After a period of heavy passenger usage, it began to dwindle in popularity as competition from the new deep-level Underground railways and electric tramways took away custom by offering more direct routes into central London. With the onset of World War II, the West London Railway was badly hit in some parts by enemy action during the Blitz and the demise of the line was hastened by the wartime bombing. In 1940, London, Midland and Scottish Railway steam trains from to Kensington ceased on 20 October and Willesden-Edgware Road electric services ceased on the same day. Other stations on the line such as were more severely damaged than Chelsea & Fulham, and although the damage to Chelsea & Fulham was minimal, it never reopened. The station buildings remained intact after the war and were used by railway maintenance staff, although the footbridge and southbound platform building were removed. In the mid-1950s the main station building was demolished.