The
Abbey Flyer is the common name of the railway service from
St Albans to
Watford (both in
Hertfordshire,
England). The service is presently part of
Silverlink's
Metro service, but was formerly operated by
British Rail. Until 1948 it was controlled by the
London Midland and Scottish, which had got it as part of the
London and North Western Railway at the
Grouping. At any given
time, there is only a single train on the line, as it is single track along its
entire length. There was once a
passing loop at
Bricket Wood, but this has
long since been removed. The service is operated these days by three-coach
electric multiple units, but previously by
diesel multiples - I once rode in
the cab of one of these, when very young, and got to blow the
whistle - and
prior to that,
tank engines.
Persistent rumour tells of a plan to run through trains from
St Albans Abbey
to
London Euston, but this never materialises. The train passes any
given point on the line in each direction every three-quarters of an hour, and
the journey from one end to the other takes about twenty minutes.
St Albans
Abbey is these days a dead end, and one must take a bus to the town centre or
St Albans City station.
Watford Junction, on the other hand, remains a major
centre. Change there for
London,
Birmingham,
Liverpool,
Manchester and
Glasgow, with
Silverlink or
Virgin Trains.
St Albans Abbey
|
Park Street
|
How Wood
|
Bricket Wood
|
Garston
|
Watford North
|
Watford Junction
Thanks to
Albert Herring for the information about the pre-nationalisation ownership of the line.