Rickmansworth is an interchange

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Rickmansworth Rickmansworth () is a town in southwest Hertfordshire, England, about northwest of central London and inside the perimeter of the M25 motorway. The town is mainly to the north of the Grand Union Canal (formerly the Grand Junction Canal) and t ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, northwest of

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

, served by the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the line i ...

and by

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Railw ...

. It is one of the few London Underground stations beyond

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality *Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film *Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record *Greater (song), "Greate ...

and as a consequence is in

Travelcard Zone 7 The Travelcard is an inter-modal travel ticket for unlimited use on the London Underground, London Overground, Elizabeth line, Docklands Light Railway, London Trams,_ "type":_...,_London_Buses_and_National_Rail.html" ;"title="London_Buses.html" ...

. The station is a good location to alight from to explore the

Chess Valley The River Chess is a chalk stream that rises near Chesham in the Chiltern Hills, and flows for through Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire to its confluence with the River Colne in Rickmansworth. The Chess, along with the Colne and Gade, gi ...

History

The line to Rickmansworth was authorised in 1880 and the station opened on 1 September 1887 as the terminus of the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

's extension from

Pinner Pinner is a London suburb in the London borough of Harrow, Greater London, England, northwest of Charing Cross, close to the border with Hillingdon, historically in the county of Middlesex. The population was 31,130 in 2011. Originally a med ...

. In 1889, the line was extended from Rickmansworth to

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordsh ...

. Rickmansworth was shared with the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

which reached

Quainton Road Quainton Road railway station was opened in 1868 in under-developed countryside near Quainton, in the English county of Buckinghamshire, from London. Built by the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway, it was the result of pressure from the 3rd ...

in 1898. The extension of Metropolitan Line electrification brought electric services out to Rickmansworth on 5 January 1925, allowing the locomotive change point to be moved (north of Rickmansworth steam traction was provided by the

LNER LNER may refer to: * London and North Eastern Railway, a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1923 until 1947 * London North Eastern Railway, a train operating company in the United Kingdom since 2018 * Liquid neutral earthing resistor, a typ ...

). In 1925 another platform was constructed at the south end of the station for the

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

branch shuttle. There was a proposal in the

New Works Programme The New Works Programme of 1935–1940 was the major investment programme delivered by the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), commonly known as London Transport, which had been created in 1933 to coordinate underground train, tram, trolley ...

to extend electrification to

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

, but this was postponed at the outbreak of the Second World War. Afterwards, electrification reached

Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. ...

with

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

trains completing the journey to Aylesbury. The Rickmansworth-Watford shuttle ceased and the final steam train ran on 10 September 1961. Electric locomotive-hauled trains on the Metropolitan were replaced with A60 and A62 Stock. In 1987 the shuttle to Watford resumed, but only one each way, early morning and late evening. This was later extended to Amersham when the new S8 Stock was introduced. Rickmansworth is still one of few locations on the Met where train drivers are based and remains a changeover point for drivers on the Metropolitan line. The majority of LU trains heading north are timetabled to stop at Rickmansworth for about five minutes to change train staff. Rickmansworth hosts the headquarters of the operational side of the northern section of the Met, controlling signals on the line from Northwood to Watford and Chorleywood. Many evening-running Metropolitan trains terminate at Rickmansworth due to the number of sidings near the station. In 2018, it was announced that the station would gain step free access by 2022, as part of a £200m investment to increase the number of accessible stations on London Underground.

Services

On London Underground, the station is served by trains on the

and to

from

Baker Street Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid out the street in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detec ...

and at peak times from

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...

. On National Rail, Rickmansworth is served by

between and

via . During peak-times, some Chiltern Line trains do not stop at Rickmansworth. There are two tracks through the station, shared in both directions by London Underground and National Rail trains. A short third bay platform (now severed) is no longer used, but used to be the terminus for shuttles to Watford. There are occasional services between Rickmansworth and which use the 'North Curve' of track, in the 2021 timetable there are two early in the morning plus one late in the evening.

Gallery

File:Rickmansworth station look north.JPG, Northbound platform File:Rickmansworth station 3.jpg, Southbound platform File:Rickmansworth station 4.jpg, Water tower File:Rickmansworth station former steam bay look north.JPG, Former bay platform for Watford shuttle trains

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rickmansworth Station Metropolitan line stations Tube stations in Hertfordshire Railway stations in Three Rivers District London Underground stations located above ground Former Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1887 Railway stations served by Chiltern Railways Rickmansworth