Hatfield and St Albans Railway

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Hatfield & St Albans Railway
Cyclists on the Alban Way in May 2017
Overview
LocaleHertfordshire, England
Dates of operation1865–1968
SuccessorAbandoned
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Length6 miles 34.25 chains (10.35 km)
Hatfield and
St Albans Railway
Legend
Midland Main Line
 St Albans Abbey
St Albans City
St Albans (London Road)
Abbey line
Midland Main Line
Sanders Siding
Salvation Army
Siding
 Salvation Army Halt
Fleetville Siding
Hertfordshire County
Mental Hospital
 Hill End
Butterwick Siding
 Smallford
Nast Hyde Halt
Fiddle Bridge Siding
 Lemsford Road Halt
Hatfield
East Coast Main Line

The Hatfield & St Albans Railway was a branch of the

Great Northern Railway which connected St Albans to Hatfield in Hertfordshire, England. It opened in 1865 with the principal aim of allowing St Albans traffic to access the Great Northern's main line to London at Hatfield, but soon came into difficulties when the Midland Railway inaugurated a direct route to London through St Albans. Passenger receipts declined in the 1930s, resulting in the temporary withdrawal of services in 1939. Passenger services were permanently withdrawn in 1951, leaving goods traffic to linger on until December 1968. Much of the route of the line is now incorporated into the Alban Way
, a footpath and cycleway.

History

Authorisation and opening

The Hatfield and St Albans Railway Company was incorporated by

running powers into the LNWR station; the LNWR received reciprocal rights over the link line between the stations.[6]

The new line opened on 1 September 1865 with one planned intermediate station at Springfield (renamed Smallford in 1879), although this was not ready in time.[7] The Great Northern worked the line from the beginning and eventually absorbed the railway company on 1 November 1883.[8]

Operations

The initial weekday service consisted of eight trains in each direction from St Albans and

0-4-2T rebuilds and Sturrock 0-4-2Ts were used.[11] The opening of the Midland Main Line through St Albans in 1868 saw receipts fall on the line and the Hatfield and St Albans Railway was unable to pay its debts. A receiver was appointed and the independent company had no choice but to be absorbed by the Great Northern, this being formalised by an Act of Parliament in 1883.[12]

A 1902 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing (lower left) the western end of the Hatfield and St Albans Railway (orange) in GNR days

The Great Northern tried to counter the effect of the Midland, by running a few through coaches from St Albans to King's Cross but this did not last. It tried instead to foster local commuter traffic by timing the connections at Hatfield, so that services from St Albans,

4-4-2T locomotives were the mainstay of the branch, carrying out all passenger and freight workings, except for the final passenger working which was made by any available Hatfield locomotive.[15]

Decline and closure

By the late 1930s, passenger numbers were declining in the face of increased competition from bus transport.[16] Passenger trains became uneconomic and in September 1939, following the start of hostilities, the LNER withdrew them. The needs of the de Havilland aircraft works at Hatfield however obliged the railway company to reopen the line three months later.[17] To facilitate access to the factory and to reduce the number of cars which would attract enemy attention, the LNER opened an unstaffed halt at Lemsford Road in 1942.[18] Passenger numbers fell back to their pre-war level once the war ended, and passenger services were again withdrawn in 1951.[1] The last passenger service on 28 September 1951 was the 5.08 from Hatfield, hauled by Class N7/1 No. 69644, which took 23 minutes to reach St Albans Abbey.[19]

Goods services continued for a further 18 years; two goods trains per day in each direction ran in the summer of 1963, carrying mainly coal for the St Albans gasworks.[20] The line continued to be unprofitable and general goods services were withdrawn on 5 October 1964. A weekly service continued until the end of the year to the Salvation Army siding in order to fulfil the contract, and banana trains ran to Butterwick siding when needed. As there was no traffic beyond this point, the rails were lifted from a point near Colney Lane Bridge to the junction with the Watford line. The remaining section of the line closed on 31 December 1968.[21] A contract with a scrap metal dealer at Smallford had meant that trains ran there until the end of 1968.[15]

The line today

After tracklifting in 1969, the councils of

A1(M) tunnel destroyed a section of the route near Hatfield. The first section of the route between Old Man's Lane and Hill End opened as the Smallford Trail on 8 December 1985, with the remaining part to Hatfield opening in mid-1986. The final section from Hill End to St Albans was officially opened on 17 April 1988, and the footpath is now known as the Alban Way.[22]

The platforms at Hill End, Nast Hyde Halt and Lemsford Road Halt have survived,[23] as have the station buildings at Smallford.[24] London Road station is now a listed building.[16]

Gallery

These May 2017 photographs are ordered from the Hatfield end towards the St Albans end.

  • Remains of Nast Hyde Halt railway station
    Remains of Nast Hyde Halt railway station
  • Nast Hyde Halt railway station platform
    Nast Hyde Halt railway station platform
  • Sculptural arch on the Alban Way
    Sculptural arch on the Alban Way
  • Hill End Lane bridge
    Hill End Lane bridge
  • Bridge over Camp Road
    Bridge over Camp Road
  • Midland Railway bridge
    Midland Railway bridge

References

  1. ^ a b Cockman 1983, p. 24.
  2. ^ Davies & Grant 1984, p. 58.
  3. ^ a b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  4. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 6.
  5. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 8.
  6. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 9.
  7. ^ Oppitz 2000, p. 114.
  8. ^ Gordon 1990, p. 136.
  9. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 55.
  10. ^ Oppitz 2000, p. 115.
  11. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, pp. 41–42.
  12. ^ Oppitz 2000, pp. 115–116.
  13. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 47.
  14. ^ Oppitz 2000, pp. 116–117.
  15. ^ a b Davies & Grant 1984, p. 62.
  16. ^ a b Oppitz 2000, p. 117.
  17. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 51.
  18. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 17.
  19. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 60.
  20. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 60-61.
  21. ^ Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 61.
  22. ^ a b Taylor & Anderson 1988, p. 64.
  23. ^ Davies & Grant 1984, p. 214.
  24. ^ Shannon 1996, p. 59.

Sources

Further reading

  • Goodman, F. (October–November 1908). "The Hatfield Branches of the Great Northern Railway".
    Railway Magazine
    .
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