Colnbrook railway station was a station on the now closed railway line between West Drayton and Staines West, on the western edge of London, England. It opened in 1884 to serve the village of Colnbrook, perhaps anticipating that one day it would grow into a larger settlement. It was located on the original route of the Great West Road, and under the present flight path near the end of one of Heathrow Airport's main runways.
Although passenger traffic was fairly minimal, the station was not closed to passengers until 1965 (following the Beeching Report). Goods services were withdrawn the following year, but part of the line still remains in use for aggregates traffic and for deliveries to a fuel terminal serving the nearby Heathrow Airport. The platforms survived for quite a while after closure, but have now been demolished. The station house still stands, but the track beyond the former station level crossing towards Poyle has been lifted.
Part of the route may be reused for the proposed Heathrow Airtrack link between Staines and Heathrow Airport. Between 1961 and 1965, the small Colnbrook Estate Halt was opened to the north to serve the industrial estate there.
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poyle Estate Halt | Staines & West Drayton Railway |
Colnbrook Estate Halt | ||
Famous quotes containing the words railway and/or station:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)