Nickey line

The Nickey line is a disused railway that once linked the towns of Hemel Hempstead and Harpenden, via Redbourn, in Hertfordshire, England. The former trackbed has been redeveloped as a rail trail and is part of the Oxford to Welwyn Garden City route of the National Cycle Network. It is approximately long.

Toponymy

The origin of the nickname "Nickey line" is shrouded in obscurity. Suggestions include being named after the parish of St Nicholas in Harpenden, through which it runs; Hemel's connection with Nicholas Breakspear; the knickerbockers worn by the navvies who constructed the line; or "down the nick", a slang term of engine drivers which meant "to run out of steam" and may have been applicable on the line's difficult inclines.
The spelling of the line's name is recorded as appearing as "Nickey" on signs and tickets for special trains and in the local press; when the line was converted to a shared-use path, the signs which were erected omitted the "e" in the legend "Nicky Line Footpath and Cycleway". The line is commemorated in the modern Marlowes pedestrianisation scheme by a children's playground train and a sign labelled Nicky Line Halt, though no such named station ever existed.
Another possible origin for the name is that the navvies who constructed the line gave it the nickname as the steep climb from the old A6 road in Harpenden up to the Roundwood Halt is a 1 in 37 gradient, the same as the railway incline called the Lickey Incline south of Birmingham.
The local paper notes that the engines themselves were referred to as "Puffing Annies" by locals, as the climb from the town centre up through Highfield was steep; the engines created much steam and smoke ascending this incline. Older generations in Hemel still refer to the line as the "Puffing Annie", rather than the Nickey line.

Early proposals

In 1837, the London and Birmingham Railway opened the first stretch of the main line from to Birmingham Curzon Street as far as Hemel Hempstead, with the line fully opened as far as Birmingham in 1838. The L&BR's construction had been delayed for several years by vigorous lobbying by a number of powerful and well-connected local landowners, including the eminent surgeon Sir Astley Cooper of Gadebridge House, who were all keen to protect their estates from invasion by the "iron horse". Their campaign was successful and the main line was routed along the River Bulbourne instead of the River Gade, skirting around the edge of Hemel Hempstead. As a result, the railway station serving Hemel Hempstead was built one mile outside the town centre at Boxmoor; Boxmoor and Hemel Hempstead railway station opened in 1837.
The first proposal for a more convenient rail link for the townspeople of Hemel Hempstead was presented in 1862 by John Grover. His proposal was for a short spur from the main line at Boxmoor, following the route of the River Gade to the lower end of the town at Bury Mill End. At the same meeting, another proposal was put forward by a Mr Stocken and a Mr Stallon, extending the line to Redbourn to link to the Great Northern Railway at Harpenden. However, Grover's design found a sponsor and, following an act of Parliament, the ', the and London and North Western Railway Company was formed to construct and operate the line. However, no construction work was undertaken due to difficulties with local landowners and problems agreeing the connection to the main line at Boxmoor; after a number of years of stagnation the earlier proposals were re-examined.
By 1865, the Midland Railway was developing its route out of, opening up new interchange possibilities to the north of Hemel Hempstead. A new railway scheme was put forward by engineers G. W. Hemans and A. Ormsby, which followed the original HH&L&NWR plan as far as Hemel but involved tunnelling under Highfield to connect to the MR at Harpenden, with an option to extend to on the GNR's Hertford, Luton & Dunstable branch. The tunnelling proposals proved to be prohibitively expensive, and further opposition from landowners resulted in the scheme being rejected by Parliament in 1865. With the assistance of Grover, the plans were revised and resubmitted for parliamentary approval which was obtained with the ' being passed. The railway company had meanwhile already commenced construction work in anticipation of approval. The new line was to follow the route authorised in 1863 through Hemel Hempstead and Redbourn, before curving north around Harpenden, crossing the turnpike road and passing under the Midland line to connect with the GNR at Harpenden East, with provision for a spur to connect to the MR line north of Harpenden Central.

Construction and opening

Construction proceeded extremely slowly, the lower spur from Boxmoor to Hemel Hempstead only being completed by 1871, though the connection to Boxmoor was via an awkward turntable arrangement. Eventually, the HH&L&NWR company ran into financial difficulties and it was the Midland Railway that came to the rescue, financing completion of the line and agreeing to operate it once it was built. At this time, the transporting of goods and coal was the primary driving factor in the development of railways rather than commuter rail. The thriving hat making industry in Luton created demand for a transport link with the straw plait trade that existed in Hemel and, as a result, the initial connection with the MR at Harpenden headed north towards Luton rather than south towards London. Passengers travelling on this route changed trains at to reach London. The connection to the GNR's line at Harpenden East was never achieved.
The line was finally opened on 16 July 1877 to great fanfare with celebrations led by the Berkhamsted Rifle Corps Band. A special train was laid on from Hemel to Luton and champagne receptions were held in Luton and Hemel town halls. Church bells were rung and a banner hung across Alexandra Road in Hemel proclaimed "Success to the Hemel Hemptead and Midland Railway Company."
When it opened, the new line did not extend as far as Boxmoor, but terminated in Hemel Hempstead. Relations between the Hemel Hempstead Company and the LNWR were difficult. The LNWR regarded the Hemel Hemptead and Midland Railway route to St Pancras as a threat to their service into Euston. The two companies could not reach an agreement to connect the Nickey line to the LNWR main line because of this intense rivalry. Instead, the southern terminus for the Hemel line was originally , and this served as the main passenger facility within the town. This railway station stood at the junction of Midland Road and Adeyfield Road, opposite the Midland Hotel; today, the site is occupied by a modern housing development, although the hotel still exists.
The section of line south of this remained disused until 1880, when the Midland Railway opened the line to provide coal trains to the Duckhall gasworks near to Boxmoor. A connection was constructed as far as the LNWR sidings at Boxmoor; the Nickey line ran along a cutting, rising up to the main line level and under the northernmost arch of the Roughdown Road bridge. A Midland Railway trespass notice was affixed to this bridge, indicating the limit of extent of the company's property. For a few years, the Nickey Line was connected to the Boxmoor goods yard via a turntable, but the LNWR removed it in 1897, severing the connection with the main line.
Rivalry between the LNWR and the Midland Railway grew intense in the 1880s. On one occasion, when a Midland Railway locomotive entered the LNWR siding at Boxmoor, the track was lifted by angry LNWR workers to prevent it from completing it journey. The LNWR began to operate a regular horse bus service to transport passengers from the town centre to the main line station at Boxmoor, where they could take trains to. These passengers were able to reach London St Pancras more quickly via the Hemel Hempstead Company's line. Competition increased further when the Hemel Hempstead Motor Car Company started to run a motor bus service to Boxmoor, and this was later taken on by the LNWR in place of its equestrian service. In 1906 the Midland Railway extended passenger services along the Nickey line as far as Heath Park Halt, a high-level railway station which was located on a viaduct extending across Marlowes, close to the present-day site of the former Kodak headquarters building. Additional halts were built on the line at Beaumont's Halt and Godwin's Halt.
Eventually, the straw plait trade declined and the need for goods trains gave way to passenger demand; local businessmen wanted a fast route into London without having to go via Luton. In order to help the line pay its way, the junction at Harpenden was realigned in 1888 so that it headed south instead of north; passengers now changed trains at Harpenden Junction.

Stations

The full list of stations on the route is:

Station	Location	Opened	Closed to passengers	Fully closed
		1868	-	-
Roundwood Halt		1927	1947	1979
		1877	1947	1979
Beaumont's Halt		1905	1947	1979
Godwin's Halt		1905	1947	1964
		1877	1947	1963
		1905	1947	1959
Gasworks Siding		1880	-	1959
Boxmoor		1959†	-	-

† Nickey line goods service for 6 months only
Heath Park Halt was the terminus for passenger services, which opened on 9 August 1905. Passenger services were withdrawn 16 June 1947 and the railway station closed with the line in 1959. Nothing of the station now remains, although its site may be seen at the junction of St. John's Road and Corner Hall Road with Station Road. A combined iron drinking fountain and gas lamp still stands near the site of the now demolished Heath Park Hotel, which had stood directly opposite the railway station.