Acton Main Line railway station
railway station in Acton, London Borough of Ealing, England, UK
Acton Main Line is a railway station on the Great Western Main Line, in Acton, west London, England. Located 4 miles 21 chains (6.9 km) down the line from London Paddington, it lies between Paddington and Ealing Broadway stations. It is served and managed by the Elizabeth line, in London fare zone 3. The station was rebuilt with step-free access as part of the Crossrail project.
History
The Great Western Main Line opened through Acton in 1838; however, the Great Western Railway (GWR) was initially focused on long distance traffic. The station was opened by the GWR on 1 February 1868. Originally simply named Acton, it was operated by the Western Region of British Railways following nationalisation in 1948. On 26 September 1949, it was renamed Acton Main Line. When sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Rail in 1994.
Together with the underground stations at West Acton and North Acton, Acton Main Line serves the GWR garden estate.
The public source identifies “Acton Main Line railway station” as railway station in Acton, London Borough of Ealing, England, UK. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Acton, Main and Line.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Acton Main Line railway station”, the useful work is to connect “railway station in Acton, London Borough of Ealing, England, UK” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1858427. Authority coordinates are 51.517, -0.267. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1838, 1868, 1948 and 1949.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Acton Main Line railway station”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Acton Main Line railway station primary sources, Acton Main Line railway station archive and Acton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Acton Main Line railway station”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Acton Main Line railway station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.