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Wembley Park tube station

Coordinates: 51°33′49″N 0°16′46″W / 51.5636°N 0.2794°W / 51.5636; -0.2794
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Wembley Park London Underground
New main entrance of the station
Wembley Park is located in Greater London
Wembley Park
Wembley Park
Location of Wembley Park in Greater London
LocationWembley Park
Local authorityLondon Borough of Brent
Managed byLondon Underground
Number of platforms6
AccessibleYes[1]
Fare zone4
London Underground annual entry and exit
2019Decrease 15.42 million[2]
2020Decrease 8.29 million[3]
2021Decrease 7.89 million[4]
2022Increase 15.00 million[5]
2023Increase 15.51 million[6]
Key dates
1880Tracks laid (MR)
14 October 1893Limited opening
12 May 1894Full opening
10 December 1932Branch to Stanmore opened
20 November 1939Started (Bakerloo)
1 May 1979Ended (Bakerloo)
1 May 1979Started (Jubilee)
Other information
External links
Coordinates51°33′49″N 0°16′46″W / 51.5636°N 0.2794°W / 51.5636; -0.2794
London transport portal

Wembley Park is a London Underground station in Wembley Park, north west London. The station is served by the Jubilee and Metropolitan lines and is in Travelcard Zone 4. It is located on Bridge Road (A4089) and is the nearest Underground station to exit for Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena. This is where the Jubilee line from Stanmore diverges from the Metropolitan line, which was formerly a branch of the Metropolitan Railway and was taken over by the Bakerloo line and is now part of the Jubilee line.

History

A map of Wembley Stadium in relation to Olympic Way, Wembley Central, Wembley Stadium and Wembley Park stations, and the A406 North Circular road (bottom right)
The first and only completed stage of Watkin's Wembley Tower (c.1900)

Before the station

Until 1880 the Metropolitan Railway (MR) line out of London only ran as far as Willesden Green. In early 1879 work began to build an extension to Harrow-on-the-Hill, with one additional station at Kingsbury and Neasden. Services to Harrow started on 2 August 1880, extending the MR route (today's Metropolitan line) into Middlesex.[7] At this time Wembley was a sparsely populated rural area which did not merit the construction of a railway station and MR trains passed through without stopping. In his 1973 BBC documentary Metro-land, Sir John Betjeman remarked, "Beyond Neasden there was an unimportant hamlet where for years the Metropolitan didn't bother to stop. Wembley. Slushy fields and grass farms."[8] However the then chairman of the MR, Edward Watkin, was an ambitious businessman who sought new ways of attracting paying passengers out of London and onto his railway, and he regarded the barren lands of Wembley as a business opportunity.

Beyond Neasden there was an unimportant hamlet where for years the Metropolitan didn't bother to stop. Wembley. Slushy fields and grass farms.

— John Betjeman, Metro-land (1973)

Opening of the station

In 1881 Watkin purchased large tracts of land close to the MR line and began a grand scheme to build an amusement park at Wembley, laid out with boating lakes, a waterfall, ornamental gardens and cricket and football pitches. The centrepiece of this park was to be a soaring metal tower, known as Watkin's Tower; at 1,200 feet (366 m) it was to be taller than the Eiffel Tower and would offer panoramic views of the surrounding countryside, just 12 minutes from Baker Street station.[9] Wembley Park station was specially constructed to serve these pleasure grounds as a destination for excursion trips on the company's trains.[10] The station opened for the first time on 14 October 1893 and initially operated to serve only Saturday football matches in the park. It opened fully on 12 May 1894.[11]

Watkin confidently anticipated that large crowds would flock to the park and the railway station design incorporated additional platforms to handle large passenger numbers.[12] Watkin's Tower ran into structural and financial difficulty; it was never completed and the partially built structure was demolished in 1904. Despite this, Wembley Park itself remained a popular attraction and flourished.

Later in the 1890s, the Great Central Railway's (GCR's) London extension was constructed adjacent to the MR's tracks. The tracks pass under the entrance building but the station has never been served by main line operators. In 1905 the tracks were electrified and the first electric trains became operational. Between 1913 and 1915, the MR added additional tracks to double the line's capacity.[13]

From 1915 the MR began a programme of selling off its surplus land holdings in Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex for suburban housing development. Its Metropolitan Railway Country Estates Limited marketed areas such as Wembley Park under the "Metro-land" brand, promoting modern homes in beautiful countryside with a fast railway service to central London.[14] The MR sold the park land at Wembley when the site was selected to host the 1924 British Empire Exhibition and the grand British Empire Exhibition Stadium constructed for this event was later to become Wembley Stadium, the home ground of the England national football team.[15]

Stanmore branch and Bakerloo line

On 10 December 1932, the MR opened a branch line north from Wembley Park to Stanmore.[11] Originally, the MR served all stations south from Wembley Park to Baker Street station but the line suffered from congestion due to limited capacity on the tracks heading into Baker Street. Following the combination of the MR and London's other underground railways to form the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) in 1933, the LPTB took steps to alleviate the congestion by constructing new Bakerloo line tunnels from Baker Street to connect to the Metropolitan's tracks south of Finchley Road station. From 20 November 1939,[16] the Bakerloo line then took over the Metropolitan stopping services between Wembley Park and Finchley Road and the Stanmore branch.

A 1924 map promoting Metro-Land, showing Wembley Park and the British Empire Exhibition

1948 Olympic Games

Following World War II, London was chosen to host the 1948 Olympic Games. To handle the exceptional number of spectators visiting Wembley Stadium, the original station building was extended, with a new ticket hall, additional circulation routes and platform stairs. This was built in a red-brick modernist style. At the opening of the Jubilee line on 1 May 1979, the Bakerloo service from Baker Street to Stanmore was transferred to the new line.

UEFA Euro 1996

Old 1996 extension, used until 2004

When the UEFA European Football Championship was held at Wembley in 1996, a large temporary staircase was constructed leading down from the 1948 extension and under the newly built Bobby Moore Bridge, which had opened in 1993. Intended as a temporary structure, the staircase remained in its unfinished state until 2004 when station upgrade works commenced.[17]

Upgrade and expansion

As part of the Wembley Stadium redevelopment in the early 2000s, the station was comprehensively rebuilt and expanded, increasing capacity by 70%. Costing £80m,[18] the work included a significantly larger ticket hall, additional footbridges, widened stairs to Olympic Way and 5 lifts to provide step-free access.[19] To cater for event crowds, event day entrances/exits were also constructed.[20] Undertaken by Tube Lines, the expansion was completed in 2006, prior to the completion of the delayed Stadium project.[21][22] The provision of additional platforms for Chiltern Railways services was considered, but was not proceeded with.[23]

In the early 2020s, Transport for London proposed a new residential development on land adjacent to the station currently used as car parking. This development of over 450 new homes with Barratt Homes was approved by Brent Council in Dec 2020.[24]

Layout

The station has six platforms serving both Jubilee line, and fast and semi-fast Metropolitan line trains.

Connections

London Buses routes 83, 182, 206, 223, 245 and 297 serve the station.

References

  1. ^ "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. April 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2019. Transport for London. 23 September 2020. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 9 November 2020.
  3. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2020. Transport for London. 16 April 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  4. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2021. Transport for London. 12 July 2022. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  5. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2022. Transport for London. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  6. ^ "Station Usage Data" (XLSX). Usage Statistics for London Stations, 2023. Transport for London. 8 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  7. ^ Horne, Mike (2003). The Metropolitan line. Capital Transport/London Transport Museum. p. 13. ISBN 1854142755.
  8. ^ Betjeman, John (2010). Games, Stephen (ed.). Betjeman's England. Hachette UK. ISBN 9781848543805.
  9. ^ Goffin, Magdalen (2005). "4 The Watkin path". The Watkin path : an approach to belief. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. pp. 23–25. ISBN 9781845191283.
  10. ^ "A History of the County of Middlesex". English History Online. 1971. pp. 198–203. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.
  11. ^ a b "Metropolitan Line". Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides. Archived from the original on 11 May 2000.
  12. ^ Horne, Mike (2003). The Metropolitan line. Capital Transport. pp. 19–20. ISBN 1854142755.
  13. ^ Rose, Douglas (1999). The London Underground, A Diagrammatic History. Douglas Rose. ISBN 1-85414-219-4.
  14. ^ Jackson, Alan A. (1986). London's metropolitan railway. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. pp. 241–242. ISBN 0715388398.
  15. ^ De Lisle, Tim (14 March 2006). "The Height of Ambition". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 March 2009.
  16. ^ "Bakerloo Line". Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides. Archived from the original on 3 March 2000.
  17. ^ "2. The steps at Wembley Park". 150 great things about the Underground. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  18. ^ Sparks, Alan (25 October 2001). "Station will not be ready for new Wembley stadium". New Civil Engineer. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  19. ^ "Wembley boost". News Shopper. 14 March 2002. Retrieved 30 May 2024.
  20. ^ "Work to enlarge Wembley Park starts in March". Transport for London. 26 February 2004. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  21. ^ "Mayor and David Seaman open Wembley Park Tube station on time and on budget". Transport for London. 27 March 2006. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  22. ^ "Tube Lines - Wembley Park expanded to deliver 70% increase in station capacity". Tube Lines. 27 March 2006. Archived from the original on 19 May 2006. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  23. ^ "alwaystouchout.com - Wembley stations' modernisation". alwaystouchout.com. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  24. ^ Shaw, Adam (1 December 2020). "Council approves plans for 21-storey housing block at London Underground station car park". Harrow Times. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wembley Park tube station.
Preceding station London Underground Following station
Kingsbury
towards Stanmore
 Jubilee line Neasden
towards Stratford
Preston Road
towards Uxbridge, Amersham, Chesham or Watford
 Metropolitan line Finchley Road
towards Baker Street or Aldgate
Harrow-on-the-Hill
towards Amersham or Chesham
Former services
Preceding station London Underground Following station
Kingsbury
towards Stanmore
 Metropolitan line
Stanmore branch (1932–1939)
 Neasden
towards Baker Street or Aldgate
Bakerloo line
Stanmore branch (1939–1979)
 Neasden
towards Elephant & Castle
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