Gospel Oak railway station is in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...

in north-west London. It is on the North London line (NLL) and is also the western passenger terminus of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line – known informally as GOBLIN. Passengers using

Oyster card The Oyster card is a payment method for public transport in London (and certain areas around it) in England, United Kingdom. A standard Oyster card is a blue credit-card-sized stored-value contactless smart card. It is promoted by Transport ...

s are required to tap on interchange Oyster card readers when changing between the two lines. The station is in

Travelcard Zone 2 Fare zone 2 is an inner zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. Ba ...

, and is managed by

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a ...

which runs all passenger trains at the station.

History

The station opened in 1860 as Kentish Town on the

Hampstead Junction Railway The Hampstead Junction Railway was a railway line in north-west London, England, opened in 1860. It connected the existing North London Railway at Camden with the North and South Western Junction Railway. It ran through open country but encourage ...

from to Old Oak Common Junction south of . It was renamed Gospel Oak in 1867 when a new station more appropriately named Kentish Town was opened about a mile south on the same line (that station is now ). Due to financial constraints a planned connection from the

Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway The Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway was a railway line in north London, formed by an Act of Parliament of 28 July 1862, which today is mostly part of the Gospel Oak to Barking line. It was effectively part of an attempt by the Great East ...

to Gospel Oak station was not added until 4 June 1888, some 20 years after that railway opened, and then without a link to the North London Line due to other companies' opposition. From 1926 to 1981, the station was not a passenger interchange: passenger trains left the Barking line at Tufnell Park and descended the gradient to station. In 1981 that passenger service from Barking was diverted from Kentish Town to Gospel Oak with the terminal platform rebuilt on the north side of the existing station. The North London Line through Gospel Oak was

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...

on the fourth-rail 660 volt DC system in 1916 by the

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the L ...

: in the 1970s that was changed to 750 volt DC third rail. In 1996, the line from Willesden through Gospel Oak to Camden was closed during conversion to 25 kv AC overhead. To allow four-car trains to run on the London Overground network, the North London Line between this station and closed from February 2010 to 1 June 2010, for installing a new signalling system and for extending 30 platforms. Until May 2011, there was a reduced service with no services on Sundays while the upgrade work continued.

Design

The platforms are high above street level with stairs and two lifts, one serving westbound trains, and one serving eastbound trains and the Barking line. The North London Line has two platforms and the Barking line has a short terminal platform north of which are two separate through freight tracks which join the NLL just west of the station. Oyster ticket barriers are in operation.

Services

Gospel Oak railway station MMB 09 172005

The typical off-peak service at the station in trains per hour is: * 4 eastbound to * 8 eastbound to * 4 westbound to

Clapham Junction Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea. Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances durin ...

* 4 westbound to

Connections

London Buses route C11 This is a list of Transport for London (TfL) contracted bus routes in London, England, as well as commercial services that enter the Greater London area (except coaches). Bus services in London are operated by Abellio London, Arriva London, G ...

serves the station.

In arts and music

The two brick

skew arch A skew arch (also known as an oblique arch) is a method of construction that enables an arch bridge to span an obstacle at some angle other than a right angle. This results in the faces of the arch not being perpendicular to its abutments and its ...

bridges by which the trains cross Gordon House Road are shown in the cover photograph of the 1997

Gospel Oak Gospel Oak is an inner urban area of north west London in the London Borough of Camden at the very south of Hampstead Heath. The neighbourhood is positioned between Hampstead to the north-west, Dartmouth Park to the north-east, Kentish Town to t ...

EP by Irish singer

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want What ...

Notes

References

External links

{{UK railway stations Railway stations in the London Borough of Camden DfT Category D stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1860 Former Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1888 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1926 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1981 Railway stations served by London Overground