South Oak Road

Background

My passion for railways was partly inherited from my father who worked as a blacksmith for many years at both Ashford and Eastleigh railway works and my grandfather who worked as a guard on the Southern Railway and on into the Blue diesel era. Despite the influence of my father’s large Southern inspired steam era layout and spending many enjoyable weekends volunteering on the Mid Hants Watercress line, growing up in the Seventies and early Eighties in the UK means the BR corporate blue era is etched into my imagination. I have many fond memories of travelling and trainspotting in and around London and southern England during this period. My aim is to distil just a tiny slice of this wonderfully grimy and run down BR blue era that I remember from my childhood.

A fictitious station, just west of Kentish Town station, South Oak Road is situated somewhere in this area of North West London where numerous lines duck in and out of cuttings, tunnels and over viaducts. The layout focuses on two outer platforms of a slightly larger station complex that is also fed by the nearby Post Office mail and parcel distribution centre.

Google Maps image of the approximate location