On [Friday] 16th December 1977, the Piccadilly line extension to Heathrow Central, was opened by HM The Queen. The £71m link saw Piccadilly services extended from Hounslow West to Heathrow Central. This new link between Heathrow and the City was the first of its kind in the world, at the time. Subsequently, a loop service was added in April 1986 for the newly opened Terminal 4 station, and this was followed by an extension from T123 to Terminal 5 in March 2008.
Saturday 16th December 2017 marked the 40th anniversary of the opening of this link, but as is most current things TfL there was no celebration, nor were there any posters in the station to mark the occasion. To the untrained passenger, the anniversary of such an important link went completely unnoticed. Maybe in 2027 when the link would be 50 something special might happen.
Saturday 16th December 2017 marked the 40th anniversary of the opening of this link, but as is most current things TfL there was no celebration, nor were there any posters in the station to mark the occasion. To the untrained passenger, the anniversary of such an important link went completely unnoticed. Maybe in 2027 when the link would be 50 something special might happen.
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| Piccadilly line 1973 Stock 128+173 arrive at Heathrow Central (T1,2,3) with a late running T5 service that has been curtailed here. © Tommy Cooling |
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| The current iteration of the Heathrow Central station name, even though Terminal 1 has long since closed, and has also been removed from the Tube Map, which itself now only makes reference to Terminals 2 & 3. © Tommy Cooling |
Over the years there have been proposed ideas for extending Piccadilly services westwards beyond to airport to places such as Slough, however these ideas seem long dead and buried at the current time bearing in mind TfL's severe lack of funds.
The Piccadilly's 1973 tube stock marked the opening in 1977, and has served airport for the following 40 years, however with the line the first of the deep level tubes to receive new stock and modernised signalling, this also maybe the last significant milestone at Heathrow that the 73s see.
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| The eastbound platform at Heathrow Central is now a through road for services from T4 and T5. Upon opening in 1977 until 1986, this platform and the adjacent, would have been used by terminating trains. © Tommy Cooling |
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| The Concord tribute panelling at platform level. © Tommy Cooling |
Post by Tommy Cooling
Some of these images and more can be found on my Flickr page:
Some of these images and more can be found on my Flickr page:
Please do not reproduce any of my images without permission
The UK gets rid of all the interesting things and brings shite. I.e. Concord
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