Bayswater tube station

Bayswater is a London Underground station in the Bayswater area of the City of Westminster. The station is on the Circle and District lines, between Notting Hill Gate and Paddington stations and is in Travelcard Zone 1.[7] It is less than 100 metres (330 ft) away from the Central line's Queensway station.

Bayswater
Entrance on Queensway
Bayswater Location of Bayswater in Central London
Location	Queensway
Local authority	City of Westminster
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	1
OSI	Queensway [1]
London Underground annual entry and exit
2015	5.22 million[2]
2016	4.76 million[2]
2017	4.71 million[2]
2018	4.33 million[3]
2019	4.25 million[4]
Key dates
1 October 1868	Opened as "Bayswater" (MR)[5]
1 November 1926	Started (District) and renamed "Bayswater (Queen's Road) & Westbourne Grove"[5]
1933	Renamed "Bayswater (Queen's Road)"[5]
1946	Renamed "Bayswater (Queensway)" (suffix gradually dropped)[5]
1949	Started (Circle)[6]
Other information
External links	TfL station info page
WGS84	51.512°N 0.188°W
London transport portal

Location

The station is located on the busy Queensway tourist street and is only a few metres from Bayswater Road. It is a short walk from Portobello Market.[8] Further north along the street is the site of the former Whiteleys shopping centre, which is currently under redevelopment.[8][9] Also nearby is Westbourne Grove, Queens ice rink and bowling centre, Kensington Gardens and St Sophia's Greek Orthodox Cathedral.[8] It is less than 100 metres (330 ft) away from Queensway station on the Central line.[8]

History

The station was opened by the steam-operated Metropolitan Railway (MR) (now the Metropolitan line) on 1 October 1868 as Bayswater,[5] as part of the railway's southern extension to South Kensington where it connected to the District Railway (DR).[6][10][11] Construction of the railway line, through the already developed Bayswater area required the excavation of a tunnel using the cut and cover method: a trench 42 feet (13 m) deep was excavated between brick retaining walls which was then roofed-over with brick arches to allow building work above. Large compensation payments were made to landowners affected by the excavations and, in Leinster Gardens to the east, the frontages of two houses demolished to make way for the line were reconstructed to restore the appearance of a terrace of houses.[12][note 1]

Station roof under construction

Completed station

Bayswater station, circa 1867

The platforms of Bayswater station were constructed in the trench and provided with a glazed roof. A short section of the trench was left unroofed to the west of the station to allow smoke and steam from the trains to escape from the tunnels. Even before the completion in 1884 of the continuous circuit of tracks which are now the Circle line, the MR and DR operated services through Bayswater as the Inner Circle.[10] The MR originally provided all of the trains, but from 1871, each company operated half of the service.[13]

In 1905, to improve the conditions in the tunnels and stations and increase service frequencies, the MR electrified the tracks through Bayswater and, in conjunction with the DR, around the whole of the Inner Circle and across most of their routes.[10] Electric trains began running on 1 July 1905,[10] but the MR's poor coordination of the installation work with the DR led to disruption for several months.[14]

Exterior view in 1961

On 1 November 1926 the District line began a service between Edgware Road and Putney Bridge and the station was also renamed to Bayswater (Queen's Road) & Westbourne Grove.[5] From this date the MR operated all Inner Circle services apart from a few District line operated Sunday services.[15] The station was then renamed again to Bayswater (Queen's Road) in 1933.[5] In 1946, it was renamed to Bayswater (Queensway) but the suffix was gradually dropped.[5] In 1949, the service was separately identified on the tube map as the Circle line for the first time.[6]

The station was refurbished by Metronet in 2006.[16]

Services and connections

Circle line

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

• 6tph clockwise to Edgware Road via Paddington (Praed Street)[10][17]
• 6tph anti-clockwise to Hammersmith via High Street Kensington and Victoria[10][18]

District line

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

• 6tph eastbound to Edgware Road[11][19]
• 6tph westbound to Wimbledon[11][20]

There is also a morning service every day from Acton Town (Ealing Broadway on Saturdays) to Edgware Road and a late evening service from Edgware Road to Ealing Broadway on Sundays only.[11]

Connections

London Bus routes 7, 23, 27, 36 and 70, and night route N7 serve the station.[21][22] Additionally, bus routes 23, 27 and 36 provide a 24-hour bus service.[21][22]

Incidents

In November 2017, a 29-year-old man attempted to murder a 55-year-old man by pushing him in front of a District line train as it was pulling in to the platform. However, the victim survived by adopting a foetal position between the rails as the train passed over him.[23]

In popular culture

Bayswater tube station is the subject of a painting by Walter Sickert dating from 1916, showing the platform-sign reading ‘Queen’s Road (Bayswater)’ beside a big advertisement for Whiteley's department store. The station was later renamed Bayswater,[5] to avoid confusion with Queensway station, which was also named ‘Queen’s Road’ until 1946.

Notes

1. The dummy frontages at 23 and 24 Leinster Gardens remain and feature blank windows and false front doors and small porticos matching the adjacent buildings.

References

Citations

1. "Out of Station Interchanges" (XLSX). Transport for London. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
2. "Multi-year station entry-and-exit figures (2007–2017)" (XLSX). London Underground station passenger usage data. Transport for London. January 2018. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
3. "Station Usage Data" (CSV). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2018. Transport for London. 21 August 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
4. "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
5. Hywel, Williams (7 January 2004). "District Line — Bayswater". Renamed Stations. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
6. Rose 1999.
7. Standard Tube Map (PDF) (Map). Not to scale. Transport for London. May 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
8. "Bayswater Tube Station". Google Maps. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
9. "Laing O'Rourke wins £250m Whiteleys job". Building. 16 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
10. Feather, Clive. "Circle line". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Archived from the original on 3 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
11. Feather, Clive. "District line". Clive's Underground Line Guides. Archived from the original on 3 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
12. Day & Reed 2008, pp. 20–21.
13. Day & Reed 2008, pp. 25–26.
14. Wolmar 2005, pp. 125–126.
15. Day & Reed 2008, p. 98.
16. "Station Refurbishment Summary" (PDF). London Underground Railway Society. July 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2015.
17. "Circle line timetable: From Bayswater Underground Station to Paddington Underground Station". Transport for London. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
18. "Circle line timetable: From Bayswater Underground Station to Notting Hill Gate Underground Station". Transport for London. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
19. "District line timetable: From Bayswater Underground Station to Paddington Underground Station". Transport for London. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
20. "District line timetable: From Bayswater Underground Station to Notting Hill Gate Underground Station". Transport for London. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
21. "Day buses from Bayswater (Queensway)" (PDF). Transport for London. 28 February 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
22. "Night buses from Bayswater (Queensway)" (PDF). Transport for London. 27 October 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
23. "Man admits Tube push murder bid". BBC News. 9 February 2018.

Sources

• Day, John R.; Reed, John (2008) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground. Capital Transport. ISBN 978-1-85414-316-7.
• Rose, Douglas (1999) [1980]. The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History. Douglas Rose/Capital Transport. ISBN 1-85414-219-4.
• Wolmar, Christian (2005) [2004]. The Subterranean Railway: How the London Underground Was Built and How It Changed the City Forever. Atlantic Books. ISBN 1-84354-023-1.

External links

• London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Bayswater station, 1868
  • Bayswater station, 1934