17/6/2019 A walk in the country. Part 1.

Finding myself at a loose end in St Albans while my car is being serviced I have some time to kill - probably several hours. St Albans is one of my favourite towns - well officially it's actually a City. The place is absolutely dripping with history - way back to Roman times. And unlike where I live in the historical town of Barnet, the local Council is actually sympathetic to the history and character of the area. I have always found St Albans a fascinating place to explore and in past years have spent many happy hours in similar circumstances to those which bring me here today - although a different car being serviced in a different garage.

After dropping the car off I find myself near a bridge over what used to be a railway line, so I have to investigate. St Albans used to be served by three different railway lines - including one which went direct to Hatfield where it joined up with the East Coast main line out of Kings Cross. This is the line I find myself investigating. Unlike most disused railway lines this one is very accessible - due the the enlightened local council who have turned it into a footpath/cycleway. So I find a path from the road down to the former trackbed and start to explore. Unfortunately there is very little sign that this was once a railway line as nearly every building on the entire line has been demolished - including some of the bridges. However, the route is effectively hill free and has been tarmacked so it's easy to make progress even if you might not realise this footpath was once something much more substantial. there are occasional clues though.

Once upon a time the Salvation Army had their main print works in St Albans and this is where their famous 'War Cry' magazine was printed - among many other things. The only trace left of all this now is the remains of the platform at the Salvation Army Halt that served the works. Back in the day virtually everything was delivered or despatched from the works via rail and the print works was a major local employer.

Walking further down the line a large bridge can be found which still carries the Midland Main Line from St Pancras over where the Great Northern Hatfield to St Albans branch line once ran. It's an impressive piece of engineering.

Just a few yards farther finds another bridge, this one carries London Road over the old railway. You can still see where the old telegraph wires used to run.

Walk a few more yards and you get to the old London Road Station. Part of the platform still survives, as does the main station building itself - one of only two station buildings left standing on the entire line. The building is now used as an office. I take some time to imagine how this scene must have looked in the old days with a steam loco pottering though with a local passenger train...

I remember car journeys through St Albans with my dad when I was a kid. We used to stretch to see the yard in front of the station as we crossed the road bridge seen in the background here - there used to be a collection on WW2 vehicles parked there, including an American half-track and a Sherman tank! This part of the line is familiar to me, but I keep walking and am soon exploring unfamiliar ground. Although I am still effectively in St Albans things take on a very rural feel. After walking through a modern housing estate just after the station built over the old trackbed I soon find myself walking along a high embankment and feeling like I am back out in the country. The old line passes over a bridge and past some allotments by the river Ver. St Albans Abbey is visible in the distance.

A little further  finds some old fisheries enhancing the rural feel.

The line maintains it's elevation and crosses the river Ver at the highest structure on the whole line.

The terrain flattens out as I head further west under a road bridge that has apparently needed to be reinforced since the railway closed - you couldn't fit a train under there now!

I'm nearly at the end of the line now and the former trackbed is no longer accessible after going under this bridge. I find myself crossing St Albans other branch line - only this one is still open. Amazingly, in these Health & Safety obsessed days there is still an unguarded public footpath crossing of a railway line that is still in regular use.

This is the branch line from the former L&NWR main line out of Euston. The old Great Northern branch from Hatfield that I have been walking along used to join up with this line close to this spot and just before the end of the line. For the last part of my journey I am forced to walk along residential roads before arriving at what is left of the still in use St Albans City Station - although I was tempted to take a sneaky short cut like the old GNR branch line used to and walk down the track to this station instead of walking the longer way past all the houses!

Literally the 'end of the line'. Sadly this is all that's left of the once impressive St Albans City Station - where you can still get a train to Euston. All the nice old station buildings have been demolished, and these days all that's left of the old L&NWR branch line to St Albans is effectively a long siding from the main line and a bus shelter on the platform. How much we have lost....

By the time I reach St Albans City Station I have received a phone call telling me my car is ready for collection, so that's is the end of today's explorations - and I haven't even left St Albans! However, I am now intrigued by the rest of the branch line from St Albans to Hatfield. But that will have to wait for another day...