Drayton Green

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From My London

Hidden away in West London is the capital's quietest train station. It sees an average of just 34 passengers a day, is unstaffed, has no ticket office, and isn't even open on Sundays.

Surprisingly, the station is surrounded by houses and has an estate on two sides. At first glance, it was unclear why the rail station wasn't being used as there were more than enough people around who seemingly should be able to use it for their commute.

[snip]

It was spooky. The station already had a strange feeling because of the lack of a ticket office or barriers. My time alone did finally end when I was joined by a train. Like many of the trains at Drayton Green, nobody got off or entered the locomotive.

As it only receives a train service every 30 minutes, six days a week, this also wasn't a surprise.

[snip]

It seemed I had actually visited a deserted station rather than a working stop. This emptiness might also be the result of a vicious circle. Residents never see anyone at the station - maybe they aren't sure that the station is actually operational and never even try to take a train from there as a result.

Overall, I couldn't see any reasons that Drayton Green should even remain open. It has barely any passengers and has better transport links within walking distance. Without looking at the stats it was clearly the quietest station I'd ever been to, probably the strangest as well.

[IndustryInsider]

What an appalling article!

[Surrey 455]

What an appalling article!

Unfortunately that is what local journalism has become. Especially Reach titles.

[Hafren]

I'm surprised there weren't any enthusiasts around to observe the loco-haulage.

Perhaps next week the author will discover request stops.

[grahame]

The geography is an interesting one - from what do they know



As the article says - it is something of an odd cross-line.  Now - I don't know Drayton Green, but I have worked very close to Castle Bar Park and that is a mile to the north on the same line. Passenger numbers three times that of Drayton Green but still weak for a station with a 30 minute service, and another interesting point is that passenger numbers plummeted a few years before covid - I suspect because the trains ran only as far as West Ealing and not into Paddington.

Now I appreciate that they won't run into Paddington's great arched terminus again, but what if they slipped underneath and carried on to - oh I don't know - Woolwich or Shenfield, cutting down on all those reversals at Royal Oak that cut off trains in their prime at the moment, carring on to Ruislip or beyond.

I note a starting point at present ...
50 minutes - West Ruislip to Liverpool Street
39 minutes - West Drayton to Liverpool Street

[stuving]

The value of Drayton Green as a station is even more marginal than that. It has three other stations well within half a mile, arranged very nearly at equal angles. So the area from which it's the closest station is small (well under a km²), and it's not all just housing (schools, parks, and of course the Plassers' triangle). Two of those other stations now offer four Elizabeth Line services per hour each way, so it must be worth a longer walk to either so as to avoid changing. If that's an extra half mile, it just about eliminates the whole area of "nearest to" housing.

So if someone proposed a station there on either a new or a reopened line, I don't think you'd waste your effort supporting the idea. It's hard to see why it was thought worth building in the first place, so close to Castle Bar Park, but I think I have found out. When it opened on 1st March 1905 it was described as a "halte", and was served by trains that turned right at Drayton Green Junction towards Southall as well as left towards Ealing. So I'm pretty sure it was there to provide what could be called an Ealing station for trains not calling at West Ealing, let alone Ealing Broadway. Which only reinforces the idea that it serves little purpose now.

As to whether a line serving the other two station north of it is justified, that's another question, asked many times before.

[BBM]

As to whether a line serving the other two station north of it is justified, that's another question, asked many times before.

A couple of years ago Geoff Marshall made a 'Least Used Station' video about South Greenford:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0wXeUDMAY0

[BBM]

Geoff has just released a new 'Least Used Station' video - and this time it's from Drayton Green itself!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLD6tX-yQS8

[grahame]

My London has further interest in the West Ealing to Greenford service

The West London railway line where it takes 12 minutes to travel just 2 and a half miles

Not sure how unusual that statistic is.   How long does the Circle line take from Paddington to Victoria, and what is the distance?

[grahame]

From myLondon

West Londoners living next to the capital's quietest National Rail station have said that people choose to walk to the nearby Elizabeth line instead. They add that the new station in West Ealing is in Zone 3 and therefore cheaper to travel to.

It used to provide services to Paddington before the Elizabeth line came along. But, some locals told MyLondon that the stop is still crucial to some, especially those who may have mobility issues and cannot easily travel on foot to West Ealing.

Francis Thurgood, 75, a retired senior manager in the care profession has lived in the area since 1991. Asked if he used Drayton Green, he said: "Not any longer, because before it used to be direct to Paddington. Now, one has to change at West Ealing.

Richard Moody, 33, a surveyor who has lived in the area for three and a half years said: "We don't use it really. I'm not really that surprised [that it's the least used in London].

"You can only go to West Ealing - there's not much point in it. You have to wait five or 10 minutes and you can walk to West Ealing [in that time]. The other way only goes to Greenford. Who wants to go to Greenford?"