Words and photos by Dave Bosher

Dave Bosher is our guide on a journey along the North London Line, which runs from Stratford to Richmond. These photos were taken at the beginning of November 2007, just a few days before the operation transferred from Silverlink to Transport for London.

Part 2 Gospel Oak - South Acton

(Part 1 Hackney Wick - Kentish Town West)

Gospel Oak

This station was opened with this section of the line in 1860 as Kentish Town and renamed in 1867 when Kentish Town West station, one stop down the line eastbound opened. Until 1925 there was a service from here to Chingford via South Tottenham, the Lea Valley Line and the Coppermill spur. Following the cessation of passenger services, the section between here and Junction Road, where the spur from Kentish Town came in, became freight only. The station was rebuilt in a sturdy looking style by the old London Midland Region of British Railways in 1955. In 1981 the Barking to Kentish Town Service was diverted along the freight line to Gospel Oak, necessitating a new terminal platform on the site of the long abandoned one behind the eastbound Richmond line platform so that once again Gospel Oak became a junction and the new service opened up valuable new cross-town facilities which Londoners still enjoy.

Hampstead Heath

Hampstead Heath station originally opened in 1860 and was rebuilt in doleful reinforced concrete by the old London Midland Region of British Railways in 1953. The Willesden to Camden stretch of the route was closed for a year in the mid-1990s to convert it from third rail to overhead current collection and when it reopened in 1996 the old buildings at Hampstead Heath had been swept away and replaced with traditional Victorian style canopies.

West Hampstead

Brondesbury

Brondesbury Park

Kensal Rise

Willesden Junction

Acton Central

South Acton

The line was opened in 1853 but this station was not added until 1880. It was originally a junction as it is just south of here that the London & South Western spur to the Kensington & Richmond Railway opened in 1869, shortening the journey to the Thameside town although a service from Broad Street as far as Kew Bridge ran until withdrawn as a war economy in 1940, though the route is still heavily used by freight and diverted trains.

South Action was also the junction for the Hammersmith & Chiswick branch which diverged north and curved to a terminus on Chiswick High Road near the present Stamford Brook TfL station. It closed to passengers as early as 1917 but somewhat surprisingly survived with freight trains until 1965.