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Post by wirewiper on Mar 19, 2021 13:05:30 GMT
Does anyone remember the short-lived Watford Stadium halt, on the Watford Junction - Croxley Green branch line? It opened in December 1982, after Watford FC had been promoted to the First Division, and was designed so that away supporters could be transported directly to and from Vicarage Road Stadium without causing hooliganism in Watford town centre. The halt was used regularly until 1988, when Watford was relegated. The aftermath of the Hillsborough tragedy and the increasing use of coaches to convey away supporters - plus a welcome reduction in football hooliganism generally - meant it saw only spasmodic use after that. Its fate was sealed when the Croxley Green branch closed in 1996. www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/19163068.memories-watford-fcs-train-station-stadium-halt-1980s/ |
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Post by danorak on Mar 20, 2021 13:07:24 GMT
Does anyone remember the short-lived Watford Stadium halt, on the Watford Junction - Croxley Green branch line? It opened in December 1982, after Watford FC had been promoted to the First Division, and was designed so that away supporters could be transported directly to and from Vicarage Road Stadium without causing hooliganism in Watford town centre. The halt was used regularly until 1988, when Watford was relegated. The aftermath of the Hillsborough tragedy and the increasing use of coaches to convey away supporters - plus a welcome reduction in football hooliganism generally - meant it saw only spasmodic use after that. Its fate was sealed when the Croxley Green branch closed in 1996. www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/19163068.memories-watford-fcs-train-station-stadium-halt-1980s/Diamond Geezer has blogged on this before I believe, as it used to be his neck of the woods. Vicarage Road is a fair old schlep from Watford Junction. |
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Post by wirewiper on Mar 20, 2021 15:55:23 GMT
Does anyone remember the short-lived Watford Stadium halt, on the Watford Junction - Croxley Green branch line? It opened in December 1982, after Watford FC had been promoted to the First Division, and was designed so that away supporters could be transported directly to and from Vicarage Road Stadium without causing hooliganism in Watford town centre. The halt was used regularly until 1988, when Watford was relegated. The aftermath of the Hillsborough tragedy and the increasing use of coaches to convey away supporters - plus a welcome reduction in football hooliganism generally - meant it saw only spasmodic use after that. Its fate was sealed when the Croxley Green branch closed in 1996. www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/19163068.memories-watford-fcs-train-station-stadium-halt-1980s/Diamond Geezer has blogged on this before I believe, as it used to be his neck of the woods. Vicarage Road is a fair old schlep from Watford Junction. Diamond Geezer grew up near Croxley Green so he (assuming DG is a he) probably knew the branch well. |
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Post by galwhv69 on Mar 20, 2021 19:45:03 GMT
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Post by wirewiper on Mar 23, 2021 10:37:19 GMT
I believe the Croxley Green branch was an attempt to block the Metropolitan Railways planned incursion into Watford. The Met had been very successful in stimulating suburban development along its Uxbridge branch, which opened in 1904 and was electrified from the outset. They wanted to electrify their 'Main Line' as far as Rickmansworth, but that station was on a very constrained site and could not be expanded to accommodate an intensive electric train service (especially as longer-distance train services would require a loco change there). The solution was a Watford branch, which would also tap in to the traffic potential of what was then a rapidly-expanding commuter town. The Met had planned to have a station slap-bang in the middle of Watford, on the High Street - the proposed site is currently a Wetherspoon's pub. However Watford Council blocked this as it would have meant the line crossing their newly laid-out Cassiobury Park. The Met still needed the capacity of a Watford station, so they had to settle for an out-of-the-way location on Cassiobury Park Avenue that had originally been earmarked for a goods depot. The branch opened in 1925. Back to the Croxley Green branch, this was itself a branch of the London & North Western Railway's Watford Junction - Rickmansworth branch line which opened in 1862, it ran to a station in Church Street and predated the Met which only arrived in the town in 1885. It had an intermediate station at Watford High Street. The line was planned to extend to Uxbridge Vine Street where it would have linked up with the Great Western Railway, but this didn't happen after the GWR withdrew its promised funding. The Croxley Green branch opened in 1912, shortly afterwards a new line and triangular junction was built between Watford High Street and Bushey & Oxhey which meant direct trains could operate from Croxley Green and Rickmansworth into London Euston. A depot for electric rolling stock was situated next to the junctions. Both lines were eventually electrified in the 1920s as part of the LNWR's New Lines project. The Rickmansworth branch closed to passengers in 1952 but some freight traffic remained until 1984 to serve a paper mill near Croxley. The Croxley branch was identified in the Beeching Report for closure but consent was refused, and a peak-time-only shuttle to and from Watford Junction was operated for many years. An all-day service was revived in 1988, but the service was withdrawn completely in 1993 apart from one 'Parliamentary Train' return journey on weekday mornings which operated until 1996 when the line was severed by the construction of Ascot Road - thereafter the 'Parliamentary Train' was covered by a rail replacement bus until 2003 when the line was formally closed. |
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