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Sportspace - Hemel Hempstead
 
 
Sunday, 1st August 2010

 
The Nicky Line

A train crosses the Marlowes viaduct
THE Nicky Line Railway, as it became known opened in July 1877 and ran from the centre of Hemel Hempstead through Redbourn to Harpenden where passengers could link up with the main line through Luton to London.
The main railway line we all know today which runs through Boxmoor and on to Berkhamsted, Tring and the Midlands, or to Euston in the opposite direction, had opened in 1837, but the station (in the same place as it is today) was called Boxmoor and was a long way from the town of Hemel Hempstead in an age when there were NO cars or buses.
So lots of local people wanted a better trains service and that's how the Nicky line came about.
It was hoped to link it up to the other line at Boxmoor Station, but that was owned by another company and they would not agree.
The line from Hemel Hempstead began at Heath Park where there was a little station called Heath Park Halt.
The line then crossed Marlowes on a viaduct (bridge) round the back of what is now the Marlowes Shopping Centre to Hemel Hempstead Midland Station.

The Midland Station in Hemel Hempstead - you can see the Midland Hotel in the background
That was opposite the Midland Hotel (pub) which still stands today in Midland Hill.
The hotel was built to serve the railway in 1899.
The line then ran across to what we know today as Highfield, but in those days was all farmland.
In the Highfield area was a little station called Godwins Halt. This was named after a local man who owned land in the area.
The line then ran through what we know as Cupid Green where there were brickworks and on to Redbourn.
The railway continued to be used by both passengers and goods services right through until 1947.
In 1947, the passenger service stopped, but goods traffic continued continued for many years.

The bridge across station road (close to Heath Park Halt.) The picture was taken shortly before the line closed.
The line in the town centre area disappeared as the new town was built in the 1950s and in 1959 the viaduct across Marlowes was knocked down.
For a time in the 1960s the line between Cupid Green and Harpenden was used by the Hemellite company which made building materials at Cupid Green.
Eventually the whole line closed, but it is not forgotten.
It has now been turned into a special walk and many of the old bridges remain - the one across Queensway is probably the best known.
Why is it called the Nicky Line?
A number of reasons have been put forward, but no-one has ever really been able to say their answer is right.
The trains that ran on the line were known around Hemel Hempstead as Puffing Annie!
This was because they produced a lot of smoke as they climbed the hill from the town centre to Highfield and Cupid Green.
YOU can get lots more information from a book called The Harpenden to Hemel Hempstead Railway, The Nicky Line, by Sue and Geoff Woodward.
There is a copy in Hemel Hempstead Library.



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