The new London Overground line names and colours are to be introduced across the London rail network in autumn 2024
Architecture
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.
History
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).
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.
Accident
On 18 September 1987, an accident occurred at Richmond when a westbound District line hit the buffers of platform 6 and broke the glass/perspex panels behind. No passengers were seriously injured.[16]
Crossrail
A Crossrail branch to Kingston upon Thames via Richmond was proposed in 2003, but was dropped in 2004 due to a combination of local opposition, complex choices and engineering at the start of the route, cost, and insufficient return on investment.[17] It could have run either overland or via a tunnel to Turnham Green and on the existing track through Gunnersbury to Richmond (which would have lost the District line service) and thence to Kingston.
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.
Additional services, including trains to and from Shepperton, Camberley, Aldershot and London Waterloo via Hounslow call at the station during the peak hours.
