Watford and Rickmansworth Railway
Watford and Rickmansworth Railway
The Watford and Rickmansworth Railway (W&RR) was a short standard‑gauge line in Hertfordshire, England, running about 4.5 miles from Watford to Rickmansworth. It was created in 1860 by Lord Robert Grosvenor, 1st Baron Ebury, and opened in 1862. The line was nicknamed the Ebury Line.
An ambitious plan to extend the line from Rickmansworth to Uxbridge, joining the Great Western Railway, never happened after funding was withdrawn. The W&RR faced financial problems and had to issue more shares in 1863.
From the start, the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) operated the line and shared a portion of the earnings with the W&RR. To improve finances, the company opened freight branches to serve Dickinson’s paper mills at Croxley Green and warehouses near Watford High Street. The line also carried watercress from the River Gade to Watford Market, which gave the trains the nickname “Watercress Trains.”
In 1881 the W&RR was absorbed by the LNWR due to ongoing financial difficulties. In the early 1900s, competition from London's Metropolitan Railway grew. In 1908 the LNWR began building a new branch to Croxley Green, including a bridge over the Grand Junction Canal. A new route from Croxley Green to London Euston opened in 1913, giving direct rail access from Croxley Green to the LNWR network.
Electric services began on 16 April 1917, using tube stock operated by the London Electric Railway running from Queen’s Park to Watford. A daily service followed in 1919. The Croxley Green branch was electrified in 1922, and Rickmansworth joined in 1927 as part of the LNWR’s New Line project. In 1923 the line became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). The electric trains on the line were nicknamed “watercress trains” because of the watercress carried from the Chess Valley.
Despite electrification, traffic declined as the Metropolitan offered faster services and buses and cars became common. Passenger services on the Rickmansworth branch ended in 1952. Goods services on Church Street continued until 1967, and the line was shortened to Croxley Green, with the branch finally closing in 1996. The track was removed and most stations were demolished, though part of the route survives as the Ebury Way Cycle Path.
In 2010 the Department for Transport proposed the Croxley Rail Link to reconnect Watford Junction to the Metropolitan line by reopening part of the Croxley branch with two new Tube stations. The plan was cancelled in 2018 due to funding problems.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 17:48 (CET).