please empty your brain below
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For a time I worked in an office at North Acton. Sounds like it has actually got worse round there.
The pub used to be quite good though
Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 11.02.20 - 7:40 a.m. | #
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Why not make it six Claphams and include a trip to a beautiful part of Yorkshire?
Bryn Davies | 11.02.20 - 7:57 a.m. | #
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I've always wanted to collect all the Actons. Maybe once Crossrail starts.
Scott | Homepage | 11.02.20 - 7:59 a.m. | #
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My band used to rehearse at Panic Studios in NA every Sunday in the early 2000s, preparing for a launch that never happened despite major label interest and the backing of Sean Rowley and Simon Dine. A desolate wasteland of middle-eastern food wholesalers, laundry services and exhaust fumes. It sounds like little has changed in that neck of the woods.
Burntweenie | 11.02.20 - 8:02 a.m. | #
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One thing you can't say about North Acton is that little has changed. It has changed utterly.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 11.02.20 - 8:19 a.m. | #
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Yes, lurve the benches !
Petras409 | 11.02.20 - 8:30 a.m. | #
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Next up , the Ruislips? London’s answer to Prof. Branestawn’s Pagwell.
Or the Harrows.
David | 11.02.20 - 8:31 a.m. | #
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There are also 7 "Harrow" stations so maybe Hepta-Harrow would be more appropriate as the next in the series.
Harrow & Wealdstone
Harrow-on-the-Hill
North Harrow
South Harrow
Sudbury & Harrow Road
Sudbury Hill Harrow
West Harrow
dg writes: Updated, thanks.
NPIan | 11.02.20 - 8:35 a.m. | #
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Platform 5 at Acton Town very much still in existence, you just can’t access it and is disused.
Geofftech | 11.02.20 - 8:36 a.m. | #
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Why not hexaHarrow (or does Sudbury Hill Harrow not count?)
I tried to use North Acton station a couple of months ago. The entrance had been moved and there were no signs to where it had gone.
timbo | 11.02.20 - 8:38 a.m. | #
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Quicker by bike!
Andrew S | 11.02.20 - 8:38 a.m. | #
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DG's energy is amazing. Not so much the getting round Acton, but the volume of fascnating, well-crafted observations.
Why is it West Acton but Hounslow West? I wonder what determines the word order.
Malcolm | 11.02.20 - 8:58 a.m. | #
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North Acton these days is about as Ballardian-futuristic as West London gets. The station feels like it's been transplanted in from a small and unglamorous town in the West Country.
Dominic H | 11.02.20 - 9:03 a.m. | #
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Sudbury Hill Harrow is certainly in Harrow, if only just. But Sudbury and Harrow Road by definition is not: it's at Sudbury and on the road to Harrow (rather like Lyndhurst Road in the New Forest).
Ian | 11.02.20 - 9:23 a.m. | #
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All the Actons! Love it.
I do hope the further trips mentioned are not merely teasers, but actually happen - though some of them might need a bus rather than a walk between them if you're also to do them within an hour!
Cornish Cockney | 11.02.20 - 10:08 a.m. | #
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I did all the Ruislips some time ago, can't remember anything notable about any of them. But it was a day out with my new Freedom Pass.
amber | 11.02.20 - 11:09 a.m. | #
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When I commuted home on the Rayners Lane branch of the Piccadilly Line, one of my evil little pleasures as we pulled out of Acton Town was observing with amusement the slowly dawning look of utter confusion and terror on the faces of luggage laden passengers -particularly Americans- as they realized that, no, this isn't a Heathrow train. Especially as the realization only kicked in at North Ealing. Honestly, if you don't bother listening to the repeated driver announcements, you probably deserve to miss your flight.
Arlu | 11.02.20 - 12:13 p.m. | #
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Great to see our renowned collection of local stations being celebrated. It's still confusing for visitors that none of them are particularly near the 'centre' of Acton, particularly the busiest tube station (Acton Town), which is awkwardly placed by a busy little roundabout with not enough zebra crossings.
We came close to losing South Acton and Acton Central some years ago when the 'North London Line' was threatened with closure, but now it's thriving as the Oveground.
It's ironic that the promise of 'frequent Crossrail trains' at Acton Main Line has been used to boost the sale of residential developments for miles around when it will be years before there's anything more than the present paltry half hour service, albeit with smart new trains.
Interesting you noted the disgrace of 'North Acton Square', which seemed a simple enough idea to 'improve the public realm' and give better access down to North Acton station, but it's been fraught with disputes and difficulties and it yet to be formally opened - or cleaned!
ActonMan | 11.02.20 - 12:19 p.m. | #
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When I saw both Acton Town barely in Acton I expected three or four Acton stations actually being outside of it. Good to see there's only one.
Patrickov | 11.02.20 - 12:23 p.m. | #
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Why is it West Acton but Hounslow West? I wonder what determines the word order.
I have always assumed that, in general, preceding with West etc. implies a recognised place in its own right. The distance between the different Actons seems to verify this in this particular case.
Conversely, if merely distinguishing between two or more stations in the same town a compass-based suffix is used.
Of course, the rule is not 100% consistent and in any case, the station may cause an area around it to acquire an identity of its own.
Note the places referred to in the article e.g. North Acton Playing Field, West Acton Superstores. I don't think you will find the equivalent for Hounslow West but I stand to be corrected.
Pedantic of Purley | 11.02.20 - 2:06 p.m. | #
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Another possibility is 5 Finchleys although 2 of them are nowhere near Finchley.
X-Plaistow | 11.02.20 - 2:19 p.m. | #
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What about Acton Bridge? :p
RG | 11.02.20 - 2:54 p.m. | #
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Ian - Lyndhurst Road station has been Ashurst (New Forest) since 1995. It is in Ashurst, which is in the New Forest, as distinct from plain Ashurst on the Uckfield line.
Brian Polley | 11.02.20 - 2:56 p.m. | #
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As with most areas in London, 'Acton' isn't a particularly exact geographical concept to local residents. Half our friends find it difficult to accept that we live in 'South Acton', asking if we really mean 'Chiswick'. This isn't helped by moves to rebrand our 'South Acton Industrial Estate' as the 'North Chiswick Business Park'!
ActonMan | 11.02.20 - 3:07 p.m. | #
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Acton Central was my local station when I first moved to London. My main memory of it was the bzzz and zzzb noises of the trains' pantographs going up and down - it's a changeover point between AC and DC.
martin | 11.02.20 - 4:02 p.m. | #
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There's a subway between the platforms at Acton Central if you want to avoid delays at the level crossing.
John | 11.02.20 - 4:12 p.m. | #
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Brian - thanks, I should have quoted the nearby Beaulieu Road so as to keep up to date!
Ian | 11.02.20 - 4:51 p.m. | #
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Ealing as the next instalment please, if only as a homage to the line in Betjeman's wonderful autobiographic Summoned by Bells.
Man of Kent | 11.02.20 - 6:15 p.m. | #
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Canterbury has two suffix stations, East and West.
West is north of the city while East is south, and slightly west of 'West'.
RogerB | 11.02.20 - 9:15 p.m. | #
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Regarding prefix/suffix, a great many miles away in the farthest reaches of Stirlingshire you'll find Upper Tyndrum and Tyndrum Lower, apparently designated as such for clearer radio communication, essential for the signalling system in use- Upper had it's name changed in 1988 when RETB was commissioned.
Al__S | 11.02.20 - 10:04 p.m. | #
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The Wimbledon Four - sounds like a misaccused group, though
Andrew Robinson | 11.02.20 - 10:58 p.m. | #
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PoP - we used to have a Hounslow West Odeon, if that counts!
Rob Healy | Homepage | 12.02.20 - 11:06 a.m. | #
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I remember someone having a T-shirt with the slogan 'Ruislip: 5 stations, no reason to go there"'
John Styles | 12.02.20 - 7:39 p.m. | #
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South Acton station features as a prominent location in the episode 'Sorry Pal, Wrong Number' of the 1980s TV series Minder. This website has a few screenshots of how it appeared back then on screen.
JayCee | 12.02.20 - 8:30 p.m. | #
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How about all of the 'London' stations?
London Blackfriars
London Bridge
London Cannon Street
London City Thameslink
London Euston
London Fenchurch Street
London King's Cross
London Liverpool Street
London Marylebone
London Paddington
London St Pancras
London Victoria
London Waterloo
Harry | 13.02.20 - 10:28 a.m. | #
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...
London Charing Cross
London Waterloo East
...
London Fields
...
Queens Park (London)
Rainham (London)
St Margarets (London)
Stratford (London)
...
London Road (Brighton)
London Road (Guildford)
diamond geezer | Homepage | 13.02.20 - 10:34 a.m. | #
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Acton has been a location for lots of TV shows and films, as detailed on Acton's Wikipedia page. Not surprising as Ealing Studios and the TV Centre were both nearby, plus the old Rehearsal Rooms block in North Acton. 'Nelson Mandela House' in 'Only Fools and Horses', though supposed to be in Peckham, was actually on the South Acton Estate.
ActonMan | 13.02.20 - 5:52 p.m. | #
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I know I said they daren't knock down North Acton's last pub because it's the only characterful thing left, but there are now plans to do just that and replace it with a 32-storey tower "comprising 462 co-living rooms with associated communal amenity spaces" :(
diamond geezer | Homepage | 06.07.21 - 10:37 a.m. | #
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