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Kew Gardens StationKew Gardens station is a London Underground and National Rail station in south west London. Is the nearest station to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Public Record Office. The station serves both the London Underground District Line (Richmond branch) and the mainline North London Line, operated by Silverlink. It is proposed that Crossrail trains will also call here when that line is eventually built. The station was constructed between 1868-1870 by the London and South Western Railway (later the Southern Railway). The Metropolitan District Railway (the forerunner of the London Underground's District Line) first ran trains to the station on 1 June 1877. The station, and the track between Gunnersbury station (immediately to the north) and Richmond station (immediately to the south), passed into the hands of British Rail on nationalisation and are now owned by Network Rail. The station buildings are an unusually fine example of mid-Victorian railway architecture and are protected as part of the Kew Gardens conservation area. The station is one of the few remaining 19th century stations on the North London Line; it is a two-storey building in yellow brick with prominent round-headed window openings. The footbridge just behind the station is also noteworthy and is given Grade II protection in its own right. The railway line bisected Kew, but it was not until 1912 that the bridge was provided to allow residents to cross the tracks safely. It is a rare surviving example of a reinforced concrete structure built using a pioneering technique devised by the French engineer Franois Hennebique. The bridge has a narrow deck and very high walls, designed to protect its users' clothing from the smoke of steam trains passing underneath. It also has protrusions on either side of the deck to deflect smoke away from the bridge structure. It has recently been restored with the aid of National Lottery funds. External links
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