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London Road, HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, HP3 9AN

This is the section south of Hemel town centre that tried to make a connection to the LNWR (London Euston to Birmingham line) at Boxmoor but failed. Midland Railway branch from Harpenden. Old retaining wall remains in blue brick are visible here, where the road underbridge straddled the old A41 behind me. It's not a part of the Nickey Trail cycle path from Harpenden; this is an isolated piece of embankment south of the site of Heath Park Halt which was the furthest station of the branch line town station quite close to old and redone Marlowes, and immediately north of the old Hemel to Berkhamsted road just by the present day Aldi. The other end, a hundred metres or so away from here, is isolated by the River Bulbourne. Historic maps 1877 - 1960 on the National Library of Scotland database show the line well; the last map shows the 'Magic Roundabout' superimposed on the line route where there was a viaduct over Marlowes. Land administered by the Boxmoor Trust.

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Situated in Whiteleaf Road HP3 9PH, this bus depot opened in July 1995 replacing the former bus depot at nearby Two Waters, the latter having since been demolished and replaced by the A414 link road. Approximately fifty vehicles are based here running local town services plus those to Aylesbury, Rickmansworth and Watford. It is also responsible for the Green Line 758 service to Central London. A Green Line coach can just be seen parked in the depot yard.

Gas Holder at Two Waters Gas works, Hemel Hempstead.

Anyone driving or walking along London Road in Two Waters might be intrigued by a short length of wooded embankment stretching northwards across Bulborne Meadows from the road towards the town centre of Hemel Hempstead. It is in fact a former railway embankment and one of the few surviving artefacts in Hemel of the former Harpenden to Hemel Hempstead railway line, the so-called Nicky Line. As with many Victorian infill cross country railway lines its history is mired in a morass of land ownership issues, failing companies and takeovers, and rapid changes in demand. Briefly the line was originally built by a company partially owned by the London & North Western Railway (LNWR), linking the LNWR's Boxmoor station (the current Hemel Hempstead station) with Hemel Hempstead town centre and then Harpenden. The line failed commercially and was taken over by the Midland Railway (MR). However the LNWR then did not want the MR taking over their traffic and the connection at Boxmoor was, if not physically disconnected, shall we say "discouraged". Consequently the MR built a station called Heath Park Halt just south of where the Kodak building is now, and this was, for all practical purposes, the end of the MR's passenger route from Harpenden. However this embankment, which is between the former Boxmoor and Heath Park Halt stations, was kept in use by the MR to provide a railway access to the Duckhall gasworks on the south side of London Road. With the coming of the Nationalisation of the railways in 1948 the connection at Boxmoor was formally reinstated, and coal traffic to Duckhall via Boxmoor was reinstated, but the line only survived another 11 years before being dismantled.

Looking towards London Road.

Something of a misnomer, as the Gade no longer joins the Bulbourne here. It flows into the grand Union Canal about 200 metres North of here Image This water meadow acts as a flood plain for the Bulbourne and one of the drainage channels under the main road can be seen to right of the road sign.

The gasometer was repainted in 2007 after complaints that it looked rusty and was an eyesore. The "Kodak Tower", now converted into apartments is in the background.

Looking across to a bus stop.