Notes : On 4 December 1982, a new stop funded by the Football Trust, Watford Football Club and Watford Borough Council, was built on the east side of Vicarage Road to provide support for the increased crowds attending matches at the stadium: Watford had risen from the fourth to the first division under manager Graham Taylor for the first time in the club's history.

The station consisted of a single pre-fabricated concrete platform costing £200,000 and was opened by Elton John in conjunction with Lord Aberdare. The station was sometimes referred to as Watford Stadium Halt, and this name was used on a contemporary street atlas. Although the station was on the east side of Vicarage Road and the club was in the same road, the entrance was at the other end of the platform at bottom of the ramp from where supporters were able to walk along a footpath to Cardiff Road, from where it was a short walk to the club's Vicarage Road stadium. This route kept them away from residential streets.

The station was used only when Watford were playing at home. At appropriate times, a six-car EMU provided a non-stop shuttle service to and from Watford Junction, although on occasions the service train to Croxley Green stopped for the benefit of local supporters. Unfortunately, the success of the club at that time was short-lived, and so was the shuttle service.

It is not known when the last train stopped at the station. A shuttle train ran for the match against Leicester City on Saturday 9 November 1991. From 21 January 1991 the Croxley Green branch had been reduced to just three Monday-to-Friday round trips. Another shuttle was recorded running on Sunday 28 November 1993 for a game against Crystal Palace.

The London Transport Users' Committee state that they ‘do not have any recollection of dealing with a closure hearing for Watford Stadium Station’, and doubt whether one was necessary as it was ‘a private station that was used only on match days’.

Despite hopes that the railway would bring further economic development to Rickmansworth and would serve the small factories and warehouses which had developed along the Grand Junction Canal, it was Watford which actually grew at a faster pace and drew business from Rickmansworth. The construction of the railway was dogged with financial problems, and a

The railway was never particularly financially successful and the Official Receiver was called in only four years after opening. Attempts had been made to remedy their financial problems by opening several freight branches, the most notable being to the Croxley printers and to the Grand Junction Canal at Croxley Green. The company was eventually absorbed in 1881 by the burgeoning LNWR whose station it shared at Watford Junction.

Anxious of the growing influence of the Metropolitan Railway in north-west London, the LNWR added a short branch line to Croxley Green under the New Lines Act. Works commenced in 1908 and the new route opened on 15 June 1912. The semi-rural location of the Croxley Green terminus gave added credence to the LNWR's slogan ‘Live in the Country’. The extension involved the construction of a substantial bridge over the Grand Junction Canal.

The short 1¼-mile Croxley Green branch left the Rickmansworth line at Croxley Green Junction which was substantially rebuilt as a double-track formation as part of the LNWR’s ambitious London suburban electrification scheme. There was one intermediate station at Watford West.

It was always intended that the branch would be electrified as part of the North Western Electrics scheme, but the service opened with steam trains, often a rail-motor.  The construction of the new lines in the Watford area was completed in 1913 and included a  triangular junction with a spur enabling trains from Croxley Green to run south to Bushey and on to London. The western end of the curve retained the name Croxley Green Junction and included the junction between the Rickmansworth branch; the eastern end as Colne Junction. Adjacent to Croxley Green Junction a substantial new depot, known as Croxley Green sheds, was built to house the new electric trains. The opening of a two-track goods yard at Croxley Green enabled freight to be handled on the branch from 1 October 1912.

During the 1930s London tube stock was used on the Croxley Green branch.  Joint LNWR/London Electric Railway (Underground Group) tube stock had been running on the Watford Junction to Elephant & Castle (Bakerloo line) service from 29 March 1920. They were found to be slow in traffic and were eventually replaced with standard underground stock. Nine of the 72 joint cars were transferred to the Croxley Green and Rickmansworth branches.  For most of the 1930s the service on the Croxley Green branch was provided by tube stock although until 1938 normal (full size) stock was used on Saturdays to cope with heavier traffic needs, including shopping and Watford Football Club’s home matches.

Towards the end of the decade 44 shuttle services were being provided on the branch, with four up and two down through trains serving Broad Street and three up and five down serving Euston. This service frequency remained until the outbreak of war in September 1939 when the passenger service was reduced and the tube stock was withdrawn.  Most through trains to London were also withdrawn with some peak hour morning services continuing to run until early 1941 when just one through morning train remained.

At nationalisation in January 1948, the Croxley Green branch became part of BR’s London Midland Region.  Initially the service saw little change although BR put on a second up through service to Broad Street. Two years later, however, the branch lost its late evening service. 

By 1953 the passenger service on the branch had been reduced to 32 Saturday and 22 weekday trains.  In 1957 the ageing Oerlikon saloon stock was withdrawn, the last survivors of which had operated the Croxley Green shuttle. They were replaced with class 501 slam-door compartment EMUs.  These did nothing to halt the decline; the Sunday service between Watford Junction and Croxley Green ran for the last time on 10 May 1959 and there were now 21 shuttle journeys between Watford Junction and Croxley Green in the Monday - Friday peak, and on Saturdays these were supplemented by one up peak hour trains and one down serving Broad Street and one up train to Euston. Through Saturday trains to London were withdrawn in September 1961. At the timetable change of 7 September 1963 the Croxley Green curve was illegally closed by BR. Prior to this there were two up Broad Street and one Euston trains on weekday mornings (including Saturdays) and one down Broad Street service on Mondays to Fridays; these were all withdrawn at that time. However from 18 November, on Mondays to Fridays, one up Broad Street train in the morning, and one down train from there in the evening were reinstated.

Identified in the Reshaping of British Railways (‘Beeching’) report for closure in 1963, the formal proposal was published on 20 February 1964. On 20 April 1966 Barbara Castle, who was Minister for Transport at the time, refused consent to the closure between Watford Junction and Croxley Green. However she approved the withdrawal of trains between Croxley Green and Bushey & Oxhey, which took effect on 6 June 1966 when the single train each way to and from Broad Street (through Bushey & Oxhey) was withdrawn. In that year the service was further reduced to 14 down and 12 up trains on the shuttle service. Weekday shuttle services were maintained throughout the 1970s, although the Saturday service was withdrawn. In the early 1970s the whole system had been converted from fourth to third rail, apart from those sections shared with London Transport.

In 1986 the line found itself marketed as part of Network SouthEast following the introduction of class 313 saloon stock although on a number of occasions during 1987 and early 1988 a DMU worked the service, possibly due to a shortage of class 313 units. In 1988 an attempt was made to revive the fortunes of the Croxley Green branch by running a twice-hourly daytime service. This optimism was, however, to be short lived. From 22 January 1990 the service was reduced to Monday to Friday peak hours and the 1993 timetable shows just one return morning journey with no evening service.

In 1996 Hertfordshire County Council was allowed to break through the embankment short of Croxley Green station to build a new dual carriageway called Ascot Road; this project severed the line just east of the bridge over the River Gade/Grand Union Canal. A temporary bus service was introduced on 24 March 1996 with the intention of reinstating the rail service after the work was completed; this was expected to be about nine months.

In about 1989 London Transport floated the idea of diverting the Metropolitan line away from its remote west Watford terminus and, by means of less than a mile of new alignment, linking up with the Croxley Green branch to gain access to Watford Junction: this eventually became known as the 'Croxley Rail Link'.

In November 2002 it was reported that the branch had been deleted from the Network. From 29 September 2003 the replacement bus service (in practice, a taxi on demand) was withdrawn at the start of the autumn timetable – 71/2 years after the last regular train. In September 2005 all points, signals and associated equipment, including the trailing connection at Watford High Street, were recovered from the branch.  All the track and remaining bridges remained intact.

The Croxley Rail Link in its current form involves the ending of passenger services between Croxley and Watford Underground Station. As this constitutes a proposal to close a route to passenger services, and to close a station, a formal closure process involving London TravelWatch is required. The London TravelWatch Board have set up the Watford Station Closure Panel. The panel held a public meeting in Watford on 14 June 2012. Construction work is expected to start in June 2014 and be finished by January 2016.

When the Croxley Rail Link is built, direct services into Watford Junction from Amersham would also be possible, thus linking the commercial centre of Watford to the new developments in Aylesbury, as well as providing the Chilterns with transport connections, via the Junction, to the North and other destinations.

The Croxley Rail Link will require the construction of the 'missing link' between the existing Metropolitan line and the Croxley Green branch. Under approved plans, the link would begin at a new junction near Baldwins Lane, about a kilometre north-east of Croxley (Metropolitan line) station, and be carried via a new viaduct and bridge over the Watford Road dual carriageway and the Grand Union Canal. This would then join onto the former Croxley Green branch where new double track would be laid on the disused trackbed up to Watford High Street station.

A further proposal is to use an existing but seldom-used chord towards Amersham via Rickmansworth which would allow direct services to and from central Watford, thus improving local public transport in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Under this proposal, Amersham trains would run along an existing viaduct which connects Rickmansworth to the Watford branch of the Metropolitan Line south of Croxley; from there, services would continue along the proposed new viaduct to the Croxley Green branch Line and on to Watford Junction.

For more pictures of Croxley Green and the Watford - Croxley Green branch line see the Abandoned Tube Stations web site.

Click here to see a short film of Croxley Green station

Tickets from Michael Stewart and Brian Halford. Route map drawn by Alan Young. Bradshaw from Nick Catford, Temporary replacement bus timetable Chris Totty. Totem from Richard Furness.

Further reading: West of Watford Goudie F W & Stuckley Douglas - Forge Books 1990

Sources:

• The London Railway Record No. 28 July 2001
• Wikipedia - Various pages (some text copied under creative commons licence
• The Rail Chronology web site. There has been much debate about the closure date of the branch. This web site clarifies the closure process.

To see other Stations on the Croxley Green branch click on the station name: Croxley Green, Watford West & Watford High Street

See also Rickmansworth Church Street
See also Croxley Green triangular junction and depot