Cricklewood railway station

Cricklewood railway station is in the London Borough of Barnet in North London. The station lies on the north-south Midland Main Line where it crosses Cricklewood Lane. It is served by First Capital Connect services as part of the Thameslink service. It is in London Travelcard Zone 3.

History
It was built as Childs Hill and Cricklewood by the Midland Railway in 1868 when it built its extension (now called the Midland Main Line) to St. Pancras and 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. 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.

Services
First Capital Connect run 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. First Capital Connect services to Bedford, Gatwick Airport and Brighton run through without stopping.

East Midlands Trains InterCity services from Sheffield, Nottingham and Leicester 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.

Development
A new Brent Cross Thameslink station a little further north is proposed and the four platforms at Cricklewood station are not being extended from 8 to 12 carriages. The only other Thameslink stations north of the River Thames remaining with 8-car platform lengths are Hendon and Kentish Town. The Office of Rail Regulation has told Network Rail the procedure (using the Railways Act 1993) to close Cricklewood station, if a new one further north is opened. However the approved Brent Cross Cricklewood development project includes improving Cricklewood station's forecourt and providing step free access to all platforms.

From March 2009, Southeastern and First Capital Connect began running some peak hour trains from Sevenoaks to Luton, though in the off-peak these services turn back at Kentish Town.

Other trains from south of the River Thames within the larger Thameslink network may call at the station from 2015, when it is likely that the existing Sutton Loop trains will terminate at Blackfriars.

In early 2008, the London Group of the Campaign for Better Transport published a proposal for an off-road, mainly orbital North and West London Light railway (NWLLR), sharing the orbital Dudding Hill Line freight corridor, and taking over at least one of the two Midland Railway freight lines which run through Cricklewood station. If the scheme were to go ahead, it would provide one or maybe two extra light-rail platforms at the station.

Transport links
London bus routes 189, 226, 245, 260, 460, C11 pass the station, route 16, 32, 266, 316, 332, school routes 632 and night route N16 8mins walk to the station.