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
The North London line (NLL) is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of west, north-west, north, and east London, England between Richmond in the south-west and Stratford in the east, avoiding central London. Its route is a r ...
(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, and is managed by
London Overground
London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as ...
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 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 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
The typical off-peak service at the station in trains per hour is:
* 4 eastbound to
* 8 eastbound to
* 4 westbound to
Clapham Junction
* 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, ...
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 it ...
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 ...
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 Wha ...
.
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