Hertford branch

[Mickey]

The Hertford branch or the Hertford loop or sometimes even 'the new line' I recall it being called?.

The Hertford branch left the main line at Wood Green (renamed Alexandra Palace in 1982) in north London and went via Palmers Green, Enfield Chase, Cuffley, Hertford North and re-joined the main line at Langley Junction a mile south of the present day Stevenage new station.

I never ventured around the Hertford branch much during the 1969-75 era as I always preferred to stay on the main line via Hatfield so I didn't know it that well. I knew that a lonely 'block hut' existed at Stapleford between Hertford North & Langley Junction and I had it mind to have a closer look at it one Sunday back in 1969/70 when nobody would be around but I never did go.

The train service that existed appeared to be in the hands of x2 car Craven units that mainly terminated in the Down bay platform at Hertford North from Kings Cross and then departed from the bay platform heading back up to Kings Cross. It appeared that hardly any trains went north beyond Hertford North station to Langley Junction on the main line south of Stevenage back in the early 1970s. Several siding roads existed on the Up side of the line south of Hertford North station that usually held stabled inner suburban coaching stock (block enders) that worked the weekday morning & evening peak hour loco hauled services to & from Kings Cross suburban or Moorgate.

Another 'block hut' existed at Bayford along side the Up line which broke up the block section between Hertford North & Cuffley boxes.

I visited Gordon Hill box around 1975 on a short visit when the box had a new NX panel.

Apparently Ponsbourne tunnel between Cuffley & Bayford stations was the longest tunnel on the GNR with a slight left-hand curve at it's northern end on the Down line heading towards Bayford station I recall.

When I did a short time on the loco at Kings Cross as a secondman between 1974 & 1975 it was normal practice mainly during the early hours after midnight to work trains of main line ECS (some B.R.Mk1s but mainly B.R.Mk2 coaches) from Kings Cross out to Grange Park run/round sidings between Grange Park & Enfield Chase stations situated on the Down side of the running lines but set well back from the running lines which were usually worked by Brush type 2s (class 31s). After running round the ECS between Enfield Chase & Grange Park we would take the train back up to Hornsey carriage sidings for stabling & cleaning. Also I remember mainly in the mornings of going light engine with my driver from Finsbury Park MPD out to Cuffley station and then crossing over onto the Up line and after a railman had operated a ground frame into the Up siding our loco would access the Up stabling siding along side the Up line to work a morning 'peak hour' service of inner suburban stock (block enders) into either Kings Cross suburban platforms or Moorgate over the Widen lines from York road station at Kings Cross but I can't remember which one all these years later?.

[StevieG]

Absolutely nothing at Stapleford by 1968 Mickey (I wish there still had been). Thinking of Watton Block Hut ?
All three Block Huts were beside the Down road.

[Mickey]

Absolutely nothing at Stapleford by 1968 Mickey (I wish there still had been). Thinking of Watton Block Hut ?
All three Block Huts were beside the Down road.

I knew two Block huts existed one at Stapleford and one at Watton but I wasn't sure which was which to be honest so I must have seen the Watton block hut around 1969/70.

Regarding the Bayford Block hut I thought it was on the Up side of the line but thinking about it again yes it was on the Down side of the line I can only say I wasn't that familiar with the Hertford branch as I spent most of my time on the main line and I only recall seeing the Bayford Block hut on a couple of occasions before it was abolished. Years later a bloke turned up on the North London line as a MOM in the late 1990s who had worked around Hertford North & Bayford stations during the early 1970s and he told me that he had occasionally worked the Bayford Block hut back then.

[StevieG]

Mickey,
https://signalbox.org/branch-lines/grea ... lock-huts/

[manna]

G'Day Gents

There were very few trains/locos booked to work between Hertford Nth and Langley Junc in the 70's, a couple I remember were both light engine movements, one was a blockender sent dropped off at Hertford North, mid morning, then light engine to Hitchin shed, (one day the loco spread the track and slowly sank in the ash) another was an evening turn again dropping off a set of blockenders off in the UP sidings at Hertford North, then LE to Hitchin, then Parcels to Peterborough, and Parcels back to Kings Cross Goods yard. I was always struck by the lack of habitation north of Hertford North,very lonely.

manna

[Mickey]

Mickey,
https://signalbox.org/branch-lines/grea ... lock-huts/

An interesting item of yours Stevie although I did read it before a number of years ago when it was (still is) on the s/box website.

[Mickey]

There were very few trains/locos booked to work between Hertford Nth and Langley Junc in the 70's, a couple I remember were both light engine movements, one was a blockender sent dropped off at Hertford North, mid morning, then light engine to Hitchin shed, (one day the loco spread the track and slowly sank in the ash) another was an evening turn again dropping off a set of blockenders off in the UP sidings at Hertford North, then LE to Hitchin, then Parcels to Peterborough, and Parcels back to Kings Cross Goods yard. I was always struck by the lack of habitation north of Hertford North,very lonely.

It was interesting how little traffic traveled over that length of the branch between Hertford North & Langley Junction even into the early 1970s and probably before the early 1970s during the 1960s I presume.

There was a loco diagram at Kings Cross around 1974/75 that from vague memory after working something Down road from 'the cross' in the weekday afternoon (usually with a Brush type 2 loco) to Peterborough the return trip back up to London you would come Up road light engine from Peterborough and approach Langley Junction around 7:15-7:30pm then you would be 'turned in' off the Up main line and you would run over the branch through Hertford North & Gordon Hill up to Wood Green before rejoining the main line again along the Up slow line towards Finsbury Park. The hope always was when you was approaching Hertford North that you had 'greens' which indicated that you wasn't having to follow the half-hourly all stations local stopping passenger service from Hertford North all the way up to London or if you was it was already at Gordon Hill or Enfield Chase which wouldn't make any difference by then.

A couple of episodes of Catweazle were filmed on the branch in 1970. Catweazle in one episode of the second series is seen venturing into a tunnel north of Hertford North (I don't think it was Molewood tunnel but the other tunnel?) and then he comes running out at double-time after a Brush type 2 on a short loose coupled freight with a brake van in the rear comes flying out the tunnel close behind him!!.

[Mickey]

Loco hauled ECS working just beyond Bowes Park station circa 1974/75.

On some occasions trains of loco hauled ECS would be turned back in the 'middle siding' beyond Bowes Park station. Usually a class 31 loco would be waiting 'on the stops' just beyond Bowes Park station for an in coming train of main line ECS from Kings Cross to arrive in the middle siding and once the train was inside the middle siding and the road was reset the loco waiting on the stops would move onto the rear of the train and hook up and wait for the road out of the middle siding. In the meantime the shunter would have unhooked the arriving loco that had brought the train of ECS into the middle siding and then walked to the other end of the middle siding to hook up the loco that was now 'the train loco' waiting to depart for either Bounds Green (old carriage sidings) or Hornsey carriage sidings. Once the road was set up and the ground position light was cleared the train of ECS would leave the middle siding and the loco that had brought the train of ECS into the middle siding would after the road was 'straightened up' and the ground position light signal was cleared would go and wait on the stops for the next train of loco hauled train of ECS to arrive in the middle siding and the performance would be repeated again.

I believe that middle siding just beyond Bowes Park station was controlled by Bounds Green box around 1974/75?.

[manna]

G'Day Mickey

I just thought/remembered that, if all the Freightliners hadn't made it through Finsbury Park before the morning rush, Container trains would sometimes be routed onto the branch at Langley Junc as a way of getting them out of the way for a couple of hours.

manna

[StevieG]

"... It was interesting how little traffic traveled over that length of the branch between Hertford North & Langley Junction even into the early 1970s and probably before the early 1970s during the 1960s I presume. ..."

I thought I remembered one or two DMUs per day that extended beyond Hert. to/from Hitchin around that time.

"... A couple of episodes of Catweazle were filmed on the branch in 1970. Catweazle in one episode of the second series is seen venturing into a tunnel north of Hertford North (I don't think it was Molewood tunnel but the other tunnel?) ..."

Only the two tunnels anywhere on the branch Mickey; - Ponsbourne, and Molewood.

[Mickey]

"... It was interesting how little traffic traveled over that length of the branch between Hertford North & Langley Junction even into the early 1970s and probably before the early 1970s during the 1960s I presume. ..."

I thought I remembered one or two DMUs per day that extended beyond Hert. to/from Hitchin around that time.

Yeah I think you are right Stevie I vaguely recall hearing that two services each way during the day operated by a x2 car Craven DMU operated between Hertford North & Hitchin and return although that was still a sparse service I would say.

"... A couple of episodes of Catweazle were filmed on the branch in 1970. Catweazle in one episode of the second series is seen venturing into a tunnel north of Hertford North (I don't think it was Molewood tunnel but the other tunnel?) ..."
Only the two tunnels anywhere on the branch Mickey; - Ponsbourne, and Molewood.

As I previously said I wasn't that familiar with the branch and the length between Hertford North & Langley Junction especially before colour light re-signalling (was that during 1971?) I don't think I even travelled over it until around 1974/75 and then I only travelled the branch between Langley Junction & Hertford North maybe half a dozen times in all?.

Thinking about it again I do recall travelling between Hertford North & Langley Junction going Down road in the cab of a diesel loco around the same time 1974/75 a few times because I recall seeing where the double-track section both part company with each other on the approach to Langley Junction before going under the main line and re-joining the Down slow line just beyond Langley Junction box.

Also regarding the Watton Block hut (or was it the Stapleford Block hut?) I recall seeing that on a couple of occasions while travelling in a car from a nearby road that ran parallel for some distance with the railway in a north-south direction although the road was set back from the railway across some fields anyway I believe I only saw the semaphore signals and the signal posts from the road but as for a possibly date it may have been in 1968 or a bit later in 1969/70 I can't remember which?.

I always thought their was two tunnels north of Hertford North station one being Molewood and a second tunnel?. Shows you how unfamiliar I was with the branch?.

[rockinjohn]

Hi Mickey &Steve seem to remember in steam days, mainly parcels (empty or otherwise)/pigeon specials, all I ever saw were V2's, whether "up or down"and the Ashburton Pullman"sometimes(down) if their was track maintance going on it was used a fair bit by anything, but was their a regular steam passenger service this way North of Hertford? if their was not many a day then.

[Mickey]

Ha ha the Gresley V2s very nice rockinjohn.

An interesting and maybe an overlooked bit of railway from the B.R. era of the 1950s & 1960s until the late 1970s the section of line north of Hertford North to Langley Junction on the main line almost akin to being somewhere around Cambridgeshire in it's sparseness of traffic and the surrounding countryside and also being fairly unfamiliar to me made it quite appealing as well. Seeing a couple of railway semaphore signals on tall concrete signal posts across a farmers field from a car running parallel to the railway north of Hertford North 'in the middle of nowhere' immediately drew my interest back in 1969/70.

[manna]

G'Day Gents

One feature of the line, north of Hertford, was the different types of track, mostly Bull Head, but with 'Wartime concrete' sleepers, and also steel sleepers, on one stretch, at least a mile if not a bit more.

Another feature, was the old GNR Enfield (Town)? station, which was changed into a goods station, to the left of Enfield Chase station which for many years was 'Famous' for it's handling of Bananas, but the part I never found out, Where did the 'nannas' come from, and don't say the West Indies, ??????

manna

[Hatfield Shed]

Would be useful for clarity to have the thread title edited to Hertford Loop. 'Hertford branch' is the Hatfield to Hertford element of the Hatfield, Hertford, Luton and Dunstable branchlines.