A walk from Welwyn Garden City to Luton in 1969
Posted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 8:13 am
This is a companion piece to the walk that i made between Hertford & Welwyn Garden City in 1969/70. I walked this branch again in the company of the same friend of mine that i had walked the Hertford branch with before. We started the walk from Welwyn Garden City and walked towards Luton and possibly back again but it was 41 years ago so some of it's abit hazy?. The first thing i should mention is that parts of the branch still had stretches of railway line layed along it in places and the occasional train ran such as between Welwyn Garden City and Blackbridge sidings and also on the Midland region section on the approach to Luton, through Luton Bute street station and onwards towards Dunstable. We joined the line at a place in Welwyn Garden City just slightly outside the town centre called the 'white bridge' which i think is on the Digswell road. We made our way down the railway embankment and onto the single track line, i guess we were trespassing because old cast iron LNER trespass notice boards were still visable in places.
We started walking towards Luton mindful of the fact that the occasional Ashburton Grove to Blackbridge sidings rubbish train or the return empties back to Ashburton Grove did occasionally run along this stretch of the line. A short time after setting off from the white bridge and walking through a wooded section of the line on a rising gradient we arrived at Ayot where Ayot station once stood and believe it or not the old Ayot signal box was still standing!. Ayot signal box was of course closed & redundent by this time and several of the window sashes were missing but other than that the old signal box looked in good condition. I think i recall that the lever frame had been taken out but the empty block shelf was still there minus the track diagram of course. The signal box was situated in a 'very pretty' area on the up side of the line heading towards Welwyn Garden City and painted in a grey'ish colour with green lining out around the window frames, staircase and door. Standing on the signal box veranda there was very nice views of open country/farm land with woods in the middle distance towards the north and north west that i can recall. There use to be a passing loop at Ayot s/box at onetime but since the signal box had closed in January 1966 the passing loop line had been taken out completely and the p.w. had 'plain lined' it so it was just a single line passed the old s/box. The other memorable thing about Ayot was that there was two 'tall LNER concrete signal posts' still standing up around where the motorway (A1 motorway) crossed the railway. I believe that these two signal posts may have carried Ayot's up starting signal towards Welwyn Garden City and his down home signal from Welwyn Garden City at the point where the loop would have begun. After leaving Ayot s/box and Ayot behind us and walking westward towards Luton the line curved away towards the Blackbridge sidings direction through pretty countryside on either side of the railway line but to be honest i can't remember anymore about the walk (even passing through Harpenden station which i think by 1969 may have been built over and was then a housing estate?) until we had passed through Luton Hoo and was on the approaches to Luton town. On the outskirts to Luton Town we passed the Vauxhall sidings which were part of the Vauxhall motor car works (railway line under our feet again) and passed Luton East s/box which by this time had been reduced in status from a s/box to a 'ground frame' that was only opened when required and which worked a crossover and a set of points with a connection to the Midland main line a short distance away at Luton South s/box. Luton East s/box was a BR London Midand region design s/box with a flat roof and painted in BR London Midland region colours. From Luton East s/box we continued on a short way passing through Luton Bute street station and where Luton Yard s/box once stood (which i think had been flattend and made into a car park?) and on passed the site of Luton West s/box which wasn't there anymore unfortunetly. We continued walking on a bit further passed Chaul End level crossing with the single line railway stretching westwards before us towards Dunstable but stopped shortly after Chaul End level crossing and decided to 'call it a day' as the afternoon was wearing on and we had to get back to Welwyn Garden City. I think we walked all the way back to Welwyn Garden City where we had started the walk from but i don't really remember the walk back?. For me the area around Ayot signal box was the most interesting part of the line because it was the 'first' signal box that i had ever been in even though it was closed & redundent. Micky (a former resident of Welwyn Garden City in the 1960s & 70s). *** If you are interested seeing a picture of Ayot signal box if you type in 'Ayot signal box' and click on P1 there amongst some of the pictures of Ayot village is a picture of the signal box. The texts says 1970 and it still shows the 'loop line' so i think the person who's taken these pictures may have got his dates wrong?.
We started walking towards Luton mindful of the fact that the occasional Ashburton Grove to Blackbridge sidings rubbish train or the return empties back to Ashburton Grove did occasionally run along this stretch of the line. A short time after setting off from the white bridge and walking through a wooded section of the line on a rising gradient we arrived at Ayot where Ayot station once stood and believe it or not the old Ayot signal box was still standing!. Ayot signal box was of course closed & redundent by this time and several of the window sashes were missing but other than that the old signal box looked in good condition. I think i recall that the lever frame had been taken out but the empty block shelf was still there minus the track diagram of course. The signal box was situated in a 'very pretty' area on the up side of the line heading towards Welwyn Garden City and painted in a grey'ish colour with green lining out around the window frames, staircase and door. Standing on the signal box veranda there was very nice views of open country/farm land with woods in the middle distance towards the north and north west that i can recall. There use to be a passing loop at Ayot s/box at onetime but since the signal box had closed in January 1966 the passing loop line had been taken out completely and the p.w. had 'plain lined' it so it was just a single line passed the old s/box. The other memorable thing about Ayot was that there was two 'tall LNER concrete signal posts' still standing up around where the motorway (A1 motorway) crossed the railway. I believe that these two signal posts may have carried Ayot's up starting signal towards Welwyn Garden City and his down home signal from Welwyn Garden City at the point where the loop would have begun. After leaving Ayot s/box and Ayot behind us and walking westward towards Luton the line curved away towards the Blackbridge sidings direction through pretty countryside on either side of the railway line but to be honest i can't remember anymore about the walk (even passing through Harpenden station which i think by 1969 may have been built over and was then a housing estate?) until we had passed through Luton Hoo and was on the approaches to Luton town. On the outskirts to Luton Town we passed the Vauxhall sidings which were part of the Vauxhall motor car works (railway line under our feet again) and passed Luton East s/box which by this time had been reduced in status from a s/box to a 'ground frame' that was only opened when required and which worked a crossover and a set of points with a connection to the Midland main line a short distance away at Luton South s/box. Luton East s/box was a BR London Midand region design s/box with a flat roof and painted in BR London Midland region colours. From Luton East s/box we continued on a short way passing through Luton Bute street station and where Luton Yard s/box once stood (which i think had been flattend and made into a car park?) and on passed the site of Luton West s/box which wasn't there anymore unfortunetly. We continued walking on a bit further passed Chaul End level crossing with the single line railway stretching westwards before us towards Dunstable but stopped shortly after Chaul End level crossing and decided to 'call it a day' as the afternoon was wearing on and we had to get back to Welwyn Garden City. I think we walked all the way back to Welwyn Garden City where we had started the walk from but i don't really remember the walk back?. For me the area around Ayot signal box was the most interesting part of the line because it was the 'first' signal box that i had ever been in even though it was closed & redundent. Micky (a former resident of Welwyn Garden City in the 1960s & 70s). *** If you are interested seeing a picture of Ayot signal box if you type in 'Ayot signal box' and click on P1 there amongst some of the pictures of Ayot village is a picture of the signal box. The texts says 1970 and it still shows the 'loop line' so i think the person who's taken these pictures may have got his dates wrong?.