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  1. Home
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  4. Vine Street Station

Vine Street Station

A Memory of Uxbridge.

I too remember the GWR railway line to West Drayton that passed by the top of our Road. There was an old metal railway footbridge that conected Whtehall Road to Manor Way which as a 4 year old I used to stand on with my friends as the old "push and pull" passed under enveloping us in steam. We thought it was good fun at the time and those expereinces lead to me to being a lifelong rail enthusiast. When I was 13 I used the line, with a change at West Drayton, to go to school at Southall Technical School. It was always well used in the mornings and evenings. The alternative was using the 607 Trolleybus to get to Southall. Happy days. I was devastated to witness the closure and subsequent ripping up the railway track and demolition of the Vine Street and Cowley Station. At the time we could not believe sucha thing would ever happen.

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Added 09 June 2014

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Comments & Feedback

I remember the Vine Street Line. There was for a while the GWR AEC railcars. You could change at West Drayton and go to Staines West, through Colnbrook and Poyle. At Poyle you used to put your hand out for the train to stop.
By Nick Beard on Wed Aug 20th 2014, at 5:24 pm
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At one time the GWR planned to join the line from Denham to the Vine Street line. They did buy some land for this purpose.
By Nick Beard on Wed Aug 20th 2014, at 5:42 pm
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Plans to join Vine Street to the High Street branch from Denham were finally abandoned in 1914 which left land that had been purchased by the GWR at Whitehall Road near Walford Road, and a strip of land from the High Street branch to a point near Rockingham Road vacant. It is interesting to think there could have been three cut across lines, High Wycombe to Maidenhead, Denham to West Drayton, and of course Greenford to Ealing. Also a spur into terminal 5 could have been added to the Staines branch. Still that's now a dream.
By Nick Beard on Thu Aug 21st 2014, at 6:12 am
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I remember the old railway cutting that was abandoned by the allotments in Whitehall road that was part of that scheme. The cutting was in fact behind Derby Road. It all dissappeared when the new Whitehall School was built. As lads we used to go down the the Uxbridge High Street Branch in the 1950's all the way to where it joined the Birmingham line at Denham. There used to be a water tank there for replenishing the steam engines which still used rthe branch at that time. The Coal yard at Uxbridge next to Sandersons was still active then, and there was still a railway line up to the old Uxbridge High Street Station which at that time was still in place.
By Bill Crowther on Tue Aug 26th 2014, at 4:08 pm
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The AEC Railcars used to alternate with the old push and pull 1400 class engines and single carriage. I sometimes used to go to school at Southall Technical College by that route and it was usually the AEC Railcar that took me to West Drayton Station. i used to try and get the earlier train which was pulled by a 6100 class Tank engine and had about 6 coaches. It went through to Paddington and made the change of train at West Drayton unnecessary. One thing I do recall was how many commuters got on at Cowley Station. There was not much room on board after it had made that stop. I often wondered how they coped after the railway closed, went by bus to West Drayton I suppose.
By Bill Crowther on Tue Aug 26th 2014, at 4:19 pm
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I used to sit at Uxbridge, Vine Street waiting for trains to come in and depart, usually on a Sunday. Used the line to go to school at Southall Tech and have happy memories of travelling 1958 to 1962. I also spent many happy hours on the Uxbridge Town deserted line and often went up to the link with the Birmingham line where we used to take advantage of the water tower and take a shower. Also inspected the old station which became more and more vandalised. Can remember seeing old tickets inside of the booking hall untouched with other memorabelia which disappeared over a period of time.
By haweses on Tue Jan 12th 2016, at 12:15 pm
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The old Uxbridge High Street Station at the bottom of the High Street was there for many years. Certainly up to 1960. I remember we managed to get into the station building and found tuppence in one of the drawers. The stairs down to the low level of the road were also still in place at the end of the platform and although boarded over we managed to descend them. You had to be careful in that area as there were Adders around and had to careful where you put your feet when walking. I went to Southall Technical School from 1957 to 1960 so we must have passed by each other at sometime.
By Bill Crowther on Tue Jan 12th 2016, at 2:57 pm
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My father built the bodies of those rail cars at Park Royal Vehicles . One can be seen still running at the Didcot railway centre .
By Tony Rose on Sat Aug 17th 2019, at 5:53 am
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