One of the oddest things about Gladstone Park is that a railway line runs through it. It cuts across the park at the foot of the slope, separating the scenic uplands from the flat section with the sports pitches, and can only be crossed by means of two bridges. No passenger services use these double tracks, but a dozen or so freight movements pass through each day on their way to Cricklewood Aggregates, Churchyard Sidings or wherever. This is the Dudding Hill line, a historic link which might one day have an Overground future.
The Dudding Hill Line opened in 1868 as the Midland and South Western Junction Railway, a goods line connecting North Acton to the Midland Main Line. It ran for four miles, breaking off from what's now the North London Line (near Old Oak Common) before crossing the West Coast Mainline (near Harlesden) and the Chiltern Mainline (near Neasden). At its northern end it split in two, allowing transfer north towards Hendon or south towards Cricklewood. The signal box which controlled this junction still exists and easily visible from the bridge at the east end of Gladstone Park.
Two stations were added in 1875, one at Harlesden and one at Dudding Hill. The former started out as Harrow Road for Stonebridge Park and West Willesden, later Stonebridge Park for West Willesden and Harlesden and was located on Craven Park. The latter should have been called Dudden Hill, which is the proper name of the immediate locality, but the station and the line itself became Dudding Hill instead.
All sorts of passenger services ran along the Dudding Hill Line in a vain attempt to find one that was actually profitable...
• August 1875: Moorgate → Richmond (enormous suburban arc)
• February 1876: Cricklewood → Harlesden (shuttle service)
• May 1878: St Pancras → Earl's Court (part of the Midland Railway's Super Outer Circle)
• September 1880: Cricklewood → Harlesden (shuttle service)
• July 1888: Passenger service withdrawn
• March 1893: Cricklewood → Harlesden (shuttle service)
• January 1894: Cricklewood → Gunnersbury (extension via North Acton)
• October 1902: Passenger service withdrawn
...but customer numbers were never high. Only 6145 tickets were issued at Dudding Hill in 1876, and receipts in 1887 totalled a pitiful £7. The line has seen no regular passenger services since 1902, and all that remains of the two stations is an overgrown up platform at Harlesden. The original site of Dudding Hill station has been covered by a row of flats on Cornmow Drive near Gladstone Park. You can read a full history of the old line here, including timetables and vintage photos, on the excellent Disused Stations website.
Building a new railway these days can be prohibitively expensive, so the best connectivity options involve upgrading existing track. That's why there have been several plans over recent years to electrify the Dudding Hill line, replace its semaphore signalling and introduce a new passenger service. Crossrail might have come this way but didn't. A light railway connecting Finchley to Ealing was proposed, but never funded. But hurrah, proposals for a West London Orbital remain on the table in the Mayor's latest Transport Strategy, breathing fresh life with a new Overground connection.
The West London Orbital would connect Hounslow to Hendon via Old Oak Common, Neasden and Brent Cross. The two places in this list which make developers' eyes light up are Old Oak Common and Brent Cross, both the foci of major regeneration schemes which could help provide necessary funding. In particular if HS2 is going to stop at Old Oak Common, additional connectivity is desperately needed to enhance orbital accessibility.
Overground services might look like this...
Hounslow → Isleworth → Syon Lane → Brentford →
This is part of the existing Hounslow Loop with services to Waterloo. A maximum of four trains per hour could be slotted in. Additional trains might be added later starting from Kew Bridge.
→ South Acton → Acton Central →
This is part of the existing Overground line between Richmond and Willesden Junction. Trains would connect via an existing freight line and pass beneath the M4. The level crossings on Bollo Lane would get busier.
→ Old Oak Common (Victoria Road) →
This would be a new station close to, but not connected to, the HS2/Crossrail interchange at Old Oak Common. A separateconsultation is considering extra stations on existing Overground lines nearby.
→ Harlesden → Neasden →
Here's the Dudding Hill line proper. The new station at Harlesden would be built south of its previous location, closer to the existing Bakerloo line station. The new station at Neasden would be built west of its previous location, closer to the existing Jubilee line station. In each case interchange would be a short walk at street level.
→ Brent Cross West → Hendon
→ Cricklewood
The line divides just beyond the Dudding Hill signal box. In the basic version of the West London Orbital plan, four trains an hour join the Thameslink line and terminate at Hendon. If eight trains per hour can be provided, half will instead head for Cricklewood. Brent Cross West is an already-planned station to the south of Staples Corner due for completion in 2022.
You can find out more about the West London Orbital on its dedicated TfL webpage, specifically in a 111-page business case. There's also a 38-page Outline Case should you want to dig back further, and a West London Alliance website with a more accessible summary. For a far more detailed blogpost than mine, the Anonymous Widower has done the project proud. A consultation exercise was due to take place later this year, with the first services running in 2026.
But don't get your hopes up. The West London Orbital is a half billion pound project with a benefit:cost ratio no greater than 2:1. It nudged into the Mayor's Transport Strategy a couple of years ago on a wave of economic optimism, but it is not going to survive the tsunami that lies ahead. Any transport funding post-2020 is going to go towards critical infrastructure, not nice-to-haves like a minor west London orbital, indeed it's probably best to stop writing about speculative transport projects for the foreseeable future and put our planning crayons back in their box. The Dudding Hill Line will not be taking passengers, sorry, and only freight will continue to make its way across the foot of Gladstone Park.
