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Gospel Oak railway station is in
the London Borough of Camden 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 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.
The station opened in 1860 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.
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 25 kv AC overhead.
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.
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.
London Buses route C11 serves the station.
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.
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