Until Western Avenue was constructed in the 1920's, the Uxbridge Road through Ealing was part of the main road from London to Oxford, and thence onward to other destinations. Both long and short distance coach services operated in the 18th and 19th centuries, often using the inns along the route as pick up points. Horses may also have been changed at some of the inns - The Old Hats or the HalfWay House in Hanwell in particular had stabling facilities.
The Old Hats or HalfWay House Inn (left)
View down the flight of six locks of the Hanwell flight by which the main arm of the Grand Union Canal is lowered to reach the river Brent and ultimately the Thames itself at Brentford (right)
The Grand Union Canal which joined the Thames at Brentford was opened in stages during the last decade of the 18th century and the Paddington arm was added in 1801. The canals would have been used mainly for the carriage of bulky materials, being too slow for every day passenger use.
Meanwhile on the roads, the short stages were gradually replaced by horse buses (below left) and later electric trams (below right) which eventually ran from Shepherds Bush through to Uxbridge.
In the immediate post WW2 period the trams themselves were displaced by trolleybuses. with the route number 607 handling the service. This number was then carried by a limited stop express bus service running between White City and Uxbridge until that route became part of the "Superloop" system and designated SL8.
