SideTracked - West Hampstead
SideTracked Caches
This cache belongs to the SideTracked series. It is not designed to take you to a magical place with a breathtaking view. It's a distraction for the weary traveler, but anyone else can go and find it too. More Information can be found at the SideTracked Website.
West Hampstead Railway Station
West Hampstead railway station is a London Overground station on the North London Line between Brondesbury and Finchley Road & Frognal in the London Borough of Camden. The station entrance is on West End Lane and is in travel fare Zone 2.
History
The station opened on 1 March 1888 and was called West End Lane until 1975, when it became West Hampstead (making it one of three stations of essentially the same name along West End Lane). The train service was provided by the North London Railway until 1909, when management of the NLR was taken over by the London and North Western Railway. Complete amalgamation with the LNWR followed in 1922, and the LNWR then amalgamated with other railways to form the LMS from January 1923. The LMS became the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, and the shortened brand name British Rail was used from 1965. The station and the rest of the North London Line was included in the reorganised BR business Network SouthEast in 1986.
Following the privatisation of British Rail, the station was managed by the Silverlink franchise (National Express) from 1997 until 2007, when operations passed to Transport for London's new London Overground.
After privatisation, Anglia Railways ran a regional service for a while between Norwich and Basingstoke which called here. This service, known as London Crosslink, was discontinued in Autumn 2002 because of a shortage of train paths on the North London Line and the financial return being less than forecast.
The station was initially refurbished towards the end of 2007, to coincide with the takeover of the line by London Overground. The station was comprehensively upgraded in the late 2010s thanks in part to the adjacent Ballymore West Hampstead Square development. The upgrade included a new station building, wider platforms and step free access, and was completed in December 2019.
West Hampstead railway station has an out of station interchange with both West Hampstead Thameslink railway station and West Hampstead Underground station. The arrangement of three separate stations (Thameslink, Overground and Jubilee Line) means that passengers wishing to change lines must walk along or cross West End Lane, a busy main road.
About the Cache
You’ll be looking for a magnetic geocache container that contains only the log strip. Please, bring your own pen (BYOP). It's not extremely necessary, but sometimes tweezers may be handy.
About Hampstead_Twins
We are Hampstead locals and have recently discovered geocaching activity. As we are delighted with the place where we live and with the stories we find in every corner of this locality, we decided to share some curious facts about our neighbourhood and encourage geocaching activity in the area. We hope you enjoy.
If you found any errors, had any ideas for improvement while doing the route or even just want to talk with us and encourage more caches like this one, feel free to send us a message. We will respond to everyone as soon as possible. Let’s get in touch.
What’s Next?
Did you like what you saw here? If you haven't already, how about trying to find another cache in the area? Look for ‘SideTracked - South Hampstead’ cache and have fun!