History
The GWR/GCR Joint line to High Wycombe carried services from both Paddington and Marylebone. They met at Northolt Junction, situated slightly to the east of the station, from where four tracks ran westwards to Ruislip Gardens and West Ruislip; there the route shrank to two tracks only. Opened in May 1908 and originally known as Northolt Junction, the station became South Ruislip & Northolt Junction from September 1932 and received its present name in July 1942.
The station was first served by Central Line trains on 21 November 1948 when the Central Line extension from London towards Buckinghamshire was completed after being delayed by World War II but with services truncated to West Ruislip rather than going further as originally planned. The rounded booking hall was not completed until 1960.
In late 1973 and early 1974 the track layout was simplified and the manual signal box was removed in early 1990, along with other manual signal boxes on this line, and its function replaced by colour light signalling and power operated points, both controlled from Marylebone. The track alignments were improved to allow higher speed running at the junction for the services from Marylebone, and the pointwork which had allowed trains from Paddington to call at the westbound Chiltern station platform was removed. All eastbound services were moved to the former through road; the eastbound road, which had formerly extended from the platform road at West Ruislip, was closed and lifted, and the eastbound platform widened. The alignment of the turnout towards Marylebone was improved to allow higher-speed running. Fragments of the old trackwork can still be seen to the north of the line at this point. Further upgrading of the trackwork at this station is ongoing as of July 2011 to facilitate higher speed running up to 100 MPH.
The station was transferred from the Western Region of British Rail to the London Midland Region on 24 March 1974.
Read more about this topic: South Ruislip Station
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