Paul Corfield:
Funny that years ago the Piccadilly Line used to run only as far as
Hounslow West and everyone was kicked off on to a bus to get to
Heathrow.

Yes, well, this might have something to do with the fact that the line
to Hounslow was several decades older than the airport, which became
important at a time when there was very little funding for Underground
extensions.

Annabel Smyth:
... the way you went to Heathrow then was by coach from the West
London Air Terminal ...

Well, you could also go from Hounslow West. On the 1958 sample map
in PDF at http://www.busmap.org, it's the number 91 bus; on the 1970
map, it's route A1. In 1975, due to my father making a side trip
while we were on vacation in Britain, I ended up traveling to Heathrow
both via that route and from the WLAT.

The A1 was then a single-decker bus service, and I remember that when
I paid my fare I was given two tickets that added up to the correct
total amount (I have the impression it was 12p + 3p = 15p); being
used to the North American practice that when there is a flat fare
you don't need a ticket at all, this struck me as particularly quaint.
The service from the WLAT, at a rather higher price, was a double-decker
that trundled along the M4, riding very roughly, at 40-45 mph with all
the other traffic swishing by.
--
Mark Brader | Peter Neumann on Y2K:
Toronto | This problem gives new meaning to "going out on
| a date" (which many systems will do on 1/1/00).

My text in this article is in the public domain.