Gospel Oak railway station

Gospel Oak
Gospel Oak Location of Gospel Oak in Greater London
Location	Gospel Oak
Local authority	London Borough of Camden
Managed by	London Overground
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	GPO
DfT category	D
Number of platforms	3
Accessible	Yes [1]
Fare zone	2
National Rail annual entry and exit
2010–11	1.508 million[2]
2011–12	2.198 million[2]
2012–13	2.755 million[2]
2013–14	3.498 million[2]
– interchange	1.648 million[2]
2014–15	3.569 million[2]
– interchange	1.721 million[2]
Key dates
1860	Opened
Other information
Lists of stations	DLR Underground National Rail Tramlink
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84	51°33′19″N 0°09′05″W / 51.5552°N 0.1514°WCoordinates: 51°33′19″N 0°09′05″W / 51.5552°N 0.1514°W
London Transport portal UK Railways portal

Gospel Oak railway station is in the London Borough of Camden in north London. It is on the North London Line (NLL) and is also the western passenger terminus of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line. Passengers using Oyster cards 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 which runs all passenger trains at the station.

History

Local railway lines, 1914

Ordnance Survey map, 1920

Gospel Oak station

The station opened in 1860^[3] as Kentish Town on the Hampstead Junction Railway from Camden Road to Old Oak Common Junction south of Willesden Junction. 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 Kentish Town West). 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 Kentish Town 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.^[4]

The North London Line through Gospel Oak was electrified on the fourth-rail 660 volt DC system in 1916 by the LNWR: 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 25kv AC overhead.

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.^[5] 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

London Overground Turbostar unit 172005 departs from Gospel Oak with a service to Barking. This line is not fully electrified requiring diesel train operation.

To allow four-car trains to run on the London Overground network, the North London Line between this station and Stratford 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.^[6]

The typical off-peak service at the station in trains per hour is:^[7]

• 4 eastbound to Barking
• 6 eastbound to Stratford
• 2 westbound to Clapham Junction
• 4 westbound to Richmond

Services on the Barking line will be disrupted from 6 June 2016, when major infrastructure work begins on the route to prepare it for electrification. From 6 June until 23 September, services will be suspended east of South Tottenham on weekdays and thereafter all weekday trains over the route will be replaced by buses until February 2017. Weekend trains will be suspended throughout for the entire duration of the work and are not due to restart until June 2017.

Connections

London Buses route C11 serves the station.

In arts and music

The two brick skew arch bridges by which the trains cross Gordon House Road are shown in the cover photograph of the 1997 Gospel Oak EP by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor.

References

1. "Step free Tube Guide" (PDF). Transport for London. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 June 2015.
2. "Station usage estimates". Rail statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Please note: Some methodology may vary year on year.
3. Joe Brown (2006). London Railway Atlas. Ian Allan Publishing.
4. http://www.icrs.org.uk/Site/Features/journey_northlondon_two.htm
5. "Mayor hails successful bid to make more London Overground stations step free". TfL. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
6. "London Overground to close from Gospel Oak to Stratford as part of £326m upgrade to deliver longer, more frequent trains". TfL. 15 February 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
7. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Tables 59 & 62 (Network Rail)

External links

• Train times and station information for Gospel Oak railway station from National Rail

Preceding station		London Overground		Following station
Terminus		Gospel Oak to Barking Line		Upper Holloway towards Barking
Hampstead Heath towards Richmond or Clapham Junction		North London Line		Kentish Town West towards Stratford
	Disused railways
Terminus		Tottenham & Hampstead Junction Railway (1868–1915)		Highgate Road