West Acton tube station
London Underground station
West Acton is a London Underground station in West Acton, London. It is on the Ealing Broadway branch of the Central line, between Ealing Broadway and North Acton stations. It is its only intermediate station in the branch. The station is a Grade II listed building. It is in London fare zone 3.
The station is close to North Ealing tube station on the Piccadilly line, 550 metres away at the western end of Queens Drive.
History
As Transport for London explains:On 18 August 1911, the Central London Railway abandoned its policy of no through running with any other railway, and secured powers to build a short extension from Wood Lane to connect with the intended Ealing & Shepherds Bush line of the Great Western Railway, over which it proposed to exercise running powers.
The Great Western Railway (GWR) built the Ealing Broadway branch (the western part of the former Ealing & Shepherd's Bush Railway) and opened it for freight trains in April 1917, and the Central London Railway trains used the line from 3 August 1920. West Acton and North Acton were built and owned by the GWR, and both opened on 5 November 1923.
GWR steam freight trains also ran through West Acton until 1938, when the London Underground tracks were segregated further east, through East Acton station, and to the west of North Acton station.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “West Acton tube station” is london Underground station. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through West, Acton and tube, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “london Underground station” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
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 Q1363805. Authority coordinates are 51.518, -0.281. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1911, 1917, 1920 and 1923.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. 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 “West Acton tube station”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow West Acton tube station primary sources, West Acton tube station archive and West 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 “West Acton tube station”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “West Acton tube 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.