Cricklewood railway station

Up stopping train in 1950

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]

Thameslink run 24-hour services on the Thameslink route. The typical off-peak service is four trains per hour southbound to London, Wimbledon and Sutton, and four trains per hour northbound, of which two terminate at St Albans and two at Luton. Thameslink services to and from Gatwick Airport, Three Bridges and Brighton stop here at night only, but pass through without stopping during the day. After midnight, an hourly service (not calling at Farringdon, City Thameslink or London Bridge) from Bedford to Three Bridges runs.[6]

East Midlands Railway InterCity services from Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester and Leeds run through at high speed on the Midland Main Line, but do not stop. Interchange with these services can be made at Luton and St Pancras International.

From March 2009, Southeastern and Thameslink began running some peak hour trains from Sevenoaks to Luton,[7] though in the off-peak these services turn back at Kentish Town. From 2015, following the expansion of the Thameslink network, other trains from south of the River Thames have been able to call at the station; however, it is not possible to accommodate longer 12-car trains at Cricklewood as the platforms are constrained by a road bridge and cannot be extended.[8]

Northbound view from Platform 1 of the four platforms. Two additional freight tracks are on the extreme left

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.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11][12] 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.[13] 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.[14][15]

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.[16] 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.[17]

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

Cricklewood TMD, showing Class 319s of former-operator First Capital Connect

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.[18]

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 both its InterCity 125 8-coach sets and 5-coach Class 222. 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.

Thameslink services
Past, present and future
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 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 Tunnels Nos 1, 2 & 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

West London Orbital
Proposed route
Midland Main Line Thameslink route Hendon North Circular Brent Cross West planned Dudding Hill Line (currently freight only) Cricklewood West Hampstead Thameslink route via St Pancras Dudding Hill closed 1964 Neasden Jubilee & Metropolitan lines Chiltern Main Line Harlesden Watford DC line & Bakerloo lines West Coast Main Line Grand Union Canal North London line to Willesden Junction Old Oak Common Lane GWML Central line Acton Central South Acton North London line to Richmond District & Piccadilly lines 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cricklewood railway station and Cricklewood Traction Maintenance Depot.

• Butt, R. V. J. (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.