Tubeticking (272): Osterley ✅
I had somehow never been to Osterley station. What's more, having just ticked off Eastcote and Preston Road, it was the only tube station I'd never visited. I worried as I arrived on the bus that it'd suddenly look familiar, meaning I had used the station before, because that would have been a downbeat ending to my tube station tickylist. But no, I'd definitely never stepped inside that extraordinary building, so my quest was about to reach a satisfying conclusion.
The present Osterley station replaced a much smaller station quarter of a mile up the line (which is now a bookshop, which obviously I have been inside before, but for this challenge that doesn't count). Its 1930s replacement is one of dozens of Underground stations designed by Charles Holden, in this case in conjunction with the architect Stanley Heaps. They conjured up a humble flat-roofed building and then bedazzled with a chunky brick tower topped off with a reinforced concrete "obelisk". This featured nine rectangular lamps on each face and then, in case that somehow wasn't tall enough, a thin mast perched on top. The idea was to signpost the station across the wider neighbourhood and in this it definitely succeeds, you can see it poking over the trees from way back down the Great West Road.
Two buses stop immediately outside the station, one the public H91 and the other the private S1 which is for Sky employees only. Their main campus is a mile away behind Gillette Corner, so wave your ID Pass at the driver, settle down inside the ad-wrapped single decker and enjoy your extended commute. Also outside the station are a pillar box, a bike rack and a litter bin... and perhaps you can tell I was just delaying my entry through that final gateline. In fact what I did at this point was follow the alleyway behind the station and go for a walk round the National Trust gardens at Osterley Park, and they were splendid, but after an hour I came back, ducked under the blue ceramic frieze and headed inside.
The ticket hall is spacious and square, and also more cluttered than it would have been in Holden's day thanks to a park bench, a rack of snacks and a twirly selection of greetings cards. The kiosk responsible for most of the sprawl is called Eats and Bits, the snacks being some of the eats and the cards being some of the bits. A cup of Earl Grey to takeaway is only £1.50, which is either impressively cheap or has a taste to match its price. The larger unit facing the road is occupied by Class 1 Personnel, their windows entirely obscured by job ads for excavator drivers and kitchen staff. Elsewhere in the ticket hall are enough doors to stage a West End farce, one of which used to lead to the car park and two of which still lead to public conveniences (hurrah, both unlocked). OK let's do this, let's swipe and go through...
The footbridge to the platforms is welcoming and bright, comprising Holden's trademark combination of concrete, brick and glass. Last year TfL added step-free access by squeezing in a couple of lifts, one to each platform, both inside brick cuboids which cleverly echo the structure of Holden's massive tower. Down on the platforms only London-bound passengers get a waiting room, those heading Heathrow-ward need to fight over a couple of benches. And see how the columns supporting the roof canopy are slightly flared with blue hoops to match the colour of the Piccadilly line? It's these little details which elevate a good suburban station above what could be just a windswept halt.
The open half of the platforms reminded me of Eastcote, except i) the line's on a curve ii) there aren't any sub-tropical gardens iii) the lamp supports have angled heads, not curved, iv) there's no owl. What sadly match Eastcote are the ugly poles for cameras, wi-fi aerials and loudspeakers unsympathetically added by PPP infracos in the 2000s, which now ensure you can't stand anywhere without hearing repeated safety announcements. I guess they must have a really bad problem with e-scooters and e-unicycles at Osterley because they played that one every two minutes. But it's a lovely station to wait at, as are so many on the outer arms of the Underground thanks to the foresight of architects and designers over the years.
When my train arrived I stepped down into the suitcased masses escaping from Heathrow, and as the doors closed reflected that I had now properly been to every single one of the Underground's 272 stations. I'm not sure how and why it took me so long, but I guess you have to know where your gaps are before you can fill them. Thanks Osterley. Tube, ticked. ✅
Tubeticking (272): Osterley ✅
