Watton-at-Stone railway station

Watton-at-Stone railway station serves the village of Watton-at-Stone in Hertfordshire, England. It is 23 miles 72 chains (23.90 miles, 38.46 km) down the line from London King's Cross[1] on the Hertford Loop Line between Hertford North and Stevenage and is served by trains operated by Great Northern.

Watton-at-Stone
National Rail
General information
LocationWatton-at-Stone, District of East Hertfordshire
England
Coordinates51.8569°N 0.1198°W / 51.8569; -0.1198
Grid referenceTL295192
Managed byGreat Northern
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeWAS
ClassificationDfT category E
History
Original companyLondon and North Eastern Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
2 June 1924Opened
10 September 1939Closed
17 May 1982Reopened
Passengers
2017/18Decrease 0.163 million
2018/19Decrease 0.154 million
2019/20Decrease 0.133 million
2020/21Decrease 42,870
2021/22Increase 0.114 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

According to the Watton-at-Stone Parish Council,[2] a proposal for a rail route between London and Stevenage was approved by Parliament in 1898, though construction did not begin until 1906. A single-track section through Watton-at-Stone opened on 4 March 1918, with the track later being dualled.

The station saw its first passenger train run through on 6 February 1920, but did so only when a train was diverted from the East Coast Main Line as the result of an accident. Scheduled passenger services of four trains per day started on 2 June 1924, stopping on request at Watton-at-Stone.

The station's life as a passenger service was short-lived however, and it closed just 15 years later on 10 September 1939, despite the famed locomotive engineer Nigel Gresley's residency in the village.

The nationalised British Railways considered reopening the station in the 1960s, but it was not until 1981 that a campaign to reopen the station gathered momentum. The bulk of the £120,000 costs were paid for by Hertfordshire County Council and British Rail, but villagers and the parish council responded to a public appeal for funds, and together contributed £8,000. On 17 May 1982, a small crowd gathered to board the 06:23 service from Watton-at-Stone to Moorgate, the first passenger train to serve the village in almost 43 years.

Services

All services at Watton-at-Stone are operated by Great Northern using Class 717 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[3]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Great Northern
  Historical railways  
Line open, station closed
London and North Eastern Railway
Line and station open

Cultural references

In 1977, track in the vicinity of the then closed station was used by British Transport Films as a set to film the notorious public information film The Finishing Line.[4] Using shock tactics to deter children from playing near railway lines, the film was staged as a dream sequence of a parody school sports day with 'events' on and around the track. Local schoolchildren were drafted as actors. The film was broadcast on the nightly Nationwide TV show, and the liberal quantities of stage blood and graphic depiction of injuries became a matter of some controversy.

References
  1. Padgett, David (October 2016) [1988]. Brailsford, Martyn (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 2: Eastern (4th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 24B. ISBN 978-0-9549866-8-1.
  2. Watton-at-Stone Parish Council: Transport
  3. Table 24 National Rail timetable, May 2022
  4. British Transport Films: The Finishing Line
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