Bricket Wood railway station


Bricket Wood railway station is in the village of Bricket Wood, Hertfordshire, England, on the Abbey Line 3¼ miles east of Watford Junction. The station and all trains serving it are operated by London Northwestern Railway and the services operate with a 4 car Class 319.

History

The station once had a crossing loop and a second platform that could accommodate long excursion trains. Many Edwardian families from London came here to enjoy the fresh air, woodland and two large funfairs that once stood nearby.
The station building, long disused, is the only surviving original building on the line. Responsibility for the line, including Bricket Wood, passed in November 2007 from Silverlink to London Midland.
The station was used in the films The Cuckoo Patrol, Victoria the Great, Poison Pen, Double Confession, Night of the Demon, Impact and She'll Have to Go.

Emergency Railway Control Centre

In the 1950s, in response to the threat of Soviet aggression. Plans were prepared for the construction of twenty-five atom-bomb-proof control bunkers outside of expected target areas. Only five were completed and the one at Bricket Wood is situated in the trees between the station and Railway Cottages. It was built in about 1954 to take over the running of the railway network from the London Euston control room in the event of war.
As of 2014 only two were remaining in England. The control centre built at Bricket Wood is a post-war Standard District Control Building Type L built, measuring roughly 11m x 29m. Of reinforced concrete construction, it has a single protected doorway in each of the shorter walls. This would appear to be the sole surviving example of this type in England, one other survives in Scotland at Burntisland.

Services

Trains operate between Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey every 45 minutes in each direction Monday to Saturday, and every hour on Sundays and are operated by London Northwestern Railway.

Future

Installation of Oyster card readers on the stations along the branch is a possibility, although there are other ticketing options too.
Restoration of the crossing loop is being considered by the local authorities and Network Rail, which would facilitate trains running every 30 minutes.