St Albans Abbey railway station in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England is about south of the city centre in the St Stephen's area. It is the terminus of the

Abbey Line The Abbey Line, also called the St Albans Abbey branch line, is a railway line from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey. The route passes through town and countryside in the county of Hertfordshire, just outside the boundaries of the Oyster C ...

from

Watford Junction Watford Junction is a railway station that serves Watford, Hertfordshire. The station is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), 17 miles 34 chains from London Euston and the Abbey Line, a branch line to St Albans. Journeys to London take between 16 ...

, operated by

London Northwestern Railway West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...

. It is one of two stations in St Albans, the other being the much larger and busier St Albans City. The unstaffed station consists of a single open-air platform and a car park. Improvement works were carried out in 2008. It was the second UK railway station to receive a

Harrington Hump The Harrington Hump is a modular and easy-to-install system by which the height of a railway platform can be increased at relatively low cost. The system takes its name from Harrington railway station in Cumbria, England, which is the location ...

to improve accessibility.

History

Dunstable, Hertford, Hitchin & St Albans RJD 35

St Albans Abbey was the first railway station in St Albans, built by the London and North Western Railway in 1858. It was, as it is now, a terminus; the company's plans to extend northwards to

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

and

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

never materialised. Although the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

opened their station (St Albans City) in 1868, it was not until 1924 that "Abbey" was added to the station's title to avoid confusion – by this stage, both stations were owned by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Until November 2007 responsibility for the branch line was with Silverlink. Restoration of the passing loop at Bricket Wood was being considered by the local authorities and Network Rail but was turned down in early 2008; this would have facilitated trains running every 30 minutes. The passing loop proposal was being reconsidered in 2020 as part of the UK government’s £500-million 'Restoring Your Railway Fund' to re-open many of the lines and stations that were closed in the 1960s.

Branch to Hatfield

In 1865, the Great Northern Railway supported a group of local landowners to open a branch line from Hatfield to St Albans Abbey with an intermediate stop at St Albans London Road, and later at (1866), (1897), (1899), (1910) and (1942). This line closed to passengers in 1951. Goods services were withdrawn from the end of 1968 and the track was lifted. In the mid-1980s, the route was opened as a cycle path, now the Alban Way. The remains of the branch can be seen to the left of the single platform when looking down the line in the direction of

, including overgrown remnants of the second platform which would have served the branch.

Station masters

*Frederick Facer 1858 – 1866 *R. Butler 1866 - 1867 *Edward Orchard 1867 – 1875 (afterwards station master at Kings Langley) *Andrew Dunleary 1875 – ???? (formerly station master at King’s Langley) *Mr. Welton ???? – 1890 (afterwards station master at Aylesbury) *F. Butcher 1890 – 1893 (afterwards station master at

Atherstone Atherstone is a market town and civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Located in the far north of the county, Atherstone is on the A5 national route, and is adjacent to the border with Leicestershire w ...

) *W.B. Holder 1893 – 1895 (afterwards station master at Newport Pagnall) *Mr. Smerdon 1895 – 1896 (formerly station master at Stanmore) *William Telfer 1896 – 1905 (afterwards station master at Buxton) *Henry Orchard 1905 – 1912 (afterwards station master at Harrow Junction)

Accidents and incidents

*On 10 February 1988, a diesel multiple unit overran the

buffer stop A buffer stop, bumper, bumping post, bumper block or stopblock (US), is a device to prevent railway vehicles from going past the end of a physical section of track. The design of the buffer stop is dependent, in part, on the kind of couplings ...

. There were no injuries amongst the seventeen passengers on board.

Services

Trains operate to

every 45 minutes Monday to Saturday daytime, every 60 minutes weekday evenings and on Sundays. Following the timetable change on 12 December 2021, there will be a single evening service to St Albans Abbey from

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city rail ...

, but no return service.

Notes and references

Sources

* *
Abbeyline.org.uk

The Alban Way

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Albans Abbey Railway Station Transport in St Albans Railway stations in Hertfordshire Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1858 Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains