Nicky Line
The Nicky Line (also sometimes spelled Nickey Line) is the local nickname for the railway that once linked the English towns of Hemel Hempstead and Harpenden via Redbourn. It was officially known as the Harpenden and Hemel Hempstead Railway. Today the course of most of the railway has been redeveloped as a cycle and walking path, and is part of the National Cycle Network (the Oxford to Welwyn Garden City route). It is approximately nine miles (14 km) long.
Contents
History
The main line from London to Birmingham, opened in 1837, passed near Hemel Hempstead, but, due to vigorous lobbying by local landowners (including the eminent and well-connected surgeon Sir Astley Paston Cooper), on the other side of the River Gade and the Grand Union Canal. A station was built on this line at Boxmoor (named Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead) but no connection was provided into the town by rail.
The first proposal for a more convenient rail link for the townspeople of Hemel Hempstead was presented in 1862 by John Grover. His proposal was for a short spur from the main line to the lower end of the (old) town at Bury Mill End. At the same meeting, another (more ambitious) proposal was put forward, extending the line to Redbourn to link to the Great Northern Railway at Harpenden. However, Grover's design found a sponsor and following an Act of Parliament in 1863 the Hemel Hempstead and London & North Western Railway Company was formed to construct and operate the line. However, no construction work was undertaken due to difficulties with local landowners and problems agreeing the connection to the main line at Boxmoor, and after a number of years of stagnation the earlier proposals were re-examined. Parliamentary approval was obtained in 1866 and construction work began. Construction proceeded extremely slowly, the lower spur from Boxmoor to Hemel Hempstead only being completed by 1871, though the connection to Boxmoor was via an awkward turntable arrangement.
Eventually, the HH and L&NWR company ran into financial difficulties and it was the Midland Railway that came to the rescue, financing completion of the line and agreeing to operate it once it was built. The line was finally opened in 1877. It provided a link for the straw plait trade that existed in Hemel with the hat making centre of Luton, and this is reflected in the fact that the initial connection at Harpenden headed north towards Luton rather than south towards London. Passengers changed trains at Chiltern Green. The terminus for the new connection was a high-level station at Heath Park Halt, near what is now the former headquarters building of Kodak, on a viaduct extending across Marlowes. Passengers on the new train service were able to reach St Pancras in London faster than those who took a pony and trap to Boxmoor station travelled to Euston. A larger station, named Hemel Hempstead but known as the Midland Station, was the main passenger facility within the town. This stood on the site of a modern housing development, opposite the Midland Hotel, which still exists.
The straw plait trade declined, and in order to help the line pay its way the junction at Harpenden was realigned in 1886 so that it headed south instead of north, and passengers now changed trains at Harpenden Junction. Due to rivalry between the Midland and the L&NWR, who operated the main line at Boxmoor, no passenger trains operated between Midland Station and Boxmoor, though the connection was available for the odd goods train. In 1906 a passenger terminus was opened at Heath Park Halt in an attempt to compete with the L&NWR, who had started a bus service to transport passengers from Hemel Hempstead to the main line station at Boxmoor. The company rivalry grew intense, and on one occasion track was lifted by angry L&NWR workers at Boxmoor to prevent a goods train that had travelled along the Midland Railway from completing the journey to Boxmoor.
The full list of stations on the route after 1906 is:
- Heath Park Halt
- Hemel Hempstead (Midland)
- Godwin's Halt
- Beaumont's Halt
- Redbourn
- Harpenden (to/from South)
RoadRailer tests
In the 1930s, the line was used to trial a hybrid system called the "Ro-Railer", a bus that could travel on both roads and railways. The experiment was short-lived and did not catch on.
Decline
Passenger demand was never high and further declined during the inter-war years. The rivalry between the Midland and LNW Railway companies ensured that the line ultimately failed to serve the people of Hemel Hempstead in the most useful way possible, and the last passenger train ran in December 1947, following a 'temporary' suspension of services due to the national coal shortage.
Following nationalisation of the railways, the connection of the lines at Boxmoor which had so long been a bone of contention was finally resolved, the connection being made to allow coal trains to supply the nearby gasworks at Duckhall. Having finally connected the lines, this service ran for all of six months in 1959 before the line was closed altogether. The viaduct crossing the lower end of Marlowes was demolished on July 6, 1960 during redevelopment of the town centre. Many people turned out to witness the demolition of this local landmark, and the event was well recorded in photographs.
The line between Cupid Green and Harpenden was privately owned by the Hemelite company from 1968, and was used to transport raw materials for manufacturing building blocks via Harpenden to their works at Cupid Green. The line beyond this point to the terminus at Hemel was lifted during the late 1950s.
It is notable that prior to Hemel Hempstead being chosen as the site for a new town, Redbourn was also considered. Had this occurred then the Nicky Line would have been significantly upgraded to provide a link between the main line at Hemel and a new station at Redbourn.
The Nicky Line today
Since much redevelopment of the town took place subsequent to its closure, the course of the lower part of the line is nowadays hard to follow. The course of the connection from Boxmoor is discernable in places; the gasholders at Duckhall are still present and the boundaries delineate the curve of the original trackbed. The abutment of the bridge that crossed the A41 is still present on the northern side, followed by a few hundred metres of heavily wooded embankment which still have one or two remaining sleepers. Remains of the brick-built bridges crossing the Bulbourne and Grand Union Canal are indistinct but discernable, but the remainder of the embankment to Heath Park has been levelled and landscaped as a public park. From Heath Park the line went roughly to the site of the present day "Magic Roundabout", where it crossed the lower end of Marlowes over a viaduct. From there it followed a course roughly where the modern day Maynard Road runs (an unsurfaced car park locates a 200 m section of the former railway), through the site of the modern hospital (the hospital existed when the railway was active, but was far smaller – the line passed to its east), through the housing developments of Concorde Drive (the former Hemel Hempstead (Midland) Station), to cross under Midland Road next to the Midland Hotel. From this point the course of the line is easier to follow as much of it still exists as footpaths. The Midland Road bridge is still extant, though now largely buried. The line can be easily traced across Keen's Fields, to cross Queensway on a high-level brick arch bridge which is still complete. From there the line tracks through Highfield and the course follows a well-maintained path all the way up to Cupid Green. This part of the line once again becomes obscured by modern developments, such as a car dealership and a modern industrial estate. Here once stood "Godwin's Halt", a very minor station named for a former landowner of the area. The original bridge at Godwins Halt remains, though again largely filled in. It carries a footpath between Highfield and Pennine Way, which is a lane predating the redevelopment of Hemel Hempstead new town.
The line becomes easier to follow a few hundred metres further on, since this part of the line was open until 1979. From here the line crosses largely open country, roughly parallel with the main Redbourn Road. Most bridges are still intact and have been maintained as part of the cycle route. The modern Redbourn Bypass, built in the 1980s, cuts across the route several times and there are no separate bridges. The wrought iron bridge carrying the line across the A5 at Redbourn remains intact. This bridge is of a type identical to those originally crossing the Bulbourne and the canal at Boxmoor. There was once a station at Redbourn just beyond this point but very little evidence of this remains – the site is marked with an information board today. The route then crosses more open countryside, including fields belonging to the Rothamsted Experimental Station, to Harpenden, where it crosses over the main London Road on a brick arch bridge, to connect with the Midland Main Line. The course of the original connection towards Luton is also discernable.
Origin of the name
The origin of the nickname "The Nicky Line" is shrouded in obscurity. Suggestions range from being named for the parish of St. Nicholas in Harpenden, through which it runs, to Hemel's connection with Nicholas Breakspear. The local paper notes that the engines themselves were referred to as "Puffing Annies" by locals, as the climb from the town centre up through Highfield was steep and the engines created much steam and smoke ascending this grade.
The line is commemorated in the modern Marlowes pedestrianisation scheme by a children's playground train and a sign labelled "Nicky Line Halt", though no such named station ever existed.
See also
References
- The Nicky Line. (1977) James and Hedley Cannon, Barracuda Books, ISBN 0-86023-050-3
- The Harpenden and Hemel Hempstead Railway – The Nickey Line. (1996) Sue and Geoff Woodward, Oakwood Press, ISBN 0-85361-502-0
