Hatfield and St Albans Railway
Encyclopedia
The Hatfield and St Albans Railway was a branch of the Great Northern Railway which connected the Hertfordshire
towns of St Albans
and Hatfield
. It opened in 1865 with the principal aim of allowing St Albans traffic to access the Great Northern's main line to London
at , 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 Passenger services were permanently withdrawn in 1951, leaving goods traffic to linger on until December 1968.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.
on 30 June 1862. It had been promoted by various landowners in Hatfield
and St Albans
in Hertfordshire
and supported by the Great Northern Railway, which saw the line as a means of regaining traffic lost to the London and North Western Railway
since 1858 as a result of the opening of its Watford to St Albans line. The Great Northern agreed to contribute £20,000 (£ as of ), to the total estimated cost of £88,000 (£ as of ), Two lines were authorised: the first through the parishes of Hatfield, St Peter, St Stephen
and St Albans to a junction with the London and North Western's St Albans line; the second from the parish of Hatfield to a junction on the northern side of Hatfield station
on the Great Northern Main Line
. The Great Northern opened its own St Albans station
and was granted running powers into the LNWR station
; the LNWR received reciprocal rights over the link line between the stations.
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. The Great Northern worked the line from the beginning and eventually absorbed the railway company on 1 November 1883.
2-2-2
Ts until the 1870s, when Sharp 0-4-2T rebuilds and Sturrock
0-4-2Ts were used. 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.
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, Luton
and Hertford
arrived within a few minutes of each other, whilst leaving a few minutes for the King's Cross connection. This was not competitive with the Midland's Main Line, but St Albans and Hatfield as well as surrounding villages prospered as local traffic developed. In 1899, a new station and siding opened at to serve the Hertfordshire County Mental Hospital, followed by another station at where a printing works opened in 1901. A third station was opened in 1910 at . By the 1920s, Class C12
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.
aircraft works at Hatfield however obliged the railway company to reopen the line three months later. 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. Passenger numbers fell back to their pre-war level once the war ended, and passenger services were again withdrawn in 1951. 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.
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. 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. A contract with a scrap metal dealer at Smallford had meant that trains ran there until the end of 1968.
and St Albans
purchased the trackbed for conversion into a footpath and cycletrack. Most overbridges had been removed and the construction of the 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
.
The platforms at Hill End, Nast Hyde Halt and Lemsford Road Halt have survived, as have the station buildings at Smallford. London Road station is now a listed building.
There have been calls for the Hatfield to St Albans line to be reopened in order to provide a direct link between St Albans and Watford, and also permit the closure of St Albans Abbey railway station
. This was not considered economically viable as of 1984.
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
towns of St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
and Hatfield
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It has a population of 29,616, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town...
. It opened in 1865 with the principal aim of allowing St Albans traffic to access the Great Northern's main line to London
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...
at , but soon came into difficulties when the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
inaugurated a direct route to London
Midland Main Line
The Midland Main Line is a major railway route in the United Kingdom, part of the British railway system.The present-day line links London St...
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
Alban Way
The Alban Way is a cycle path in Hertfordshire, England that has been constructed along the route of the former Hatfield to St Albans railway line. It runs from St Albans, close to St Albans Abbey railway station and the site of Roman Verulamium, through Fleetville and Smallford to Hatfield, ending...
, a footpath and cycleway.
Authorisation and opening
The Hatfield and St Albans Railway Company was incorporated by Act of ParliamentActs of Parliament in the United Kingdom
An Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom is a type of legislation called primary legislation. These Acts are passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster, or by the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh....
on 30 June 1862. It had been promoted by various landowners in Hatfield
Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It has a population of 29,616, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town...
and St Albans
St Albans
St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...
in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
and supported by the Great Northern Railway, which saw the line as a means of regaining traffic lost to the London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
since 1858 as a result of the opening of its Watford to St Albans line. The Great Northern agreed to contribute £20,000 (£ as of ), to the total estimated cost of £88,000 (£ as of ), Two lines were authorised: the first through the parishes of Hatfield, St Peter, St Stephen
St Stephen, Hertfordshire
St Stephen is a civil parish in the City and District of St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. The parish is to the south-west of St Albans proper, and includes the areas of Park Street, Chiswell Green, How Wood, Bricket Wood, and Frogmore....
and St Albans to a junction with the London and North Western's St Albans line; the second from the parish of Hatfield to a junction on the northern side of Hatfield station
Hatfield railway station
Hatfield railway station serves the town of Hatfield in Hertfordshire, England. The station is managed by First Capital Connect.It is located approximately north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line.- History :...
on the Great Northern Main Line
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...
. The Great Northern opened its own St Albans station
St Albans (London Road) railway station
St Albans London Road was one of several railway stations in St Albans, Hertfordshire.-History:The station was opened by the Hatfield and St Albans Railway on 16 October 1865, and passenger services ceased on 1 October 1951....
and was granted running powers into the LNWR station
St Albans Abbey railway station
St Albans Abbey railway station serves the city of St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England, being situated about 1 km south of the city centre in the St Stephen's area of the city. It is the terminus of the Abbey Line from Watford Junction, which is part of the London Midland franchise...
; the LNWR received reciprocal rights over the link line between the stations.
The new line opened on 1 September 1865 with one planned intermediate station at Springfield
Smallford railway station
Smallford railway station was a station on the former St Albans Branch Line. The station opened as Springfield in 1866, and was renamed in 1879. The station closed permanently on New Year's Day 1969 when a haulage contract ended with a local scrap merchant, but it had already closed to passengers...
(renamed Smallford in 1879), although this was not ready in time. The Great Northern worked the line from the beginning and eventually absorbed the railway company on 1 November 1883.
Operations
The initial weekday service consisted of eight trains in each direction from St Albans and London King's Cross, with a journey time of 15 minutes between Hatfield and St Albans. On weekdays, services went through to the LNWR's St Albans station, but on Sundays they terminated at the GNR station. Services were drawn by SharpSharp, Roberts and Company
Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially based in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co. and moved to Glasgow, Scotland in 1888, eventually amalgamating with two other Glasgow-based locomotive manufacturers to...
2-2-2
2-2-2
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-2-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle two powered driving wheels on one axle, and two trailing wheels on one axle. The wheel arrangement both provided more stability and enabled a larger firebox...
Ts until the 1870s, when Sharp 0-4-2T rebuilds and Sturrock
Archibald Sturrock
Archibald Sturrock was a Scottish mechanical engineer who was locomotive superintendent of the Great Northern Railway from 1850 until c. 1866, having from 1840 been Daniel Gooch's assistant on the Great Western Railway....
0-4-2Ts were used. The opening of the Midland
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
Main Line
Midland Main Line
The Midland Main Line is a major railway route in the United Kingdom, part of the British railway system.The present-day line links London St...
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
Receivership
In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...
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.
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, Luton
Luton Bute Street railway station
Luton Bute Street railway station was the first to be built in Luton. It was opened by the Luton, Dunstable and Welwyn Junction Railway Company in 1858, which was an extension of the Welwyn and Hertford Railway...
and Hertford
Hertford Cowbridge railway station
Hertford Cowbridge railway station was a station on the Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway, and was situated in Hertford, England.-History:The station was opened on 1 March 1858, originally being named Hertford Cowbridge...
arrived within a few minutes of each other, whilst leaving a few minutes for the King's Cross connection. This was not competitive with the Midland's Main Line, but St Albans and Hatfield as well as surrounding villages prospered as local traffic developed. In 1899, a new station and siding opened at to serve the Hertfordshire County Mental Hospital, followed by another station at where a printing works opened in 1901. A third station was opened in 1910 at . By the 1920s, Class C12
GNR Class C2
The Great Northern Railway Small Boiler Class C1 is a class of steam locomotive, the first 4-4-2 or Atlantic type in Great Britain. They were designed by Henry Ivatt in 1897...
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.
Decline and closure
By the late 1930s, passenger numbers were declining in the face of increased competition from bus transport. Passenger trains became uneconomic and in September 1939, following the start of hostilities, the LNER withdrew them. The needs of the de HavillandDe Havilland
The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...
aircraft works at Hatfield however obliged the railway company to reopen the line three months later. 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
Lemsford Road Halt railway station
Lemsford Road Halt was a railway station on the St Albans Branch of the Great Northern Railway. The platforms are still visible next to the line of the old track, which has been converted to a cycle route and footpath, the Alban Way. The site of the station is located at The station was built for...
in 1942. Passenger numbers fell back to their pre-war level once the war ended, and passenger services were again withdrawn in 1951. The last passenger service on 28 September 1951 was the 5.08 from Hatfield, hauled by Class N7/1
GER Class L77
The GER Class L77, LNER Class N7, is a class of 0-6-2T steam locomotives. They were designed by Alfred John Hill of the Great Eastern Railway and introduced in 1915. The design was perpetuated by Nigel Gresley of the LNER after the 1923 grouping. 134 were built; only one of them is...
No. 69644, which took 23 minutes to reach St Albans Abbey.
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. 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. A contract with a scrap metal dealer at Smallford had meant that trains ran there until the end of 1968.
The line today
After tracklifting in 1969, the councils of Welwyn HatfieldWelwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council is the local authority for the Welwyn Hatfield non-metropolitan district of England, the United Kingdom. Welwyn Hatfield is located in the centre of Hertfordshire, in the East of England region...
and St Albans
St Albans District Council
St Albans City Council, also known as St Albans City and District Council or St Albans District Council, is the local authority for the St Albans non-metropolitan district of England, the United Kingdom. St Albans is located in the centre of Hertfordshire, in the East of England region...
purchased the trackbed for conversion into a footpath and cycletrack. Most overbridges had been removed and the construction of the 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
Alban Way
The Alban Way is a cycle path in Hertfordshire, England that has been constructed along the route of the former Hatfield to St Albans railway line. It runs from St Albans, close to St Albans Abbey railway station and the site of Roman Verulamium, through Fleetville and Smallford to Hatfield, ending...
.
The platforms at Hill End, Nast Hyde Halt and Lemsford Road Halt have survived, as have the station buildings at Smallford. London Road station is now a listed building.
There have been calls for the Hatfield to St Albans line to be reopened in order to provide a direct link between St Albans and Watford, and also permit the closure of St Albans Abbey railway station
St Albans Abbey railway station
St Albans Abbey railway station serves the city of St Albans, in Hertfordshire, England, being situated about 1 km south of the city centre in the St Stephen's area of the city. It is the terminus of the Abbey Line from Watford Junction, which is part of the London Midland franchise...
. This was not considered economically viable as of 1984.