Rails around Watford

Rails Around Watford Compiled by Robert Freeman

Continuing from “Rails Around Aylesbury Vale,” this companion volume explores the West Coast Main Line from Tring Summit to Wembley Central and five branch lines. Spanning from the 1940s to the mid-1960s, the book captures steam-hauled expresses, early diesels, and the first AC electrics.

Authored by a lifelong railway enthusiast, “Rails Around Watford” features a personal collection of photographs from the Transport Treasury archive. This nostalgic journey into a bygone era is a must-have for railway historians and enthusiasts alike, highlighting the charm and character of British railways’ golden age.

978-1-913893-53-8

£13.50

Rails Around Watford Compiled by Robert Freeman

Rails Around Watford Compiled by Robert Freeman

© Images and design: Transport Treasury 2024 Text: Robert Freeman ISBN 978-1-913893-53-8 First published in 2024 by Transport Treasury Publishing Limited. 16 Highworth Close, High Wycombe, HP13 7PJ. Totem Publishing an imprint of Transport Treasury Publishing.

The copyright holders hereby give notice that all rights to this work are reserved.

Aside from brief passages for the purpose of review, no part of this work may be reproduced, copied by electronic or other means, or otherwise stored in any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the Publisher. This includes the illustrations herein which shall remain the copyright of the copyright holder. www.ttpublishing.co.uk Printed in Tarxien, Malta by Gutenberg Press Ltd. ‘Rails Around Watford’ is one of many books on specialist transport subjects published in strictly limited numbers and produced under the Totem Publishing imprint using material only available at The Transport Treasury.

Front Cover: The only one of the five branch lines featured in this book still open today, albeit much rationalised, is that from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey.

Here local Fowler 2-6-2T 40043 waits to leave Watford Junction with the 7.23pm to St Albans Abbey on 21 July 1955. The line on the other platform face is the only track in this view that is still in place today, serving as a terminal bay platform where currently Southern services from East Croydon and Clapham Junction end their journeys. As part of the rebuilding of the station in the 1980s, a new St Albans Abbey branch platform was built in a section of the former goods yard off to the left. (Leslie Freeman) Frontispiece: In the days before the station was encased in concrete, a six-car train of LMS 1926-32 stock, with M28022M leading, calls at Wembley Central with a train for Broad Street in 1958. These units of a standard LMS design of compartment stock were built to supplement the rather more luxurious LNWR Oerlikon units.

Rear Cover: Black 5 4-6-0 45270, seen in the middle of its brief seven-month allocation to 1A Willesden, is working a Willesden to Stechford cement train where the railway runs alongside the Grand Union Canal at Dudswell, just north of Northchurch Tunnel, Berkhamsted on 29 July 1963. The first catenary supports for the coming electrification are starting to appear here. (David Idle)

Introduction This book is intended as a companion to my previous volume, Rails Around Aylesbury Vale. In that book we journeyed up the West Coast Main Line from Linslade as far as Tring Summit and Cow Roast, just south of Tring. Here we continue up the main line towards London as far as the northern outskirts at Wembley Central, visiting five branch lines along the way, the “Around Watford” being some dozen miles in either direction from it.

All the stations on this section of the mainline are portrayed here, also the Midland Railway one at Hemel Hempstead on the Nickey Line, which was situated in the original town now known locally as the Old Hemel part of the New Town. The branches to St Albans Abbey, Rickmansworth, Croxley Green, and Stanmore are also covered, as are the Watford DC lines.

The photographs in this book were taken in the period from the 1940s to the mid-1960s. This section of line is particularly personal to me as I have known it all my life: I grew up in Headstone Lane (our garden backed out onto the railway) in the 1950s before my parents moved to Berkhamsted in 1960 and I have lived here ever since. So, I have spent countless hours observing and photographing (in the modern era) the railway on this, my ‘patch’. It has been an enormous pleasure selecting these photos from such a large number in the Transport Treasury archive, depicting the line in an age which I saw as a young spotter, but before I owned a camera myself. So, as well as Watford itself, there is naturally an emphasis on the Berkhamsted area in this book.

Back then the railway scene was so different from that of today: there were steam-hauled expresses, fast parcel trains, slow, plodding goods trains (as they were then called rather than freight), most stations had a goods yard served by a daily pick-up goods and all this was controlled by manual signal boxes using (mostly) semaphore signalling. Most striking is the difference in local trains: on the main line there were only around ten workings in total each way all day! Conversely, the service on the Watford DC lines, particularly on the section north of Harrow & Wealdstone, was far more intensive than it is today.

There are of course plenty of shots of steam-hauled trains here, but for the modern enthusiast there are also photos of early diesels and the first AC Electrics.

I do hope you will enjoy the photographs and reading the captions.

Robert Freeman Berkhamsted August 2024

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We begin near the settlement of Dudswell, about halfway between Tring and Berkhamsted, around a mile north of Northchurch Tunnel which goes under the hill in the background. On a hot summer’s day, of which there were many that year, unrebuilt Patriot (or Baby Scot if you prefer) 4-6-0 45539 E C Trench is seen on a down express in August 1959, during its brief three month stay at (1A) Willesden shed before moving to Carnforth the following month. The locomotive is named after a former Chief Engineer of the LMS who retired in 1930. (Flint & Harbart)

The photographer is standing at the northern approach to Northchurch Tunnel and has captured Britannia 4-6-2 70043 on the up ‘Mancunian’ in June 1956. The train is mostly formed of shiny BR Mk1 carriages, but there is an odd-looking vehicle behind the tender which may be transporting high value perishable goods.

70043 (along with 70044) was experimentally fitted with air brake equipment and allocated new to (9A) Longsight. The ungainly experiment was inconclusive and the locomotive reverted to standard and fitted with smoke deflectors in April 1957. There was then space for the ‘Lord Kitchener’ nameplates to be fitted.

(Flint & Harbart)

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Left Above: Also in June 1956, Royal Scot 4-6-0 46161 King’s Own has just passed through the original two-track 355-yard-long Northchurch Tunnel with a down express for Manchester. When the line was quadrupled in 1875 twin bores were added slightly apart from the original bore to form the slow lines, which can be seen on the left here. The locomotive is recorded as having transferred from Manchester Longsight to Camden the previous month, but still has its (9A) shedplate. Like many of this class, it was withdrawn at the end of 1962. (Flint & Harbart)

Left Below: Local BR Standard Class 5 4-6-0 73004 of Willesden shed is going great guns with an express fitted freight train on the up fast in September 1962. The train has just come through Northchurch Tunnel, whose portals are hidden here by the trailing smoke. The open land all around in this photo has been built on today: there is an industrial estate on the left and housing on the land above the tunnel and on the field to the right. There was a fair amount of tree growth in the cutting even back then! (Flint & Harbart)

Right: On a lovely sunny day in September 1961, Princess Coronation Pacific 46235 City of Birmingham, a long-term resident of (5A) Crewe North, is heading an express for Euston. The train, formed mainly of BR Mk1 coaches, but with two LNER coaches increasing capacity at the front, has swept under Billet Lane and past Berkhamsted Gasworks.

Gas production here ceased in 1955, but the gas holder was used for storage for some years afterwards. The overgrown land in the foreground conceals the remains of the narrowgauge horse-drawn tramway that once served the gasworks with coal supplies which had been delivered to Berkhamsted Station goods yard. (Flint & Harbart)

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Looking the other way from the same place as in the previous photo, we see BR Standard Class 5MT 4-6-0 73039 of Willesden shed speeding along on the down fast with an express parcels train on that same day in September 1961. In the background the houses of South Park Gardens were approaching completion at this time. The under bridge seen between the two telegraph poles is where the old horse-drawn tramway had passed underneath. The rails under it can still be seen in place today - if you know where to look in the undergrowth! (Flint & Harbart)

The Deltics will of course be forever associated with the East Coast Main Line, but the prototype spent its first three years or so carrying out various trial runs on the West Coast route before moving to Finsbury Park at the beginning of 1959. In this wonderful, rare shot, Deltic, showing the signs of frequent use on its striking blue livery, is hauling a very long freight working, an early version of a container train, and has just passed the outer home signals of Berkhamsted station in July 1956. The locomotive was based at Carlisle at this time. On the extreme left is a siding at the northern limit of Berkhamsted goods yard: it was from here that coal was once delivered to Berkhamsted Gasworks via the narrow-gauge horse tramway which passed under the main line. This had recently closed at the time of this photo. (Flint & Harbart)

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D210 (later 40010) was the first of the production batch of English Electric Type 4s following the initial ten which had been built under the 1955 Pilot Scheme. It is seen here when just three months old in August 1959 on a local from Bletchley to Euston. It would be named Empress of Britain in May of the following year. Note the tall signals for the up lines, necessary for sighting on the long curve, and the unusual bracket signal at the end of Platform 3. There is a healthy amount of traffic in the goods yard: the house that can be seen above it belonged to famous railway photographer H C Casserley: he had had it specially built in 1938 to overlook the railway and his camera was always at the ready! (Flint & Harbart)

Although no details are supplied with this photo, going by the work of other local photographers who often chose this train for their journey home from work, the train is probably the 5.43pm Euston to Bletchley. This local train often produced “exotic” motive power rather than the usual tank engine or Black Five, sometimes from distant sheds too, though not in this case as Royal Scot 4-6-0 46144 Honourable Artillery Company is clearly showing its (1B) Camden shedplate. It was based there from December 1952 until June 1961. Of further interest here are the very clean buffer beam on the loco gleaming in the evening sun, the shadow of the unusual bracket home starter signal, the goods shed, the gas lighting on the platform and in the background something is “pegged” by the tall signal on the down fast. (Derek Potton)

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The three SR main line diesels were transferred to the WCML to work alongside the LMS twins and here the first of them 10201, freshly painted into lined green livery, is slowing to call at Berkhamsted Platform 4 with a train from Bletchley to Euston in September 1956. The class was often used on such workings, especially when they later ran out of main line work with the coming of the English Electric Type 4s. The lovely semaphore signals are again in view and note that the station was still gas lit at this time. Some of the magnificent tall horse chestnut trees in the background are still there today. (Flint & Harbart)

4F 0-6-0 44440 arrives at Berkhamsted Platform 4 with a very healthily loaded pick-up goods and with steam to spare sometime during its stay at Watford Shed between 1957 and 1962, watched by some admiring local trainspotters, possibly the photographer’s family. The shed in the goods yard that can be seen above the rear of the train was a recent structure which had a short life, the yard closing c. 1967. (Derek Potton)

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44440 has now detached the front five wagons and is propelling them into the goods yard via the turnout at the south end of the station. When you look today at how the railway track has been built up for fast running, it is difficult to visualise how such point work could be squeezed in here. In the background is the lodge among the ruins of Berkhamsted Castle which dates back to Norman times. The railway here is actually constructed over the gatehouse and part of the outer moat of this castle: imagine the outcry if such a thing happened today! (Derek Potton)

Watford regular Fairburn 2-6-4T 42096, one of a batch that arrived in December 1959 in a swap with the Southern Region for BR Standard 2-6-4 tanks, is about to call at Berkhamsted with an evening commuter train from London (either Euston or Broad St) in early spring sunshine c. 1962, using Platform 1 on the down fast. It must be remembered that, prior to electrification, the passenger service was very sparse here, there being only around nine services each way per day: today there are as many in a couple of hours! The building that can be glimpsed to the right of the platform canopy is the booking hall which today is a listed structure, though the original ticket office part of it is now an excellent fish and chip shop! (Derek Potton)

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Black Five 4-6-0 44947, a long-term resident of Blackpool shed, storms through Berkhamsted on the down fast with what is probably a football special. At the end of the platform is the signal box which was situated between the fast and slow tracks and through the smoke the very tall down home signals can be glimpsed. The building on the right belonged to Shaw and Kilburn, a local garage and service station. On the left is a ladies’ waiting room: today it is still there but is a general one. Berkhamsted is only one of two stations (the other being Harrow and Wealdstone) on the southern part of the WCML to retain its original 19th century buildings. (Derek Potton)

The second of the LMS twins 10001 is leaving Berkhamsted on the up fast with a Bletchley to Euston train formed of compartment coaches in September 1960.

The train is about to go over Whitehill bridge, and is passing the site of the original Berkhamsted station which was closed in 1875 when the line was quadrupled. A bricked-up passageway into the old station is still visible on the Whitehill side of the line. The current station is situated some 300 yards further north, just round the corner here. Note the tall signals for better sighting round the curve and the wooden fencing to the left, which seems basic by today’s standards.

(Flint & Harbart)

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Left Above: Looking the other way from the same spot, we see Stanier 2-6-4T 42616 of Watford shed with a down local getting ready to call at Berkhamsted. The building on the left is The Lodge for Whitehill house which can be glimpsed in the trees behind. These were demolished in the mid1960s, and Beech Hill Court now occupies the site of the house and apartment blocks in the land on the left. Unlike most of its shedmates, which had no further work and were scrapped with the coming of electrification, 42616 escaped and saw further service in the North-West (where it has appeared in many photographs) and ended up at Bradford Low Moor as one of the very last survivors of this large class.

(Derek Potton)

Left Below: Ex- LNWR 0-8-0 49106 stands at the “wrong” end of an engineer’s train on the up slow by the allotments at Sunnyside, about half a mile south of Berkhamsted station. No date is given, but the loco was withdrawn from its long-term base at Northampton in November 1959, so it must be shortly before then. The line of trees sloping down from the left marks where a lane once existed which went across the railway. Very early on, to avoid the level crossing, a deviation was built carrying the road over the bridge from which the photo was taken. This bridge was destroyed in spectacular fashion by an enemy aircraft during WW2 and was rebuilt as a wartime concrete structure which survives to this day, albeit having been raised a few feet to allow for the overhead wires to be installed. (Derek Potton)

Right: On 5 May 1962 D5026 has just called at Hemel Hempstead and Boxmoor station and is now heading past the signalbox for Apsley, its next stop on its way to Euston.

The train is the 9.46am from Tring and was the first off peak service of the day, formed of non-corridor coaches. As a boy, I often used this service when taken on family outings to London, hoping for a 2-6-4 tank for haulage - I would’ve been disappointed that day! D5026 spent its first year in East Anglia before coming to Camden for a five year stay in 1960. After moving on to Bescot, Longsight and Crewe, it was withdrawn as 24026 in 1975 and cut up at Swindon Works in 1977. The station became plain Hemel Hempstead on 20 December 1963.

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Left: This is the Midland Railway station at Hemel Hempstead, which served the original town before the New Town mushroomed around it. This branch line from Harpenden is known as the Nickey Line and closed to passengers as long ago as 1947, but Hemel Hempstead stayed open for goods until 1963. Here Ivatt 2-6-0 43118 is shunting a healthy number of wagons in the goods yard in May 1962. A small batch of these locos (43118-43121) was allocated to Cricklewood at the time and all four were seen on such duties on the branch. Additional metalwork at the rear of the coal bunker may have been intended to prevent overfilling and coming too close to any overhead wires. The disused station can be seen on the right, still in remarkably good condition. (Stephen Summerson)

Right: Although the line was closed to passengers, enthusiast specials continued to visit. This one took place on 11 May 1957 and as can be seen here during a photo stop at Hemel Hempstead, it was well supported. It also looks as if some local residents have turned out to witness this unusual (pre-Beeching) event. Note where the photographer is standing, hopefully not wearing light-coloured clothing! The locomotive is MR 3F 0-6-0 43245, a long-term resident of St Albans shed. The site here has been redeveloped but further north the line has been converted into a popular pathway.

(Nick Nicolson)

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The Nickey Line was unusual in that it continued beyond Hemel Hempstead and ended at a halt. This was Heath Park Halt and the special train has now moved on, past the site of it and onto the goods only section which served a gasworks, just short of the WCML. Great interest is being shown by passers-by as the train crosses the old A41 (now the A4251). A short stub of the embankment the train is on still exists, the only remnant of the line left south of Hemel Hempstead (MR), the rest, including a three-arch viaduct, having disappeared under the New Town. (Nick Nicolson)

Apsley Station was a latecomer to the railway, not opening until 26 September 1938, some 100 years after the opening of the London and Birmingham Railway. It was built to serve workers at the nearby paper mills which produced the famous John Dickinson brand products. The station was constructed in concrete in a style typical of the period. Here Stanier 2-6-4T 42616 has a Tring to Watford local service formed of just two non-corridor coaches. For onward travel southwards from Watford towards London, passengers would need to change onto the frequent DC Line services. (Derek Potton)

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Royal Scot 4-6-0 46132 The King’s Regiment, Liverpool, appropriately allocated to 8A Edge Hill, which gives a clue as to the origin of the train, is gliding through Kings Langley and Abbots Langley (as it was named then) with an express for Euston on a summer’s day in 1955; a typical express train of the period. It is formed of mainly LMS coaches in “blood and custard” livery. (Neville Stead collection)

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A very rare shot indeed! Spanking-new (just look at that buffer beam!) Sulzer Peak diesel D134 thunders through Kings Langley with an up express. The photo is dated November 1961, but the locomotive was not accepted into traffic from Crewe Works until 30 December that year, so this is probably some sort of proving run, further borne out by the “white coat” in the cab. The first ten, which became Class 44, spent their first year or so on the WCML, but the later ones of Classes 45 and 46 were never common here, this being the realm of the English Electric Type 4s before electrification. This loco was allocated new to Derby and later became 45076, lasting in service until November 1986. (John T Rendell)

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Left: South of Kings Langley, Princess Royal Pacific 46207 Princess Arthur of Connaught of (8A) Edge Hill is roaring past with the up ‘Shamrock’ on 16 July 1955. This train departed from Liverpool at 8.10am and ran non-stop to Euston, arriving at noon. It was introduced in the summer of 1954 as a fourth non-stop train from Liverpool. This one, and its corresponding down working, connected with night steamers from Liverpool to Dublin and Belfast. Like many named trains of the period, it ceased running in 1966 with the coming of electrification. The train is overtaking an up local whose last carriage is a BR non-corridor brake second M53235, built the previous year at Doncaster. A year later it was renumbered M43235 and, like all carriages of this type had a short working life (this one of 16 years), as this sort of train fell out of favour with the coming of multiple units.

(Roy Wilson)

Right Above: Electric services have now been running for a year. Passing the up refuge loop (which is still very much in use today) alongside the up slow line, south of Kings Langley on 22 March 1967, is AL6 Bo-Bo electric E3188. It heads a southbound train of vans, used for carrying Ford car parts between the Dagenham and Halewood plants. The locomotive is in its original Monastral Blue livery (only classes AL1-5 were originally in Electric Blue) with white cab roof, small yellow warning panel plus chrome raised numerals and lion and wheel emblem on the bodyside. It became variously Class 86 86031, 86431 and 86631, lasting in service until November 2003 and was then cut up.

(Jack Kirke)

Right Below: A rather grubby Princess Coronation Pacific 46241 City of Edinburgh, perhaps incongruously a long-term resident of Camden, is at the head of an up express approaching Hunton Bridge and Watford Tunnel on a sunny evening in April 1948. The locomotive has the split-level running plate and sloping front to the smokebox of a de-streamlined engine (February 1947 for this loco) which gave rise to one of the nicknames for the class, “semi”, which persisted even after the smoke box was replaced with a normal one. In the background stands Watford Tunnel North End signal box and one of its signal gantries.

(J C Flemons)

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This is near the settlement of Hunton Bridge at the point where the slow lines rejoin the course of the original mainline, just to the north of Watford Tunnel. The diamond-shaped weight limit warning signs for road traffic used to be a common sight at many railway bridges. Here we see a late 1940s view of Royal Scot 4-6-0 46126 Royal Army Service Corps in charge of a down express. The locomotive, carrying its (1B) Camden shedplate, has ‘British Railways’ on its tender and is in its original rebuilt condition, yet to receive the elegant curved smoke deflectors that were fitted to this class. As such it appears a little ungainly and top heavy.

(J C Flemons)

Long-term resident of Toton shed Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48384 is in charge of one of those many slow, trundling coal trains which plodded their way from the Midlands coalfields to London and could consist of 60 wagons or more. It is on the up slow, having just come out of Watford Tunnel on a sunny day in the late 1940s. Of interest is the large X on the cabside: it shows that it is one of 50 8Fs that were selected in 1946 for a controlled water softening experiment (terminated in the mid-1950s). As such they were fitted with blow-off cocks on the front of the firebox between the frames, and the rod for operating this can be seen on the bottom of the firebox. The engines so fitted were intended to be confined to workings between Toton and Brent. 48384 lasted almost to the end of steam, being withdrawn from Rose Grove in May 1968. (J C Flemons)

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Jubilee 4-6-0 45558 Manitoba of (5A) Crewe North is heading a northbound parcels train on the down slow line just north of Watford Junction c. 1949 (the tender still has a faded ‘LMS’ on it). It has reached the point where the slow lines veer away from the fast lines to pass through the later built second Watford Tunnel. Note that the crew are leaning out of the cab for the photographer. There is the rear of what appears to be a local train on the down fast, so if this has called at the station, it is debatable which train is overtaking which! (J C Flemons)

And so to Watford Junction itself. Pride of Camden Shed, maroon liveried Coronation Pacific 46245 City of London is approaching at speed on 15 July 1961. The rather short (for the time) train formed of a motley rake of coaches suggests that this is a relief to one of the named expresses. Along with 46240, this locomotive was usually kept in excellent external condition right until the end of service in September 1964. The warning sign about electrified rails applies to the siding beyond Platform 5 to the left, on which an ex-LMS EMU can be glimpsed. On the right is Watford Shed (1C) with its several ventilation stacks. (James Harrold)

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Jubilee 4-6-0 45593 Kolhapur is at the head of a long express from Birmingham entering the station on 15 July 1961, passing two three-car DC EMUs (later Class 501) that are stabled in the siding that continued beyond Platform 5. Kolhapur was allocated to Aston where it had only arrived the month before but has already received its (21D) shedplate. Later, in 1965 the locomotive had the good fortune to move from Longsight to Leeds Holbeck where it became one of the last survivors of the class into 1967, one of four Jubilees to be preserved. This was back in Birmingham, being based at Tyseley but at the time of writing it is reported to have just been sold to West Coast Railways. (James Harrold)

When they were new in 1959-60, the ten members of the Peak Class (later Class 44) were allocated to the WCML to help out with main line duties until enough English Electric Type 4s (later Class 40) arrived. After a short spell in the limelight here, all ten were transferred away in February 1962 and banished to freight duties based around Toton for the rest of their working lives. Here, D4 Great Gable has an up express from Blackpool, passing the shed on the approach to the station on 13 May 1961. Happily, D4 is still with us and has worked in preservation for over twice as long as it was in service with BR! The ‘white diamonds’ on the signal posts indicate to a driver that there is no telephone but track circuits will indicate his train’s presence to the signalman. (Alec Swain)

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Left Above: From a higher viewpoint on 13 May 1961 English Electric Type 4 D294 (later 40094) is passing through the as yet unchanged scene with an express from Manchester to Euston. The locomotive was appropriately allocated to (9A) Longsight at the time and is still in original condition with front ladder and no yellow warning panel. No less than 105 of the 200 locos in this class were allocated when new to WCML sheds to serve as a stop gap for seven years or so between steam and electrification. Of the rest of the class, 76 went to the Eastern Region and 19 to Scotland. All is neat and tidy apart from the nasty littering on the left (possibly swept out of stabled EMUs). Note the London Country bus proceeding northwards over the St Albans Road bridge in the background. (Alec Swain)

Left Below: English Electric Type 4 D211 (later 40011) Mauretania enters Watford Junction Platform 9 with a local train for Euston formed of non-corridor coaches. A Sulzer Type 2 usually sufficed for such trains when diesel hauled.

The photo is undated but can be pinpointed to late 1963; there are no leaves on the trees, and in the background, workmen are busy removing the siding (that extended beyond Platform 5) which was the year it was lifted. Also note that the newly rebuilt St Albans Road bridge has some staining from passing steam locos. (Ken Coursey)

Right: In sparkling external condition and positively gleaming in the morning sunshine, prototype DP2 is seen at Watford Junction, when just three months old, with the 8.15am Euston-Liverpool on 25 August 1962. DP2, the so-called ‘false Deltic’, used a Deltic bodyshell but housed very different equipment. It also sported different ventilation grilles, resembling those of the Class 50s that would evolve from it. The locomotive is perhaps best remembered for working alongside the real Deltics on the East Coast Main Line and for being written off after colliding with a derailed freight train at Thirsk in 1967. But it put in some sterling work on the WCML, whilst based at Camden before being transferred to Finsbury Park in October 1965. A Bakerloo Line train can be glimpsed stabled in Platform 5.

(Alec Swain)

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A local train from Bletchley to Euston, formed of the usual non-corridor coaches, calls at Watford Junction in August 1958. D8002 looks brand-new but was in fact already a year old when this photo was taken and was in the middle of a two-month loan to (2A) Rugby shed. Thirty of these English Electric Type 1s (D8000-D8019, D8035-D8044, later Class 20) were allocated to (1D) Devons Road and (1A) Willesden primarily to haul local freight trains in and around London, but they could also be found on these local services. As they were not fitted with train heating, hopefully this just happened in the summer months! By then numbered 20002, the loco would be withdrawn in 1988, having gone on to serve at Toton, Eastfield and Tinsley depots. (Flint & Harbart)

In its last month of service, Coronation 4-6-2 46228 Duchess of Rutland powers through Watford Junction with a down special on 8 August 1964. The locomotive is covered in grime, but still manages to look as powerful as ever. It is carrying the yellow stripe below the cab depicting a locomotive that was to be banned from working under the wires south of Crewe: as this came into effect from 1 September 1964 it was hardly worth applying it to this class as the last 18 of them were withdrawn that month. All is ready for the electrification; the platforms have been rebuilt and Platform 5 survives for now. A coach from an overhead wiring train can be seen in the sidings. (Alec Swain)

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A commendably clean Type 2 D5031 (later 24031) is propelling the stock off a local train (possibly the 12.20 SO Tring to Watford) into the carriage shed on Saturday 3 July 1965. D5031 had entered service at March shed in June 1959 and had spent 18 months in East Anglia before coming to Willesden in January 1961. In the background is the unusual sight of an AL1 AC electric loco testing to the limit of the electrification on the branch at the time - it would be another 23 years before the line to St Albans Abbey was electrified in 1988. (Alec Swain)

A general view of (1C) Watford Shed viewed from the St Albans Abbey branch Platform 10 on 12 April 1963. Of the three locos on view, Black Five 4-6-0 44866 on the right is a visitor from Rugby, next is Stanier 4MT 2-6-4 tank 42576 from Willesden, and the diesel is none other than D5000, the doyen of the Derby Sulzer Type 2s (later Class 24), distinguishable by its unique centre stripe. It would be renumbered 24005 (filling the gap left by D5005, which had been withdrawn following collision damage) and last in service only until July 1975. The shed closed two years later on 29 March 1965 and the buildings were demolished in 1968, making way for the inevitable station car park. (Alec Swain)

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Venerable old-timer Johnson 3F 0-6-0 43325 (from a large class introduced in 1885 and rebuilt with Belpaire fireboxes from 1916) manoeuvres around the shed yard in the lovely autumn sunshine of October 1960. The locomotive arrived at (1C) from (9A) Longsight in June 1958 and spent its last couple of years here before being withdrawn in February 1961. Note the gas lamp with its attached ladder for the lamplighter. (Flint & Harbart)

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Showing evidence of priming, mighty 9F 2-10-0 92077, a long-term resident of Toton shed, poses on the turntable road of the shed on 25 August 1962. The 42-foot turntable wasn’t nearly long enough to accommodate such a large engine, so it is probably here as part of its movements around the shed. As can be seen from this photo, when a locomotive used the turntable, the overhang fouled the line from St Albans Abbey into Platform 10 (on the right here). So, permission and a key had to be sought from the signal box before the turntable, normally kept locked, could be used. The semaphore signal would also be held at danger whilst a loco was on the turntable. (Alec Swain)

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Two 3-car Oerlikon EMUs (named after their electrical equipment) stand in Platform 1 ready to form a service to Euston on 22 April 1957. More than 70 of these units were introduced by the London and North Western Railway in two batches in 1915 and 1921 to work the intensive services on the electrified DC New Line from Euston to Watford, from Watford to Broad St and on the North London Line from Broad St to Richmond. They also worked on the branches to Rickmansworth Church St and Croxley Green. The accommodation in them was positively luxurious compared to the “ironing board” seating of many modernday units! They were replaced by what later became Class 501 in 1957-60. On the right some buildings at the front of the station have been demolished and this space is where the bus station is situated today. (A E Bennett)

Transition on the DC line on 6 July 1958: Two of the new units (later Class 501) in Platforms 2 and 4 are sandwiching one of their predecessors in Platform 3. There was a distinct Southern Region look to these units; hardly surprising as they were built at Eastleigh, from 1957 onwards. The Oerlikons had gone by 1960, but some of the 25 LMS compartment sets, built in 1926-32 to augment the fleet, lasted a little longer into 1963. The ‘B9’ headcode shows that a train has come from Croxley Green. (A E Bennett)

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Black Five 4-6-0 44833 from (2A) Rugby is calling at Watford Junction with the 2.50pm from Euston to Northampton and is waiting impatiently for the off, as one of the two rebuilt Jubilee 4-6-0s, 45735 Novelty of (24K) Preston, passes with the 10am from Blackpool to Euston on 21 May 1960. The photograph was taken from the footbridge that was later demolished to make way for the catenary of the modernised railway. Between the trains you can see the limit of DC electrification on the stabling siding that extended beyond the now long-gone Platform 5. (Brian Wadey)

There was a passing loop on the branch at Bricket Wood and on 6 September 1958 two early designs of diesel units are passing. A Derby Lightweight two car set is leaving for St Albans Abbey while a three car formation of British United Traction railbuses is waiting to depart for Watford Junction. These interesting units were of an early experimental design and were tried out on branches around the country, being a common sight on this branch from 1955-58. Following a prototype three car train with a centre carriage, a further eight cars were built, and they could run as single, twin or three car trains according to traffic requirements.

However, they were notoriously rough riders and gained the rather unkind nickname “Flying Bricks”. The passing loop at Bricket Wood was removed in 1966, but there is talk of re-instating it today as the line is now in effect just a long siding, severely limiting the service. (Alec Swain)

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Ivatt 2-6-2T 41220 has arrived at St Albans Abbey from Watford Junction on a sunny evening in 1952. The locomotive still has ‘British Railways’ in full on the tank side. It was a local Watford engine at the time, but for its last decade or so it moved up and down between here, Birmingham, Crewe and North Wales and finished service at Stockport in November 1966. The scene has completely changed today: all the buildings and canopy have gone, replaced by the inevitable bus shelter and we are left with a single track which is now rather hemmed in by new buildings and vegetation. At least the line was electrified in 1988 and the connection to the main line at Watford Junction has recently been upgraded, allowing services to work directly from Euston - one per weekday at the time of writing, making a profitable use of the daily unit swap over. (Neville Stead collection)

This is the view from the yard at the other end of St Albans Abbey Station on 30 April 1955 when it was visited by the RCTS Hertfordshire Rail Tour, which had started out at St Pancras and would finish at Finsbury Park. This train had arrived here from Hatfield. Watford Shed has supplied a rather grubby LNWR 0-8-0 49431, a visitor from Rugby, for the next leg on to Watford Junction. The tour would also visit the Rickmansworth Church Street and Croxley Green branches. Each of the two platforms here had signal arms for both the Hatfield and Watford Junction lines. Rail tour participants had much more freedom to explore at photo stops back in those days! (A E Bennett)

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Two electrified lines branched off from the DC Lines between Watford High St and Bushey. Initially they ran as one line as far as Croxley Green Junction before splitting to serve Rickmansworth (Church St - added by BR in 1950) and Croxley Green. The Rickmansworth line (originally intended to link up with the GWR Uxbridge branch when built in 1862) passed under the Metropolitan and Great Central Joint line and over the Grand Union canal to reach the terminus. It was electrified by the LMS in 1927. During the 1930s it was worked by tube stock, but from 1939 until closure to passengers on 2 March 1952 Oerlikon stock was used.

The electric rails were removed but the line remained open for goods until 2 January 1967, and this allowed enthusiasts specials to visit, such as this one run by the LCGB on 28 June 1958. Stanier 0-4-4T 41901 is seen nearing the buffer stops during the run-round before the train continued on for a visit to Wolverton Works and the Newport Pagnell branch. (Brian Fletcher)

Another special to visit was the Branch Line Society’s North London Rail Tour of 12 March 1961 headed by 2P 4-4-0 40657, which was a Watford loco for just its last couple of years of service (Dec 1960-Oct 1962). The five coaches of the train had proved too long to do a normal run-round at the platform and the train had had to shunt into the goods loop so the engine could get round it via the platform. It is now finally ready to leave for the next part of the tour which would see it proceed to St Albans Abbey and Hatfield. The passenger service had been eclipsed by bus competition and the far more convenient Metropolitan Line Station in 1952, but the last remnant of the branch lasted for freight until as late as 1983 when Croxley Paper Mills closed. Much of it is now a cycle path and walkway, though the station site has been built upon. (James Harrold)

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Showing the correct ‘B9’ headcode, a brand-new unit stands at the Croxley Green terminus on 6 September 1958. 57 of these units (later Class 501) were built, but some of them had very short lives. At the time of their construction there was an intensive service throughout the day from Watford to Euston and Broad St (and also on Bakerloo Line services from Watford). There were even rush-hour through services from Euston and Broad St to Croxley Green. However, in 1963 the frequency was drastically reduced and the through trains to Croxley Green ceased running. This saw off the last of the LMS compartment stock and 12 of the new trains were also withdrawn as surplus to requirements. Some vehicles from these were later converted to departmental use and worked, for example, at Hornsey and on Merseyside. The chimneys seen in the distance belonged to the Sun Printing Works, a major employer in the town. (Alec Swain)

A view looking towards the buffer stops with another new unit at the platform on 12 April 1958. As can be seen, the goods yard was beyond the station, the line curving round to the left to reach it. It closed in 1966. The passenger service survived intended closure, as a result of the infamous Beeching cuts but through trains from London were withdrawn. The shuttle service from Watford Junction then went into an agonisingly long, slow decline away to nothing, the final straw coming when a new road severed the line in 1996. Over the years there has been much talk of constructing a link with the nearby Metropolitan Line and diverting Met trains over this branch into Watford Junction. Sadly, plans for this line, which could have been so useful for serving the hospital and the football ground, have never come to fruition. (Transport Treasury collection)

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A very long-term resident of (1A) Willesden, Stanier 8F 2-8-0 48628 is pounding nicely through Bushey and Oxhey on the up slow with a mixed goods on a damp 27 May 1961. The fireman appears to be drawing water into the boiler. Note also the small Fowler tender: this was one of a batch of 8Fs that exchanged their Stanier tenders with those of members of the Jubilee Class 4-6-0s. The station was renamed just Bushey on 6 May 1974, despite it actually being sited in Oxhey - the nearest part of Bushey is a mile away! (Brian Wadey)

Showing the characteristic exhaust effect above the smokebox of a Princess Coronation Pacific at speed, 46252 City of Leicester is roaring past Bushey and Oxhey with the 9.50 am relief to Carlisle on 1 June 1962. The reasonably clean locomotive was based at Carlisle at the time, but three months later it moved to Camden from where it was withdrawn in June 1963. After withdrawal it languished at Camden in full view for several months before disposal and the writer often saw it there when travelling to London. Note that the main line platforms are staggered here: this is owing to the proximity of the DC lines which have just converged alongside the main line after diverging away at Watford Junction to serve Watford High Street station. (Brian Wadey)

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It is 2 February 1963, and we are in the middle of the infamous Big Freeze of that winter. With a nice clean exhaust catching the weak winter sunshine, Jubilee 4-6-0 45554 Ontario is heading for its home base with the 14.45 Camden to Crewe fitted freight on the down fast approaching Bushey and Oxhey. The photographer is taking shelter in the signal box! Note the siding between the fast and slow lines containing a stabled empty mineral train. The tall structure on the left is the water tower serving Bushey troughs which start near the bridge in the background. No doubt they had big trouble with freezing up that year! (David Idle)

The photographer is standing in a wooden-bodied wagon (!) in the siding between the slow and fast lines to take this rather nice shot of ex-LNWR G2 0-8-0 49450, drifting past the water tower serving Bushey troughs on an up mineral train formed of wooden-bodied wagons. The date is given as 25 March 1953 and the train is approaching the start of the water troughs. These locomotives were synonymous with slow plodding goods trains on the line until 1962. The signal box at Bushey and Oxhey station from where the previous photo was taken can be seen in the distance. (Roy Wilson)

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A lovely panorama of Bushey Troughs on a glorious summer’s day in the mid-1950s. Local 4F 0-6-0 44067 is drifting past on the up fast with a short empty engineering train. It was based at Watford from February 1952 and then at Willesden from May 1956 until February 1957 which helps to date the photograph. Some work to reinforce the cutting side is being carried out in the background. (Transport Treasury)

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Earlier we saw the first of the three SR 1Co-Co1 diesel prototypes at Berkhamsted and here we see the third one, 10203 speeding over Bushey Troughs on the up fast with a local formed of the usual non-corridor coaches on 10 March 1956. The loco was only two years old at the time and has collected a layer of winter grime over its original black and silver livery, particularly over the bogies. At 2,000hp, it was more powerful than its two sisters and, though it does not look much like them, it was a direct ancestor of the EE Type 4s. Note the wet and slippery conditions for anyone on foot and that the water trough is full of floating ice, so the photographer is in a rather precarious position if he wants to avoid an icy shower from the next passing steam train taking water! (Transport Treasury)

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Leaking steam from absolutely everywhere, BR Standard Class 5MT 4-6-0 73014 is struggling over Bushey Troughs towards London on the up fast line on a dull wet day in 1963. It is making heavy weather of a very long train which, from the headlamp code, is an empty stock move. The locomotive is obviously going to need some attention when it makes it back to its Willesden home shed! However it lasted in traffic for another four years, serving at Bletchley, Oxley, Banbury and finally Bolton sheds. (J G Walmsley)

The Yanks are coming! A very rare wartime shot of an American S160 2-8-0 2412 working an up goods near Carpenders Park sometime in 1944. Over 2000 of these locomotives were built by various firms in the USA for war service in Europe and many of them worked in this country during the build-up to D-Day, though none saw service here after the war. This one belonged to a batch of 60 that was built by The American Locomotive Company (ALCO) in 1943. Fifty S160s were allocated to help out on the LMS. (Neville Stead collection)

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This photo is “smudged” by heavy falling snow but is well worth including as it is wonderfully atmospheric and also shows the original Carpenders Park station with an Oerlikon set calling at it. An unidentified Princess Royal Pacific (possibly 46208) is sweeping past with the up ‘Merseyside Express’. The original station had wooden platforms and was situated 230 yards further north than the current one. It was first built to serve a local golf course and started out as a request stop. It had a kink in the track alignment on the approach from the south, which was eliminated when the station closed on 17 November 1952, being replaced by the current station with its concrete buildings. (Roy Vincent)

What better thing to do than to photograph steam-hauled trains in the beautiful evening sunshine of 7 June 1959? It was the start of what was to be one of the hottest summers of the last century. Mighty Princess Coronation Pacific 46234 Duchess of Abercorn, the one famous for its record haulage exploits during WW2, is at ease with the down ‘Royal Highlander’, the 7.10pm from Euston to Inverness. The locomotive has a (5A) shedplate but was to move to Camden that same month for a short stay before moving to Carlisle Upperby that November, where it stayed for the rest of its career, being amongst the first ones to go in January 1963. (Brian Wadey)

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Royal Scot 4-6-0 46140 The King’s Royal Rifle Corps, then shedded at (26A) Newton Heath as its shedplate confirms, is passing Carpenders Park on the down slow with a returning Cup Final special, the 18.22 Wembley Central to Leicester on 25 May 1963. The train must have been full of dejected supporters as they had just lost 3-1 to Manchester United. Having a Manchester-based loco at the front perhaps just added insult to injury! A Bakerloo Line train of 1938 stock has called at the station and is now heading for Elephant and Castle, the searchlight signal having already switched to double red as the train passed it. (David Idle)

With the weak winter midday sun glinting on the train and the DC line’s rails on a misty late December day, 28 December 1951, Caprotti Black Five 4-6-0 44750 is going well with a clean exhaust hauling a post-Christmas extra just north of Hatch End. The train is formed of a hotch-potch of coaches, as such extras were, some of which are in the early BR “blood and custard” livery. British Railways introduced a variant of Stanier’s design fitted with Caprotti valve gear in 1948 and this one, originally numbered M4750, was the third of the twenty-two, (some with further modifications) to be constructed. Compared with the neat original design, they were hardly pleasing to look at! (Alan Lathey)

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In the early days following Nationalisation in January 1948, Royal Scot 4-6-0 46149 The Middlesex Regiment is at the head of a northbound express passing Hatch End using the down slow line. The locomotive has been rebuilt with a taper boiler but has not yet received its curved smoke deflectors. It has ‘British Railways’ in full on the tender. Note the bullhead rail on all four tracks and the crossover at the station with the tall signals controlling it. On the subject of signals, note also the close proximity of the searchlight signals on the DC lines (there is a second one just before the platform). This was a special system introduced by the LMS in the 1930s which lasted into the 1980s. It allowed trains to closely follow each other at peak periods: the service was then far more intensive than it is today, with frequent trains to Euston, Broad Street and Elephant & Castle throughout the day. (Flint & Harbart)

A rare shot of a suburban train calling at the main line platforms at Hatch End. Stanier 2-6-4T 42478 is on the down slow line with the 5.12pm Euston to Watford service on 6 April 1962 and the photo shows that the station was well used. However, these platforms were removed a year later, leaving the station to be served by the DC Line services only. 42478 was in the middle of a four-year stint at Willesden shed (June 1960-June 1964) and its (1A) shed plate can be clearly seen here.

(Larry Fullwood)

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Showing signs of having recently done a special duty, Britannia Pacific 70020 Mercury now finds itself on a humble duty hauling a down local train of non-corridor stock on 6 April 1962. The train is passing Headstone Lane with its goods yard on the left and a 6-car train of LMS-built compartment stock is just leaving the station with a service for Watford. By this date the survivors of this old EMU class tended to appear in the rush hour only and the last units would be withdrawn just over a year later. Mercury was used on a number of rail tours in the early 1960s: in the autumn of 1964 it stood in for a hoped-for Duchess locomotive when the last ones of these had all been suddenly withdrawn. (Larry Fullwood)

Watched perhaps by the photographer’s family, Black Five 4-6-0 45257 of Crewe North is passing Headstone Lane with a parcels train on the up fast on 6 April 1962. On the DC lines, a Bakerloo line train is heading for Watford. The building on the right is an electricity substation serving these lines, similar in design to another one near Kenton. Under the road bridge can be seen the footbridge from which the previous photo of 70020 was taken. This bridge is of significance to your compiler as he was often taken there as a toddler by his father to watch the trains in the 1950s. (Larry Fullwood)

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Here is Stanier 2-6-4T 42616 again, this time going well with a clean exhaust, taking city commuters home from work on the 5.21pm Broad St to Tring, once again on 6 April 1962. The train is formed of BR and LMS non-corridor coaches. Also approaching Headstone Lane on the DC lines is an LMS 1926-32 set bound for Watford which has also originated at Broad St. Your compiler as a young boy in this era lived in one of the houses in Parkfield Avenue on the right, which may go some way to explain his lifelong interest in railways! On the left are some “prefab” houses, of which over 150,000 were built between 1945-49 to provide a short term “temporary” solution (some 8,000 still exist!) to the desperate postwar housing shortage. (Larry Fullwood)

Blowing off furiously, Black Five 4-6-0 44915 eases on the approach to Harrow and Wealdstone as it passes Harrow No 1 signal box on the up fast with an express parcels on 24 March 1962. 44915 spent 15 years at Rugby shed from 1950, moved briefly to Bletchley in 1965 and spent its last two and a half years at Lostock Hall in the North West. On the left are the DC lines with two turnback sidings (there is only one today) located between the two running lines. These sidings were controlled at the time by LNWR ground semaphore signals controlled by Harrow No 2 signal box located just beyond the platform on the down side, sadly just out of shot. As many readers will know, the view here is the site of the notorious double collision of 8 October 1952. (Alec Swain)

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9F 2-10-0 92154 of Wellingborough shed is hauling the 6.10am Wellingborough to Willesden ballast train passing the signal box on the up slow on 2 February 1963, in the middle of the very harsh “Big Freeze” winter that year. Freight locomotives from Midlands sheds were very common visitors to the London end of the West Coast Main Line, usually heading an endless procession of coal and mineral trains to serve the Capital. Like this train, they were routed over the now long-closed line from Market Harborough to Northampton. Note the gas lamp and the goods shed in the yard behind. (David Idle)

Going by the headlamp code, Ivatt 2-6-2T 41275 has come off the Belmont Branch with its push-pull train and has shunted over to the down slow (Platform 5), ready to head back to its base at Watford as empty stock on 21 June 1953. 41275 spent the 1950s swapping between local sheds Watford, Bletchley and Willesden before going on permanent holiday to the West Country in 1961. It served at Laira and Wadebridge before ending up at Bournemouth, from where it was withdrawn in October 1965. The scene is instantly recognisable today as, like Berkhamsted, Harrow and Wealdstone station has kept its original buildings and canopies. (Alec Swain)

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Seen during its 18-month stay at Watford, Ivatt 2-6-2T 41224 is arriving alongside the main line at Harrow and Wealdstone with a push-pull train from Belmont on 6 September 1958. This unusual viewpoint was taken from just south of the A409 road overbridge. 41224 ended its career as a Southern Region locomotive, lasting at Bournemouth until the very end of Southern steam in July 1967. The Stanmore Branch was opened in 1890 but suffered a severe decline in traffic when in 1932 the Metropolitan Railway opened its own Stanmore Branch (later to become part of the Bakerloo Line in 1939 and now since 1979, the terminus of the Jubilee Line).

This gave a more direct connection to London and Stanmore Village (as British Railways had renamed it) closed to passengers on 15 September 1952, the service being cut back to Belmont. (Alec Swain)

One of the small number of two-car Park Royal DMUs (only 20 sets were built) has just arrived at Belmont from Harrow and Wealdstone. No date is given but one of the newspaper placards proclaims a Royal Visit to Canada and this took place in 1959. In order to combat the dwindling traffic mentioned in the previous caption, Belmont was opened by the LMS on 12 September 1932 as the only intermediate station on the branch to Stanmore which can be seen continuing into the distance here, but which was freight only by this date, closing to goods 6 July 1964. The remaining part of the line to Belmont closed just three months later as a victim of the Beeching cuts on 5 October 1964. (Transport Treasury)

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A wonderful view of the station goods yard at Stanmore Village (as it had been so renamed by BR in 1950) with the station in the background on 27 April 1958, some five and a half years after closure to passengers. The coal wagons are standing beside a faded Franklin’s Coals sign, now somewhat obsolete with no passengers to see it. Goods services continued until 1963. The photo was taken from the RCTS Hertfordshire No 2 Rail Tour, which was a circular trip from Fenchurch St to Liverpool St, taking in the Stanmore and Watford Jct-St Albans Abbey-Hatfield branches. The locomotive for the train on this leg was Stanier 0-4-4T 41901, which had only been transferred to Watford from Crewe the month before and was still carrying its (5A) shedplate. (A E Bennett)

A six-car train of LNWR Oerlikon stock introduced in 1915 is heading from Watford to Broad Street on 1 September 1954 and is seen between Kenton and South Kenton stations. The train has just passed under the bridge carrying the Great Central and Metropolitan Lines near Northwick Park Station which is out of shot to the left. The building above it is an electricity substation serving the Watford DC lines, similar to the one we saw at Headstone Lane. Just one coach of these magnificent old units has been preserved and can be seen in the National Railway Museum at York. (Frank Goudie)

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What an exciting time it must have been for the railway enthusiasts of the day during the Locomotive Exchange Trials of 1948, to see the former rivals of the Big Four being tried out on each other’s lines during the first year of British Railways! Here, just south of Kenton again, we see A4 Pacific 60034 Lord Faringdon working the 12.55pm from Carlisle nearing the end of its journey to Euston. The photograph was taken at 8.10pm on 18 May 1948 and the train is beautifully catching the last rays of the setting sun. 60034 was to be one of the last A4s in service, being withdrawn from Aberdeen Ferryhill in August 1966. (J C Flemons)

Looking the other way from the same footbridge where the previous photo was taken, English Electric Type 4 D304 (later 40104) is seen heading the down ‘Merseyside Express’ which left Euston at 6.05pm. Note the headboard is not quite straight! The locomotive entered service in December 1960 and has not yet received a yellow warning panel, so this is probably the summer of 1961 or 1962. It is already quite grubby and there is evidence of oil leakage down the bodyside.

40104 lasted in service until January 1985. In the distance is South Kenton station with its footbridge that would disappear with the coming of electrification. Our vantage point here though is still popular with railway photographers today. (Brian Wadey)

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A couple of years later the scene is starting to change with the catenary in place in readiness for the new order. Derby Sulzer Type 2 D5018 (later 24018), with small yellow warning panel and lower light grey bodyside stripe, is heading a late afternoon train for Northampton, complete with carriage destination boards. The train is made up of six LMS corridor coaches with two non-corridor ones at the rear: these two were perhaps not suitable for long-distance commuters who had been to the pub for a quick drink before heading home! This class, though successful, had a relatively short working life due largely to a decline in the traffic they were designed for. This one was withdrawn in August 1975. (Alec Swain)

We have already seen two of the three SR 1Co-Co1 prototype main line diesels and to complete the set here is a somewhat grubby 10202. Once again it is on a regular duty for the class, a Bletchley to Euston service with non-corridor coaches, this one being the 12.40 from Bletchley on 31 May 1958. The bridge from which the previous photos were taken is in the distance. This photo is taken from the footbridge serving South Kenton station which was demolished and replaced by a subway with the coming of the electrification of the line. Note the typical suburban housing with its back gardens and wooden fences and that the fast lines had been relaid with flat-bottomed rail before the slows. (Alec Swain)

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In beautiful sunshine, Jubilee 4-6-0 45688 Polyphemus is heading past South Kenton with an up express, probably from Wolverhampton or Birmingham, as the locomotive was allocated to (3B) Bushbury and Jubilees were common on such workings. The photo is undated, but the carmine and cream livery of the coaches and the first BR emblem on the tender of the loco put it as mid-1950s. The footbridges from which the previous photos were taken are both seen in this view. Note the colour light signal controlling the down slow line: interestingly there isn’t one for the down fast. (Flint & Harbart)

Rails Around Watford Compiled by Robert Freeman

Continuing from “Rails Around Aylesbury Vale,” this companion volume explores the West Coast Main Line from Tring Summit to Wembley Central and five branch lines. Spanning from the 1940s to the mid-1960s, the book captures steam-hauled expresses, early diesels, and the first AC electrics.

Authored by a lifelong railway enthusiast, “Rails Around Watford” features a personal collection of photographs from the Transport Treasury archive. This nostalgic journey into a bygone era is a must-have for railway historians and enthusiasts alike, highlighting the charm and character of British railways’ golden age.

978-1-913893-53-8

£13.50

Rails Around Watford Compiled by Robert Freeman