolt, Yeading and Greenford. In Eastcote itself it runs along Joel Street, High Road Eastcote and Field End Road. Buses run about every 13 minutes during the day on Mondays to Saturdays and every 16 minutes at most other times (every 21 minutes early on Saturdays and Sundays). Buses depart Eastcote Station towards Northolt from 0525 until 0015 daily and towards Northwood from 0543 until 0032 (0033 on Sundays). There are additional journeys on schooldays only, one in the morning towards Mount Vernon Hospital and two in the afternoon towards Greenford/Ealing Hospital. The full timetable can be found here .

Route H13 runs daily between St Vincent’s Nursing Home and Ruislip Lido via Northwood Hills, Pinner, Eastcote Village and Ruislip. In Eastcote itself it runs along Bridle Road, Field End Road, High Road Eastcote and Eastcote Road. Buses run about every 20 minutes during the day on Mondays to Saturdays and from late morning to late afternoon on Sundays and every 30 minutes at all other times. One additional journey runs in the afternoon on schooldays only in the Pinner direction.                                                         Buses depart Field End Road/High Road towards Ruislip from 0615 on Mondays to Fridays, 0614 on Saturdays and 0714 on Sundays until 0013 daily and towards Pinner from 0610 on Mondays to Fridays, 0609 on Saturdays and 0709 on Sundays until 0009 daily. The full timetable can be found here .

Route 398 runs daily between Ruislip Station and Wood End via Ruislip Manor, Eastcote, Rayners Lane, South Harrow and Northolt Park. In Eastcote itself it runs along Southbourne Gardens, Field End Road and North View. Buses run about every 30 minutes throughout the day. Buses depart Eastcote Station towards Rayners Lane from 0636 on Mondays to Fridays (0635 on Saturdays and Sundays) until 0005 daily and towards Ruislip from 0712 until 0043 daily. The full timetable can be found here . Nearest bus to Heathrow is the 278 from Ruislip. The full timetable can be found  here .

Fig 5 Eastcote Real-time Information Boards. Image; mylondonnews.com. Eastcote station was modernised with real-time information boards in 2015.See the story here at mylondon.news. And art on the Underground ©PaulThurlby2016

 

Fig 6 Tube Train Leaving London. Image; reddit.com/user/robbiekhan/ via Giphy
Fig 7 The book London Underground By Design By Mark Ovenden states Eastcote station has shopfronts complete with Streamline Moderne curved windows and mast mounted bullseyes on top of each retail unit. Meanwhile, Richard Coltman suggests “Whilst Holden’s design for Eastcote Station drew heavily on similar designs at Sudbury Town and Sudbury Hill. It is, however, not a copy but a well-executed evolution of the Sudbury model. …Eastcote Station is a fine example of Holden’s work.” see modernistbritain Eastcote Station . The station also features in the works regarding modernism-in-metroland

 

 

Fig 6 shows the current London_Underground_1973_Stock Built between 1974 and 1977 by Metro Cammell, Birmingham

 

 

 

 

 

Fig 8 Metropolitan Line-A60 Rolling Stock-Eastcote_Tube 2011. Courtesy of mainlytrains.Creative Commons LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Carriages fabricated by Cravens of Sheffield c. 1960. Click on the image for wiki details of London_Underground_A60_and_A62_Stock

 

 

Fig 8 shows publicity images shows the future (2023?) rolling stock from the design consultancy Design and attrib; PriestmanGoode & TFL. Click on picture for a full size, full length motion in HD. Whilst visiting their video motion library, check out the Moving Platform concept.

In May 2018, the article londonreconnections2018-upgrading-the-piccadilly has project timings. An article printed in 2014 at londonreconnections entitled ‘Piccadilly Line – The Trains’ has an early promotional video of the train’s cab frontal chassis and window octagon profile. It also discuss’ why the factors of heat and energy would influence the train design.  Reducing unladen weight by reducing the number of bogies which in turn allows for air-conditioning units (such units could not fit in the roof of a deep tube train). It also discuss’ that the line voltage will go from 630V to 750V since transmission loss is inversely proportional to the square of the voltage. Also, there’ll be regenerative braking. Given the Piccadilly Line  and Metropolitan inter-running see the article new-signalling-contract-signed Thales system. Presumeably, this modern rolling stock is both fitted with Wheel Slide Protection (WSP) to solve the Autumn-leaves-on-the-line problem as explained at londonreconnections wear-and-lathing-problem-with-the-piccadilly-lines-trains. See Fig 9 on WSP details which is similar in concept to car ABS systems but for rail.

Fig 9 Wheel Slide Protection Illustrated. Design and Attrib: Porterbrook of Derby. Click on image to visit the web page for full details

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day trips to Eastcote were common in the early part of the 20th Century. The London Transport Museum has a number of images of the environs of London and the South East which were used to promote rail travel. But such graphics of the era can be denoted by the postcard. The card reads; ‘…The district around the hamlet of Eastcote is picturesque in the extreme. The view depicted is typical of many places in the neighbourhood all of which may be easily reached by a half day excursion from London…’ ‘…Series II Picturesque Counties Raphael Tuck & Sons [Regd.] Postcard 7128 Art Publishers to Their Majesties King & Queen…’ Source internet-archive Collection by newberrypostcards  This postcard was printed between 1903 and 1959. This postcard has variants, which Newberry defines to include: textured versus untextured cards; any differences in color or printing; identical images with different captions or ornamentation (e.g. gilt, glitter); postcards with a written message on the back versus blank back.Reproduced under newberry.org/rights-and-reproductions. ‘…The call of the open air. The days of the great School Treat were still with us in the 1900s — a Victorian children’s outing for a year of good attendance at Sunday School or day school — and went on well into the Thirties. In west London children were taken on highly organised outings (some financed by local traders) to the countryside at Ruislip or Eastcote. The Pavilion Gardens specially catered for such parties in the Twenties — there was a large area at Field End Road, Eastcote, set aside for picnics, rounders, donkey rides and roundabouts (and there was cover for over 4,000 people if it started to rain)….’ p16,17 London’s underground suburbs by Edwards, Dennis F.
‘…The train comes to a halt at Eastcote and the teachers and helpers guide the rush of shouting, merry children up the slope and into narrow Field End Road. For many children this is their first trip to the country. Doors slam; children shout; a happy day lies ahead at The Pavilion pleasure grounds….’. ‘…..Eastcote The day of their lives “How long have we got to wait, Mum? There were few London children 50 years or more ago who hadn’t come out to rural Eastcote and the delights of a donkey derby, electric swings and sports at Captain Bayly’s ‘Pavilion’ Pleasure Grounds in Field End Road. As many as 4000 could be provided with 1/6d lunches or teas under cover…’ p62 The romance of Metro-land : a further armchair odyssey through the countryside served by the old Metropolitan Railway by Edwards, Dennis F. There is one known image of amusements at the The Pavilion in the Figure from ruisliponline.co.uk’s super old-Eastcote&Ruislip-photo-collection and the Figure has two images from NFCA Digital (attrib; The National Fairground and Circus Archive, The University of Sheffield).  The National Fairground and Circus Archive (NFCA) (NFCA Digital ) is a collection of recognised importance. It is a unique collection of photographic, printed, manuscript and audiovisual material covering all aspects of the culture of travelling showpeople, their organisation as a community, their social history and everyday life and the artefacts and machinery of fairgrounds. This archive is located at University of Sheffield Library Digital Collections. . A remarkable collection  where for our sojourn, Belton Fair 1914 and Oxford St Giles Fair 1915 indicate the ambience of the day. As well,  fairground-heritage.org.uk has an extensive image gallery. The Fairground Heritage Trust aims to preserve historic fairground equipment, imagery and memorabilia for future generations.
‘…Many were the pairs of small feet that trod the platforms of Eastcote; excited children pushed up the inclined approaches to the Field End Road on their way to the delights of the donkey Derby and the amusements at ‘The Pavilion’…..’ p.17 metro memories : an armchair odyssey through the countryside served by the Metropolitan Railway by Edwards, Dennis F. The Figure above shows The Cavendish Recreation Ground and environs, Eastcote, from the south-west, 1930 © Historic England. Nearby, (just South of the Cavendish at the now named Pavilion Way off Ferncroft Ave) were the Pavilion Private Excursion Grounds in Northolt Road (now Field End Road) that attracted thousands of school children who came for a day out in the 16 acres of pleasure grounds with swings and roundabouts and donkey rides. The Cavendish Pavilion was built nearby as a private sports ground in 1914. Eastcote In The 30s by Ron Edwards RNELHS Journal 1999 says ‘…The only development south of the railway consisted of a few houses in Field End Road and Woodlands Avenue. This area consisted of sports fields, the Cavendish Club, the Pavilion (an entertainment centre for outings), a firing range for clay pigeon shooting and farms…..’ and  Eastcote – Meadow To Metroland by Spink & Toms RNELHS Journal 2004  says ‘….However the majority of passengers in the early years were not commuters but children and adults coming out for day trips to Eastcote, ‘one of hose picturesque rural villages that popularity has failed to spoil’. Many then continued to the Pavilion Entertainment Grounds run by Arthur Bayly, a bandleader in the Salvation Army, further down Field End Road…..’
The Figure from 23rd July 1931 shows Day Trippers alight at Eastcote station from a District line train and walking up a curved path away from the platform from a District line train. © TfL from the London Transport Museum Collection
From Day Trips to evacuation by train. The Figure from 1940 shows The Home Front in Britain during the 2nd World War (D 2587).The photograph was taken on arrival at Brent Station. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: iwm.org.uk/collections

 

 

 

 

Eastcote’s boundaries. Figure travels North from Eastcote’s South West corner. Starting from ElliottAve&nearby streets then SpringfieldGdns, CoombeDrive, MansfieldGdns, LindenAve, BeechAve, over the rail line onto AcaciaAve, ElmAve ending at LimeGrove, HawthorneAve.
Eastcote’s boundaries. Figure travels North from Eastcote’s West boundary. Starting from Hale End Close & MaybankGdns&nearby streets then MountParkRd, Coniston Gardens, WentworthDrive, SalisburyRd, ending at WiltshireLn and the North boundary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Full Screen Option – Eastcote Perimeter (Travel) Flight; going North from Eastcote’s South West corner. Starting from ElliottAve&nearby streets then SpringfieldGdns, CoombeDrive, MansfieldGdns, LindenAve, BeechAve, over the rail line onto AcaciaAve, ElmAve, LimeGrove, HawthorneAve. Hale End Close & MaybankGdns&nearby streets then MountParkRd, Coniston Gardens, WentworthDrive, SalisburyRd to WiltshireLn and the North boundary. Travelling south via FrancisRd,RushdeneRd,BoundaryRd over the railway line via Sunningdale&Windermere Avenues then Cardinal&Castleton Roads ending at Whitby Rd.

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– Eastcote Perimeter (Travel) Flight with soundtrack and some images (Credit: NASA) from cradleofaviation.org. First 25 secs is audio only thereafter- video pictures. Effects scripted in Shotcut video editor overlaid on a Google Earth Pro output and saved to a H.264/AAC mp4 file. ©Eastcote Residents Association 2021