Watton-at-Stone railway station serves the village of
Watton-at-Stone in
Hertfordshire,
England. It is on the
Hertford Loop branch line between
Hertford North and
Stevenage and is served by trains operated by
First Capital Connect.
History
According to the Watton-at-Stone Parish Council, a proposal for a rail route between London and Stevenage was approved 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 11 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...
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