History of Railway House

Original Beginnings

The building that houses the North Carlton Railway Neighbourhood House was originally built as the North Carlton railway station on the long-defunct Inner Circle Line. For 60 years from 1888 until 1948, steam and later electric trains stopped there on their route between Royal Park and Rushall stations. When passenger services ceased in 1948, the building was converted into a house for railway workers. Goods trains continued to run on the line, past the building, until 1981 after which the tracks were removed.

The Struggle

In 1970 the land to the west of the building was the scene of an historic struggle by local residents to preserve the former railway land as a park, in the face of plans to construct a warehouse on it. Fortunately labour unions supported the local residents by putting a ‘black ban’ on construction – the forerunner of what are now known as ‘green bans’ – and the use of the land as an industrial estate was avoided.

Current Day

In the years that followed, residents continued to work to have the former railway land transformed into a linear park and the old railway station developed as a neighbourhood house. In 1984, this culminated in the establishment of the North Carlton Railway Neighbourhood House, which has continued to operate and thrive ever since.

This short movie brings together historic footage of the colourful events in the life of this old building and its surroundings.