Acton Town

Acton Town is a Station in Travelcard Zone 3 on The Piccadilly Line. It is one of 2 stations that serves the surrounding areas of Acton and Acton Forest. It acts as an optional terminus of the line.

The station today
There are two footbridges, one has staircases while the other has lifts to reach the platforms. The platforms have canopies sheltering the entire platform with modern lighting and CCTV equipment. The station has a car park with 22 bays and 20 bicycle parking spaces. There are also 2 disabled parking spaces located conveniently next to the station building and in front of two shops. The station has three platforms, one side and one island platform. The side platform is the through eastbound platform for trains towards Cockfosters and is directly accessible from the station building. Next to it is the through westbound platform for trains towards Highbury & Islington. The terminating bay platform is on the other side of the island platform where trains reverse and head westbound.

History
Acton Town was first opened in 1902 along with the rest of what was the District line between Midtown and Acton Town. It acted as the Terminus of the line and served a very rural community. 4 years later, in 1906 the Piccadilly opened a Terminus at the nearby Camden Town station. In 1933, along with the extension to Highbury & Islington, TFS wanted to close down the District Line-as it wasn't getting much service. However, due to the proximity between Camden Town and Camden East station on the District, they thought that it was not worth scrapping from the tube so Acton Town (along with Camden East and Havesbridge Central) was transferred to the Piccadilly. As for the rest of the line: Camden Road continued being served by rail, Mansion House- Midtown was taken over by the Circle And only Queenstown Road station was forced to close.

Acton Town acted as the terminus for a few years until East Acton station opened in 1942. In 1955, a Piccadilly line extension to City Airport was planned in conjunction with the opening of the airport 10 years later. However, the proposal was later cancelled due to financial constraints and the area it serves. A petition was then signed by Stockstad residents to extend the line to Cockfosters via City Airport. Transport for Stockstad accepted the extension to City Airport but not Cockfosters as it was a rural area. The line was extended to City Airport in 1977. Another petition was again signed to extend the line to Cockfosters to increase transport accessibility for the aborigines in 1999. Transport for Stockstad finally agreed to extend to Cockfosters by 2005. However, construction works were delayed due to confined work space and irregular landscape along the route and the Hatton Cross station worksite. The extension eventually opened in 2008 with an intermediate station at Hatton Cross.

Art Deco and Design History
Until it was taken over by the Piccadilly, Acton Town was not an impressive station. However, when the Piccadilly came along in 1934, TFS decided to have a remodelling of the station to keep up to modern safety standards. So, it hired three architects to redesign it. Maineroadfan and Antlucl designed the platforms (unintentionally mirroring what the TTC would use it the 50's) and VincentLUMCFan designed the building. Two lifts were installed to provide step-free access and a new footbridge was installed. The station building was inspired by Charles Holden's design, having a concrete slab roof and tall clerestory windows. The building still has many heritage features including Vincent's famous "Snow" ramps for step-free access. The platforms were also built with sandstone to match with the building's theme.

Sidings and depots
There used to be two additional sidings to the east of the station so that trains could be renewed but was removed in 2010 as a depot is already in place nearby. The depot is large and is the main depot of the Piccadilly line. The depot has two maintenance sidings, one carwash siding and can fit more than 10 trains.

Nearby Attractions
Acton is unfortunately a very rural area, mostly made up of forest. TFS has used this to its advantage however, and uses a nearby building to store its plans for the New World.

However, a redevelopment programme is currently planned to revive the area.