Kilburn High Road railway station was opened in 1852 as
Kilburn and Maida Vale station by the
London and North Western Railway (LNWR) on its existing line out of
Euston station, to serve the newly developed suburbs of
Kilburn and
Maida Vale to the south. In the
Victorian era it became an important
commuter station served by
North London Railway trains running into
Broad Street station. At the beginning of the 20th century the station had
platforms on all four lines of the
West Coast Main Line out of
Euston, but with the construction of the
Watford DC line the local service took over the slow main line platforms, the slow (semi-fast) main line services were diverted through what had been the fast main line platforms and the fast main lines were moved southward. In 1915
Kilburn Park tube station was opened a little to the south on the
Bakerloo Line extension from
Paddington, drawing its passengers from a similar
catchment area to Kilburn High Road station and providing a quicker connection with the
West End. The slow (previously fast) main line platforms were almost entirely demolished during the electrification of the
West Coast Main Line, with the last platform building disappearing in the 1980s when the LNWR platform canopies were removed. The current footbridge and street-level buildings are not so much the result of modernisation but of three or four major fires which have occurred here since the early 1970s. ==Services==