Watford railway station was a railway station in

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

, Hertfordshire in the UK. It was opened by the

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

(L&BR) and it was the first railway station to open in

. It closed in 1858 when it was replaced by

Watford Junction railway station Watford Junction is a railway station serving the town of Watford in Hertfordshire, England. The station is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), from and the Abbey Line, a branch line to St Albans. It is also the northern terminus of the Liones ...

. Today the small ticket office is still standing and it is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

History

Watford station was situated on the north side of St Albans Road, approximately further down the line from London than the present-day Watford Junction station. This small, single-storey red-brick building was built in 1836–37 when the first section of the

(L&BR) was opened between London and . It was designed by the architect

George Aitchison George Aitchison Jr. RA (London 7 November 1825 – 16 May 1910) was a British architect and academic of "considerable reputation". He was the son of architect, civil engineer, and surveyor George Aitchison (1792–1861), and educated at ...

. The station provided first and second-class waiting rooms, a departure yard, a carriage shed and engine house. The platforms were situated in a deep cutting which was accessed via a staircase. Watford railways

By 1839, the station is recorded in the ''

Bucks Herald ''The Bucks Herald'' is a weekly newspaper, published every Wednesday and covering Aylesbury and its surrounding villages in the Aylesbury Vale area of Buckinghamshire, England. It was first published on 7 January 1832. History At its launch t ...

'' as having a

corrugated iron Corrugated galvanised iron (CGI) or steel, colloquially corrugated iron (near universal), wriggly tin (taken from UK military slang), pailing (in Caribbean English), corrugated sheet metal (in North America), zinc (in Cyprus and Nigeria) or ...

roof, an

engine shed A motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine sheds" or just "sheds". Facilit ...

and stationary

pumping house UK hard house or simply hard house is a style of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 1990s and is synonymous with its association to the Trade club and the associated DJs there that created the style. It often features a speedy te ...

with a tall chimney, and a footbridge. In its 21 years of operation it also served as a station for royalty; in the short period when the

Dowager Queen Adelaide Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (Adelaide Amelia Louise Theresa Caroline; 13 August 1792 – 2 December 1849) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Queen of Hanover from 26 June 1830 to 20 June 1837 as the wife of King W ...

was resident at

Cassiobury House Cassiobury House was a English country house, country house in Cassiobury Park, Watford, England. It was the family seat, ancestral seat of the Earl of Essex, Earls of Essex. Originally a Tudor building, dating from 1546 for Sir Richard Morrison ...

(–1849), this station was remodelled to provide her with a royal waiting room, and it was also reportedly used by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on a trip to visit Sir

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...

in November 1843, when they travelled by road from

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a List of British royal residences, royal residence at Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, about west of central London. It is strongly associated with the Kingdom of England, English and succee ...

to take a train from Watford to . From 1846, the L&BR was absorbed into the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

(LNWR). The old Watford station closed when it was replaced by the larger ''Watford Junction'' station, which opened on 5 May 1858. The new station was located south of St Albans Road in order to accommodate the newly constructed branch line to St Albans and later, the

Watford and Rickmansworth Railway The Watford and Rickmansworth Railway (W&RR) ran services between Watford and Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, England. The company was incorporated in 1860; the line opened in 1862. The Rickmansworth branch was closed to passengers in 1952 and to ...

and the

Watford DC Line The Watford DC line is a suburban railway line from London Euston to Watford Junction in Greater London and Hertfordshire. The line is shared by services on London Underground's above-ground section of the Bakerloo line between Harrow & Weald ...

. The junction station was rebuilt in 1909, and was extensively redeveloped in the 1980s.

The building today

The Grade-II-listed Old Station House still stands at 147A St Albans Road, a rare surviving example of architecture from the beginning of the railway age. It is one of two surviving intermediate station buildings in Britain from the early railways, the other being the original station building, built by the

Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway (B&DJR) was a Great Britain, British railway company. From Birmingham it connected at Derby with the North Midland Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Derby Midland Sta ...

in 1837. Until 2018, the building was occupied by a second-hand car dealership. it stands in the middle of the Watford Cross property development and plans have been announced to convert the building into a

craft beer Craft beer is beer manufactured by craft breweries, which typically produce smaller amounts of beer than larger "macro" breweries and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as emphasising enthusiasm, ne ...

tap room Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar *Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of ...

References

Notes

External links

* Disused railway stations in Watford Former London and Birmingham Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1837 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1858 1837 establishments in England 1858 disestablishments in England Grade II listed buildings in Hertfordshire History of Watford {{DEFAULTSORT:Watford railway station (1837-1858)

History

The building today

See also

References

Notes

External links