Hanwell & Elthorne Station.

A Memory of Hanwell.

It is a winter evening, and Saturday. I am in Ealing Broadway and for a change I think I will get a train home to Hanwell. Not every train stops at Hanwell but I board one. West Ealing, we slow and stop, pretty soon we are on our way and pass under Jacobs Ladder at West Ealing. The brakes go on and we arrive at Hanwell. A few people get off and disappear into the night. I stand and look around. Most striking is the hiss of the gas lights on the platform. A wonderful warm light is cast around by them. The seats still have GWR on them (Great Western Railway). I descend down the stairs and turn right into the subway and come out opposite St Anns school. If you were on the last train a lady waited on the platform and turned out each gaslight by pulling a chain. It was truely another world on that station in those far off days, jet planes, Russian Sputnicks, Groups etc, but on Hanwell and Elthorne station, another world!