The first Camden Road (North London Railway) station was opened in 1850 and was situated on the east side of what is now St. Pancras Way. It was renamed Camden Town (NLR) on 1 July 1870 but was closed on 5 December 1870 when it was replaced by the second station situated a short distance to the west.
The present Camden Road station is the second station of this name (the first, on the North London Railway lasted from 1850-1870) and is located at the corner of Royal College Street and Camden Road. Designed by Edwin Henry Horne and opened as "Camden Town" by the North London Railway on 5 December 1870, it was renamed "Camden Road" on 25 September 1950 to avoid confusion with the London Underground Northern line Camden Town which had opened in 1907. Thus, between 1907 and 1950, there were two stations called ’Camden Town’.
In addition to the frequent local passenger service, the station is a busy location for freight traffic due to its proximity to the junctions linking the North London Line to both the West Coast Main Line at Camden Junction (via the now closed station at Primrose Hill) and the East Coast Main Line at Copenhagen Junction. The former is particularly well used by container trains from the deep water ports at Felixstowe & Tilbury to various terminals in the Midlands & North West of England; it also carried a passenger service (between Watford Junction and Broad Street/Liverpool Street) until 1992.