Gospel Oak turntable

[Class15]

Hi all,

I’m aware that there is an unfinished turntable hiding away in the bushes next to Gospel Oak junction. A friend says that he found in an old book that it was going to be used by the MR to turn locos. However, I was unable to find anything online or on the forum. Does anyone know exactly what this was, when it was made, and why it was abandoned halfway?

Thank you!

 

[davyp]

A quick glance at NLS Maps (1870s, both 6 inch and 25 inch to the mile) shows that the turntable was slightly to the NW of the junction. Interestingly there is no actual junction on the maps. Perhaps the line was then a dead-end, so locos needed turning. Interesting.

* Approximately under the current adventure playground just N of the tracks.

 

[DerekC]

I think the OP was right - if there are any remains of the turntable pit, they are in the bushes immediately behind what looks from the satellite image to be a large location case or similar, next to the modern point of junction. The adventure playground is further away fro the tracks. The turntable is shown clearly on the 1870s maps but has gone by the 1890s, although a curving arc in the fence area is shown where it was. The junction doesn't appear to have been connected through until WWII. The alignment was clearly designed to connect the two lines. Does anyone know why it wasn't joined up originally?

 

[thesignalman]

A quick glance at NLS Maps (1870s, both 6 inch and 25 inch to the mile) shows that the turntable was slightly to the NW of the junction. Interestingly there is no actual junction on the maps. Perhaps the line was then a dead-end, so locos needed turning. Interesting.

* Approximately under the current adventure playground just N of the tracks.

It was indeed a dead-end, until a link was provided during World War I for freight traffic. That link was removed in 1922 but reinstated in 1939. The T&H station was alongside the double track (rather than a bay as it is now; it closed in 1926 but was used for occasional excursion traffic until 1939. The current bay was added when traffic was reinstated in 1980.

A turntable used to be a Ministry of Transport requirement at any terminus, even on lines worked by tank engines!

John