Excellent video. Live close to the Alban Way and a great way of getting to different parts of St.Albans let alone beyond, and have walked parts of the Nickey Line and Ayot Greenway and can testify to the lovely countryside you can see.
The Rickmansworth Church Street or now the Ebury Way is a few hundred yards from my house in Watford. I have cycled and walked it many times over the years. I remember the freight trains that used it when I was a child in the 1960's which used to serve the now also closed Croxley paper mills which were part of the John Dickinson empire. After that closed a Marconi torpedo guidance systems factory was built near to that site until that closed as well. Of interest, there were sidings near to Brightwells Farm on the branch which supplied salt to the nearby Hampermill Lane waterworks for softening the water extracted from the artesian wells there. The salt was conveyed to the waterworks by a narrow gauge railway which ran from the branch sidings across the farm fields down to a bridge over the River Colne and then entered the waterworks. There are tracks still in situ over the remains of the bridge over the River Colne which can still be viewed. The old station in Church Street Rickmansworth was still in situ until the mid 60's and was used by a local coal merchant for many years, the branch tracks and platforms were also still in place with the original gas lamps on the platforms. The station site has also been built over with blocks of flats.
Paul - wonderful memories of the lines I was able to walk over (bit too young to have traveled on them.) Welwyn to Hertford in 1978 was a washout in the western section. Some rotten farmer had the audacity to earn his living by using the land for agricultural purposes. The eastern section is, as you say, a lovely walk. St Albans to Hatfield was a line I came across as I lived just a few yards from where it crossed Camp Road via a bridge. Yes, the trackbed is a pleasure to walk over. I would have liked the section from St Albans Abbey to London Road restored, but that will not happen - not least because often presence of the children's nursery. London Road, ironically the disused one, is by far the most attractive of the three station buildings in St Albans. What will happen to the Abbey Flyer to Watford Junction is anybody's guess. No-one has found the solution despite lots of reports and plans that never get fulfilled. But that's beyond your brief, Paul - and again, thank you so much for your very pleasant presentation.
I lived near Salvation Halt for many years and have walked up and down the Alban Way loads of times, it's such a nice play to look around, and over the years the stations have been improved. I was surprised that you didn't go on the the Luton Dunstable busway which is a lovely walk alongside that section of the railway.
The Nickey Line did not end at Boxmoor (now Hemel Hempstead) LNWR station as your map suggests, or even go near it. It crossed the south end of Marlowes by a high viaduct (which cost BR a fortune to demolish) to reach Heath Park Halt (opposite the Heath Park Hotel at the end of Station Road), the passenger terminus. The line then continued south on an embankment to serve the gasworks at Two Waters. This was alongside the LNWR line, but there was no connection until one was installed when the Nickey Line closed, so no trains ever ran through. The section north of Hemel Hempstead remained in use considerably longer, because it served a factory making breeze blocks, the owners of which acquired and operated the branch. For full information see the standard history of the line by Sue and Geoff Woodward, published by the Oakwood Press in 1996.
Excellent video of a part of England I'm not too familiar with. I'd love to spend a few days exploring these routes. Would it be possible to get links to the many great route maps and photos, maybe in the video description?
Thank you so much,a wonderful and incredibly informative talk.
Thanks Paul and LTMF; I've known about these disused lines for a while but still learned a thing or two from this. Liked and subscribed :-)
Glad you enjoyed it
Excellent video. Live close to the Alban Way and a great way of getting to different parts of St.Albans let alone beyond, and have walked parts of the Nickey Line and Ayot Greenway and can testify to the lovely countryside you can see.
The Rickmansworth Church Street or now the Ebury Way is a few hundred yards from my house in Watford. I have cycled and walked it many times over the years. I remember the freight trains that used it when I was a child in the 1960's which used to serve the now also closed Croxley paper mills which were part of the John Dickinson empire. After that closed a Marconi torpedo guidance systems factory was built near to that site until that closed as well. Of interest, there were sidings near to Brightwells Farm on the branch which supplied salt to the nearby Hampermill Lane waterworks for softening the water extracted from the artesian wells there. The salt was conveyed to the waterworks by a narrow gauge railway which ran from the branch sidings across the farm fields down to a bridge over the River Colne and then entered the waterworks. There are tracks still in situ over the remains of the bridge over the River Colne which can still be viewed. The old station in Church Street Rickmansworth was still in situ until the mid 60's and was used by a local coal merchant for many years, the branch tracks and platforms were also still in place with the original gas lamps on the platforms. The station site has also been built over with blocks of flats.
Wonderful, that you, Paul is great.
Paul - wonderful memories of the lines I was able to walk over (bit too young to have traveled on them.) Welwyn to Hertford in 1978 was a washout in the western section. Some rotten farmer had the audacity to earn his living by using the land for agricultural purposes. The eastern section is, as you say, a lovely walk. St Albans to Hatfield was a line I came across as I lived just a few yards from where it crossed Camp Road via a bridge. Yes, the trackbed is a pleasure to walk over. I would have liked the section from St Albans Abbey to London Road restored, but that will not happen - not least because often presence of the children's nursery. London Road, ironically the disused one, is by far the most attractive of the three station buildings in St Albans. What will happen to the Abbey Flyer to Watford Junction is anybody's guess. No-one has found the solution despite lots of reports and plans that never get fulfilled. But that's beyond your brief, Paul - and again, thank you so much for your very pleasant presentation.
I lived near Salvation Halt for many years and have walked up and down the Alban Way loads of times, it's such a nice play to look around, and over the years the stations have been improved.
I was surprised that you didn't go on the the Luton Dunstable busway which is a lovely walk alongside that section of the railway.
The Nickey Line did not end at Boxmoor (now Hemel Hempstead) LNWR station as your map suggests, or even go near it. It crossed the south end of Marlowes by a high viaduct (which cost BR a fortune to demolish) to reach Heath Park Halt (opposite the Heath Park Hotel at the end of Station Road), the passenger terminus. The line then continued south on an embankment to serve the gasworks at Two Waters. This was alongside the LNWR line, but there was no connection until one was installed when the Nickey Line closed, so no trains ever ran through. The section north of Hemel Hempstead remained in use considerably longer, because it served a factory making breeze blocks, the owners of which acquired and operated the branch. For full information see the standard history of the line by Sue and Geoff Woodward, published by the Oakwood Press in 1996.
47:14 Don't confuse Croxley Green with being part of the Rickmansworth line. That closed 30 years later.
Excellent, thank you!
Excellent video of a part of England I'm not too familiar with. I'd love to spend a few days exploring these routes. Would it be possible to get links to the many great route maps and photos, maybe in the video description?
I think The Bunt line was the Ware, Hadham and Buntingford line, not Haddenham? I think Braughing is usually pronounced 'Braff-in'.
I can't see how the name Haddenham crept in.
Imagine if all branch lines were 'mothballed' ....what a golden opportunity we have missed out on. Such a lack of forward thinking back then?
Stupid, short-sighted loss of rights of way for paths, cable-laying and other useful purposes.