Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway and LO Trains at Watford Junction on July 29th 2021

Описание: 1st visit to Watford Junction on the West Coast Main Line, Abbey Line and the Watford DC Lines via Watford High Street featuring Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway, London Overground and some freight.

Watford Junction is a busy interchange for the Watford DC Lines terminating here as well as the Abbey Line to St Albans Abbey as well as a bus interchange include for buses to the Warne Bro's Studio in Leavesden.

The station first opened as just plain Watford in 1837 although located 200 metres of the north of today's station. It was renamed in 1858 when Watford became Watford Junction and was re-sited to today's location and was rebuilt in 1909.

The location of the station sits between Watford South Tunnel to the North of the station whilst south is a viaduct which the WCML crosses over the Colne Valley.

The Watford DC Lines head away from the WCML between here and Bushey via Watford High Street which is located which opened in 1862.

From 1st October 1917 the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway now known as the Bakerloo Line began running beyond Queens Park from Elephant and Castle however overtime passenger numbers did begin to decline. In 1964 Bakerloo services to Watford were cut back to 4 trains Monday to Friday Morning and Evening Peak Hours.

in September 1982 all Bakerloo Line services were withdrawn north of Stonebridge Park and it wasn't until June 1984 when a Weekday service got restored to Harrow & Wealdstone although it would be 5 years later when a full 7 day a week service was restored.

When Bakerloo line trains did run to Watford they along with the DC lines trains were maintained at Croxley Green Depot which closed on September 2nd 1985 with the branch itself closing for good in 1996. Nowadays Bakerloo Line trains main depot is at Stonebridge Park opened in April 1979 whilst the DC Lines are maintained at Willesden TMD.

Today stopping services North of Harrow & Wealdstone and Watford junction the DC Lines are now occupied by London Overground Class 710s and occasionally Class 378s although the latter's main stay is nowadays on the North and East London Lines.

There been plans to extend the Metropolitan line from Croxley to Watford Junction however spiralling costs it’s unlikely to happen for the foreseeable future.

Avanti West Coast mostly formed of Class 221 Voyagers and Class 390 Pendolinos mostly run non stop through here although occasional services throughout the day call either on Platform 6 to Pick up passengers only or Platform 7 for set down only. Although Class 390s are undergoing major overhauls at Longsight Depot in Widnes with it being carried out by Alstom.

The Class 221 Voyagers retain the tilting system although they are due to be moved elsewhere in a few years being replaced by Class 805 and 807s built by Hitachi at Newton Aycliffe, Durham however due to cracks being found on the IETs on Great Western Railway and some Azumas on LNER in May 2021 which led to all Hitachi Intercity trains on GWR, LNER, Transpennine Express and Hull Trains being withdrawn although it was over a week before services were gradually restored.

At the time of filming a repair programme was underway however it remains unknown how long the repair programme will take and the knock on effect it could have for the building of the Class 805s and 807s

The 805s and 807s will be used for services to North Wales via Chester to Llaunduno, Wrexham General and Holyhead as well as Liverpool Lime Street with the Class 390s being used for Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow Central.

London Northwestern Railway at present majority operate Class 350s with most stopping services to Tring, Milton Keynes Central, Northampton calling here except for services to Crewe and Birmingham New Street non stopping.

Hourly service is provided on the Abbey line to St Albans Abbey to and from Watford Junction either by a Class 350 or in recent years by Class 319s however the Class 319s were in their last months of operation on the line with some being converted for use as mail trains or being scrapped.

Southern services normally provide by Class 377s to and from East Croydon to Milton Keynes Central and occasionally terminate at Watford Junction and are maintained at Selhurst T&R.S.M.D.

On the morning of filming St Albans Abbey services were cancelled due to a train fault and also not forgetting to mention as well Southern services to and from East Croydon weren't running either due to shortage of train crew.

In hard times with a lot of uncertainty of the future however Watford Junction reputation of being a busy station of Watford still lives up to it's reputation as a major hub.

#avantiwestcoast #londonnorthwesternrailway #londonoverground #watfordjunctionstation #watford #westcoastmainline

Featuring
Alex's Trains

Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS

Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
   • JJD - Adventure | Glitch Hop | NCS - Copyr...  

Filmed on Thursday July 29th 2021 on iPhone 11 and edited on iMovie