Bricket Wood railway station

Bricket Wood railway station is in the village of Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, England, on the Abbey Line 3¼ miles (5 km) east of Watford Junction. The station and all trains serving it are operated by London Northwestern Railway and the services operate with a 4 car Class 319 .

Bricket Wood
Location
PlaceBricket Wood
Local authoritySt Albans
Grid referenceTL134020
Operations
Station codeBWO
Managed byLondon Northwestern Railway
Number of platforms1
DfT categoryF2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 29,242
2015/16 28,942
2016/17 27,640
2017/18 28,618
2018/19 36,840
History
Key datesOpened 1858 (1858)
5 May 1858Station opened
1859Station closed
1861Station re-opened
1913Installation of 2nd platform and crossing loop
1966Demolition of 2nd platform and loop
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bricket Wood from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
The old passing loop at Bricket Wood station in the 1960s
View southwest toward Watford Junction in 1961
View northeast toward St Albans Abbey in 1961

History

The station once had a crossing loop and a second platform that could accommodate long excursion trains. Many Edwardian families from London came here to enjoy the fresh air, woodland and two large funfairs that once stood nearby.

The station building, long disused, is the only surviving original building on the line. Responsibility for the line, including Bricket Wood, passed in November 2007 from Silverlink to London Midland.

The station was used in the films The Cuckoo Patrol, Victoria the Great, Poison Pen, Double Confession, Night of the Demon, Impact[1] and She'll Have to Go.

Emergency Railway Control Centre

In the 1950s, in response to the threat of Soviet aggression. Plans were prepared for the construction of twenty-five atom-bomb-proof control bunkers[2] outside of expected target areas. Only five[3] were completed and the one at Bricket Wood is situated in the trees between the station and Railway Cottages. It was built in about 1954 to take over the running of the railway network from the London Euston control room in the event of war.[4]

As of 2014 only two were remaining[3] in England. The control centre built at Bricket Wood is a post-war Standard District Control Building Type L built, measuring roughly 11m x 29m. Of reinforced concrete construction, it has a single protected doorway in each of the shorter walls. This would appear to be the sole surviving example of this type in England, one other survives in Scotland at Burntisland.

Services

Trains operate between Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey every 45 minutes in each direction Monday to Saturday, and every hour on Sundays and are operated by London Northwestern Railway.

Future

Installation of Oyster card readers on the stations along the branch is a possibility, although there are other ticketing options too.

Restoration of the crossing loop is being considered by the local authorities and Network Rail, which would facilitate trains running every 30 minutes.

References
  1. http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/n/nightofdemon.html
  2. McCamley, Nick (31 May 2013). "Cold War Secret Nuclear Bunkers: The Passive Defence of the Western World During the Cold War". Pen and Sword – via Google Books.
  3. https://research.historicengland.org.uk/redirect.aspx?id=7010%7C%2020th%20Century%20Air-Raid%20Precaution%20Railway%20Control%20Centres
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 February 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Garston   London Northwestern Railway
Abbey Line		   How Wood

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