Cricklewood railway station

 

It was opened on 2 May 1870^[2] as Childs Hill and Cricklewood nearly 2 years after the Midland Railway had built its extension (now called the Midland Main Line) to St. Pancras. The station acquired its present name in 1903.

To the north of the station, a motive power depot was built with a large roundhouse in 1882, with a second in 1893. With this was built a large marshalling yard and, in later years, LMS Garratts would be seen with their massive trains of coal from Toton in the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire coalfields.^[3] A loop line, no longer in existence, was built heading north on the western side of the railway yard, then turning east underneath the main line at the viaduct over the River Brent (and also now the North Circular Road), then south on the eastern side. This obviously allowed trains to reverse direction, but also conveniently joined the railway yards on the two sides of the main lines.

Between 1899 and 1926, a number of proposals were put forward to build an underground railway along the Edgware Road from Central London to Cricklewood via Kilburn, and envisaged the construction of a Tube station at Cricklewood. None of the schemes succeeded and the line was never built.^[4]

A mural bearing the inscription QUEEN OF THE AIR (which was a nickname the British press gave Amy Johnson) was painted in Cricklewood station to commemorate the hundred-year anniversary of women getting the right to vote in the United Kingdom.^[5]

This station has 4 platforms, numbered from 1 (easternmost) to 4 (westernmost). Platforms 1 and 2 are on the southbound and northbound slow lines, where all regular services calling at the station use. Platforms 3 and 4 are on the southbound and northbound fast lines, which are normally fenced off while fast trains pass through this station non-stop, and only to be used when the slow lines are out of use.

All services at Cricklewood are operated by Thameslink using Class 700 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[6]

• 4 tph to St Albans City
• 4 tph to Sutton (2 of these run via Mitcham Junction and 2 run via Wimbledon)

During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services to and from Luton, Orpington and Rainham, as well as some late evening services to and from Bedford.

The station is also served by a night service between Bedford and Three Bridges on Sunday to Friday nights.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Brent Cross West		Thameslink Thameslink		West Hampstead Thameslink
	Disused railways
Welsh Harp Line open, station closed		Midland Railway Midland Main Line		West Hampstead Line and station open
Dudding Hill Line open (freight only), station closed		Midland Railway Dudding Hill Line

 

In 2014, the pedestrian subway of Cricklewood station was refurbished with renewed cladding, lighting and a repaired floor, and disabled access was improved at the ticket office window.^[7]

Various schemes have been proposed for improved railway connections through Cricklewood. In early 2008, the London Group of the Campaign for Better Transport pressure group published a proposal for a light rail system in West London called the North and West London Light railway (NWLLR), which would make use of the Dudding Hill freight line freight corridor that runs through Cricklewood station. The NWLLR scheme did not progress beyond the proposal stage.^[8]

Plans to build a new Brent Cross West station 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) to the north of Cricklewood are currently progressing, and the scheme was approved by national and London government in March 2014.^[9][10] Unlike Cricklewood, the new station will be able to accommodate the new 12-carriage trains. Rumours that Cricklewood station would close when the new station opened have been refuted by the Brent Cross Cricklewood development company.^[11] The developers announced funding for further upgrade work at Cricklewood station in 2010, including the installation of lifts to provide step-free access to all platforms.^[12][13]

The proposal to re-open the Dudding Hill Line to passenger services was revived in 2017 when the London Assembly and Transport for London published a plan to extend the London Overground network through Cricklewood.^[14] The scheme, known as the West London Orbital envisages running services from West Hampstead Thameslink and Hendon to Hounslow via Cricklewood and the planned Old Oak Common Lane station. The plans are currently at public consultation stage with TfL.^[15]

London Buses routes 189, 226, 245, 260, 460 and C11 serve the station.

 

The original Cricklewood railway engine servicing depot was built by the Midland Railway just to the north west of curve of the junction with the Dudding Hill Line. It was built as and remains as the first major servicing depot for trains terminating in London, and for servicing the local regional commuter trains on the Midland Main Line. Part rebuilt by British Railways, it was closed to steam in December 1964.^[16]

To the eastern side of the mainline, the Midland Railway had originally built a goods yard, which developed into a sizeable freight facility under British Railways, for collating and distributing goods around London. Resultantly, as the confines of the original depot with the introduction of electrification meant it could no longer be used, a new depot was built to the north east of the mainline, located directly north of the sidings and above the northern junction with the Dudding Hill Line.

Today, the depot serves as the London base for East Midlands Railway, providing stabling and operational servicing for its British Rail Class 222 and class 180. It also formerly served as a regional depot for First Capital Connect, until it was superseded by Govia Thameslink Railway in September 2014, who use other newly built facilities in other locations. The sidings located to its south still provide freight services, including being the starting point for one of the daily BinLiner domestic waste trains that terminate at the Calvert Landfill site, operated by the Waste Recycling Group for the Department of the Environment.

v t e Thameslink services
Past, present and future
Legend
East Coast Main Line to Edinburgh and Leeds   Birmingham to Peterborough Line       Fen line to King's Lynn   Peterborough     Cambridge North     Cambridge Ely–Peterborough line         West Anglia Main Line to London Liverpool Street Nene Valley Heritage Railway       M11 motorway Huntingdon     A10 road St. Neots     Cambridgeshire Hertfordshire Cambridgeshire Bedfordshire     Royston Sandy       Baldock Biggleswade         A1(M) motorway Arlesey           Letchworth Garden City Bedfordshire Hertfordshire       Midland Main Line to Sheffield     Hitchin Bedford     Stevenage       Hertford Loop Line Marston Vale line to Bletchley       Knebworth Wixams     Welwyn North Tunnel Ampthill Tunnel 715 yd (654 m)     Welwyn South Tunnel Flitwick     Welwyn North Harlington     Welwyn Garden City Leagrave     Hatfield Luton     Welham Green   Luton Airport Parkway     Brookmans Park Bedfordshire Hertfordshire         Potters Bar Harpenden       Potters Bar Tunnel under M25 motorway St Albans City       Hertfordshire Greater London M25 motorway         Hadley Wood North Tunnel Radlett     Hadley Wood  Elstree & Borehamwood     Hadley Wood South Tunnel Elstree Tunnel 1,072 yd (980 m)     New Barnet Hertfordshire Greater London       Oakleigh Park M1 motorway     Barnet Tunnel Mill Hill Broadway     New Southgate Hendon     Wood Green Tunnel Brent Cross West       Hertford Loop Line Dudding Hill Freight Line       Alexandra Palace Cricklewood     Hornsey West Hampstead Thameslink     Harringay Belsize Tunnel 1,771 yd (1,619 m)             Gospel Oak to Barking line Lismore Circus Tunnel 88 yd (80 m)           to Gospel Oak to Barking line           Finsbury Park     Kentish Town       Northern City Line to Moorgate Camden Road Tunnel 308 yd (282 m)     Copenhagen Tunnel       North London line                   North London line                             High Speed 1 to Paris and Brussels Midland Main Line                 East Coast Main Line Regent's Canal                         Gasworks Tunnel Kings Cross Tunnel 1,704 yd (1,558 m)                   Canal Tunnels     London St Pancras                   London King's Cross     King's Cross Thameslink   Clerkenwell Tunnel No 1   Clerkenwell Tunnel No 2   Clerkenwell Tunnel No 3 overhead AC only dual electrification     Farringdon               link lifted Snow Hill Tunnel 770 yd (700 m)       Smithfield Tunnel 292 yd (267 m) City Thameslink     Barbican   dual electrification third rail DC only       Barbican Tunnel 690 yd (630 m) Holborn Viaduct     Moorgate         London Blackfriars     River Thames               Blackfriars Railway Bridge           Elephant & Castle       London Bridge               Greenwich line to Rainham         Deptford       Greenwich         Greenwich College Tunnel 450 yd (410 m)       Maze Hill       Westcombe Park         North Kent Line to South Eastern Main Line       Charlton       Woolwich Arsenal         Plumstead       Abbey Wood         Slade Green         Bexleyheath Line       River Cray       Greater London Kent         Dartford Loop Line       Dartford       River Darent       A282 road       Stone Crossing       Greenhithe       Greenhithe Tunnel 253 yd (231 m)           Swanscombe           High Speed 1 to St Pancras International           Northfleet           High Speed 1 to Channel Tunnel           Gravesend West Line       Gravesend       Higham       Higham and Strood Tunnels 3,931 yd (3,595 m)       Strood         Chatham Main Line to London Victoria           Medway Valley Line to Maidstone West       River Medway       Rochester       Fort Pitt tunnel 428 yd (391 m)       Chatham       Chatham tunnel 297 yd (272 m)       Gillingham tunnel 897 yd (820 m)       Gillingham         Rainham           Chatham Main Line to Dover & Ramsgate Loughborough Junction         Denmark Hill   Herne Hill       Peckham Rye   Tulse Hill       Nunhead Crystal Palace line limited service             Crofton Park   Norwood Junction         Catford Leigham Tunnel 302 yd (276 m)       Bellingham Streatham Tunnel 220 yd (200 m)       Beckenham Hill Streatham       Ravensbourne limited service                 Shortlands           Tooting         Mitcham Eastfields Haydons Road         Mitcham Junction       Wimbledon         Hackbridge Wimbledon Chase         Carshalton South Merton         Sutton Morden South         West Sutton St Helier           Sutton Common   East Croydon     Greater London Surrey                 Bromley South             Bickley Merstham tunnel 1,830 yd (1,670 m)                     South Eastern Main Line to London Bridge Quarry tunnel 2,113 yd (1,932 m)                       M25 motorway           Petts Wood Redhill │ Redhill Tunnel 502 yd (459 m)         Orpington       South Eastern Main Line to Sevenoaks Surrey West Sussex     St Mary Cray   Gatwick Airport     Greater London Kent Three Bridges     Swanley Balcombe tunnel 1,168 yd (1,068 m)       Chatham Main Line to Rochester Balcombe     M25 motorway Haywards Heath     Eynsford Tunnel 828 yd (757 m) Haywards Heath Tunnel 249 yd (228 m)     Eynsford Wivelsfield     Shoreham Burgess Hill     Otford Hassocks       Maidstone line to Ashford International Clayton Tunnel 2,259 yd (2,066 m)     Bat & Ball West Sussex East Sussex       South Eastern Main Line to Orpington Patcham Tunnel 488 yd (446 m)     Preston Park     Sevenoaks West Coastway line to Littlehampton       South Eastern Main Line to Dover Brighton
indicates limited service

v t e West London Orbital
Legend
Proposed route
Midland Main Line to Bedford   Hendon     A406 North Circular     Brent Cross West               Dudding Hill Line (currently freight only)     Cricklewood     West Hampstead Thameslink           Midland Main Line to St Pancras   Dudding Hill closed 1902             Neasden   Jubilee line Metropolitan line                 Chiltern Main Line                   Harlesden     { Lioness & Bakerloo lines           West Coast Main Line   Grand Union Canal     Mildmay Line to Willesden Junction         Old Oak Common Lane       GWML       Central line   Acton Central   South Acton       Mildmay Line to Richmond         District line Piccadilly line   A406 North Circular   M4 motorway     Hounslow Loop Line to Waterloo via Chiswick   Lionel Road   proposed     Hounslow Loop Line to Waterloo via Kew Bridge   Brentford     Syon Lane   Isleworth   Hounslow     Hounslow Loop Line & Chertsey branch line

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cricklewood railway station.

• Train times and station information for Cricklewood railway station from National Rail