Between 1838 and 1850 three of Britain’s first mainline railways had crossed Hertfordshire on the way from London to distant cities.
Victorian ‘Railway Mania’ was in full cry, but Hertfordshire had few stations to show for the disruption to its countryside. Once the national structure of main lines was established, public pressure and speculative investment led to the building of branch lines joining smaller towns to a railhead. The first two in Hertfordshire survive (Hertford East, 1843, and St Albans Abbey, 1858). But between 1858 and 1877 the county gained six more branches, all now lost.
Branch lines grew chaotically: they were insane as investments, and built without certainty of traffic, often on poorly chosen routes. The new Midland Railway (1868) soon left two lines with little purpose.
But the slow trains on these single-track railways served vital purposes up until the First World War, bringing coal, the universal fuel, and taking away local products. In places branch railways served commuter villages or became small industrial arteries.
Road competition was evident by the 1920s. Motor coaches took away branch line passengers, and private cars finished the process. Four lines closed to passengers as long ago as 1951. Two others serving rural communities fell to Dr Beeching’s axe in 1964-5. Goods traffic to private sidings continued longer, but by the early 1980s the last had been taken by bigger roads and lorries. Once it had gone, the tracks were lifted.
Today, five of these six lost rails are preserved as footpaths, bridleways and cycle routes. Here are their memories.