139. Fulham Broadway

Saturday 24th September 4.40pm

This is one of my least favourite types of station - you have to go through a shopping centre to get to it! It's been modernised and part of the platform was new concrete into which the roundels were recessed, which I've not seen anywhere else before, but I didn't get a picture of them as that part of the platform was taken up by a man and a woman arguing with policemen.

Wikipedia entry here.

138. West Kensington

Saturday 24th September 4.15pm

Another station build on a bridge that straddles the tracks with stairs down either side. A small and fairly simple station as only one line goes through it. The building itself is one of those nice pale stone - Portland? - ones, although it's hard to get a decent view of it from across a busy road.

Wikipedia entry here.

137. Turnham Green

Saturday 24th September 4.00pm

My first trips to London after leaving school were to visit friends who were at college in West London. We had to pass into this station on our way into the city, and without fail someone would exclaim, "Turnham Green with envy!" We though we were funny. We weren't.

This is one of those stations where the track is elevated so the entrance and ticket office are at ground level and you have to go upstairs to catch the train. It feels the complete wrong way round for the underground but it does mean you get a great view down the tracks and over the green itself.

Wikipedia entry here.

136. Chiswick Park

Saturday 24th September 3.45pm

This is one of those stations that Piccadilly line trains go through but don't stop, which is confusing if you just look at a Tube map quickly and aren't paying proper attention.

The building is rather brilliantly circular, to suit its position on the bend in a road:

Rubbish picture but you get the idea. We don't really do many circular buildings in this country, although there are a surprising amount of circular Tube stations.

Wikipedia entry here.

135. North Ealing

Saturday 24th September 3.20pm

This is one of those stations on bits of track that existed before the Underground, which is why the station doesn't look more modern, and it fact looks a bit like a house that has been adapted into a station:

There's a bridge over the tracks, and as I crossed it a train - not one I needed - pulled into the station:

Wikipedia entry here.

135 stations is exactly halfway through this task. If I'd thought more carefully about it perhaps I'd have made the 135th somewhere historic and significant, but I guess it's more appropriate that it's an every day suburban station. Here's what my map looks like now:

134. Ealing Broadway

Saturday 24th September 3.00pm

This is the western end of the District line, but it's also a National Rail station. It has a confusing amount of exits, or just bad signage, which meant that I ended up swiping my Oyster card in two different places before I left the station, which makes me look like a complete beginner. To add insult to injury it then throws you out into a busy shopping street, which is confusing when you have no idea where you're going.

Wikipedia entry here.

133. Ealing Common

Saturday 24th September 2.50pm

This is one of those stations whose ticket office is built on a bridge over the tracks with stairs going down either side to the platform. An entirely practical if slightly unmemorable arrangement.

Wikipedia entry here.

132. Acton Town

Saturday 24th September 11.00am.

This is one of those stations that has nothing interesting going on at platform level because all the good stuff is on top - above the ticket office is a huge box with loads of windows in it so on a sunny autumn day it was flooded with light in quite a beautiful way.

Wikipedia entry here.

131. Kensington (Olympia)

Saturday 24th September 10.30am

Yes I know that's an Overground roundel but no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find an Underground one, so I assumed there isn't one, only some smart-arse put one on Wikipedia which means I'm going to have to go back for another look. Damn. It was hard enough getting to this station in the first place - Tube trains only go to it when there's something on at Olympia, which isn't very often. Aren't they planning to knock down Olympia? Or am I muddling it with Earls Court? Anyway, the station building is tiny - barely big enough to house the barriers - but there's an awful lot of platform. It feels a bit windswept.

Wikipedia entry here.

130. Holland Park

Saturday 24th September 10.10am

This has been shut for a while for refurbishment otherwise I might have visited sooner. Quite what the refurbishment was is hard to tell, although the bit of the tunnel facing the platform does have some bare plaster on it. I expect it was lifts, because it's always lifts if it's not escalators (and this has no escalators). It does have some nice old signage in it though:

The station itself is small and quiet, and is situated in possibly the fanciest row of shops I've seen, including a champagne shop. It's very posh round there.

Wikipedia entry here.