A Station in Waiting

As long ago as May I mentioned that a new station was being built between Cricklewood and Hendon called Brent Cross West. At the time an autumn opening was planned. As so often happens, Autumn became late autumn and we were almost into winter when an actual opening date was announced – Sunday 10th of December.

I would have liked to have visited the station on the 10th, but I had a very nasty cold and decided to defer my visit for a couple of days. Actually, the cold is lingering on but at least it’s more an inconvenience than a serious illness. I finally got to visit the new station on the 12th, taking the 232 bus around the North Circular Road to Staples Corner. It’s a short walk up to the station’s west entrance which sits in the Staples Corner retail park…

The station forms a large footbridge across the Midland Main Line which is 10 tracks wide at this point…

…Connecting the retail park and Edgware Road with the new Brent Cross Town development in north Cricklewood. The town side of the station is really quite impressive…

…and seems out of proportion to its current surroundings. This truly is a station in waiting – waiting for the new housing and offices to be built on the adjacent land.

Inside the east entrance, there is a tile mural…

…above which there is a screen rather than glass between the mural and the roof. This may be a design flaw as, on the day of my first visit, heavy overnight rain and a southerly wind had deposited lots of water onto the floor and also the escalators, some of which were out of service as a result.

In the centre of the bridge, we find the ticket hall…

…which sits centrally above the tracks between the 2 island platforms below. The entrance to the fast line platforms on the right was closed as currently no services call at that platform. All trains due to call here use the slow line platforms on the left. Ticket machines are provided in the hall but no booking office although there are station staff to assist passengers.

At platform level there is a good amount of sheltered seating and toilets are provided…

…There is also a mention of a Cafe but I couldn’t find one so I guess that’s for the future.

Currently all the services are operated by Thameslink using Class 700 units like 700057 pictured above. Off peak, these go north to St Albans and Luton and south to Rainham (Kent), Dartford and Sutton. There are some peak hour services that go as far north as Bedford and south to Orpington.

Despite being a new station, I was pleased to see a steady flow of passengers which hints at it becoming busy as the new developments in the surrounding area come on line. I will find it a useful alternative for catching Thameslink services as it has a better service than Kentish Town to the south. From a trainspotting photography point of view it is a bit limited although using a long lens allows for some pleasing shots…

…And there is always the possibility of some freight serving Churchyard Siding near St Pancras or the adjacent Cricklewood Aggregates Siding just to the south Here we see 66010 and 66085 passing with a railhead treatment train and 66095 just visible beside the cranes inside the aggregates depot…

….There will also be some trains coming up from the Dudding Hill Line which joins the Midland Main line here.

What of the future? Brent Cross West forms a part of a proposed extension of the London Overground Network called the West London Orbital. It would see trains from Hendon and West Hampstead serving new stations at Neasden, Harlesden and Old Oak Common before continuing via the North London Line to Acton and on to Hounslow. It is expected that a decision on whether to proceed with this new link will be taken in early 2024.