It would be great to see the same views in present day and compare!

I remember a few families that used cine film,it looked like a hell of a lot of work but the results are solid gold! Thanks 👍

My mum lived opposite hill end station during the war. The Germans tried to bomb the nearby de Havilland factory but couldn't get close so they dropped their bomb on the railway. Direct hit. Mum heard the whistle as it came down but it failed to detonate.

DORLING KINDERSLEY DK EYEWITNESS GUIDES Book of TRAIN. In association with THE NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM.

Keep off the tracks.

Wish it was still here running

Excellent stuff. Trying to pick out where the fiddlebridge sidings are in the film. My friend has a business on the industrial units that are there now, would be interesting to see a then and now shot

Ah Mick if ourfella was there he would consider it Heaven 🙏 .

Didn't realise there was a line there until I noticed the old bridge beside the realigned A1, prior to the tunnel.

I traversed this branch on 12th March 1961 behind an LMS 2P on a Branch Line Soc. railtour. St.Pancras-Rickmansworth (Church Street)-Watford Jct.-St.Albans Abbey-Hatfield-St.Pancras. Just occasionally I can glimpse the bridge that the line went under (the old A1) on my left at Hatfield as I am about to go under the Galleria heading north on the modern A1.

Remember the line well... Happy days...

loving the woman pushing he pram on the road with no stuffs given, as it should be!

What a wonderful film, that child was like myself fascinated by the railway and wanting to touch everything. No health & safety - and no one got hurt, trespass on the railway - shock, horror! No harm done though. And although the "Cold war" was at its highest, you could walk along the track in peace, no muggings, no stabbings, a time of respect and common sense. I suppose you have to be of a certain age to appreciate it? If the line had stayed open think how many car journeys it would save. I think Beeching was a "Yes man" for Ernest Marples - his "Joey", Marples was the transport owner who stood to gain the most.

Fascinating viewing. I lived in this area for many years. Seeing what has been achieved with the Watford- St Albans branch it's hard to justify the closure.Thanks for uploading.

Why was this work taking place? I hope the platform wasn't damaged in any way!!

All in the name of `PROFIT`GREED and the government of the day`s excuse...the motor car? This was the main reason most of the branch lines were removed. In them destructive day`s,there was little long term thinking...it was all about putting the car/Motorway`s and removing anything that was deemed what the public wanted. The lunatics were running the asylum then..and still are today??

Do you have the complete film?.

Why the hell did they shut this down ??So short sighted wouldnt take much to put a track on it again perhaps an electric tram would be so useful and traffic cutting . Not a Eastern European in sight glory days indeed.

Great to see this line again. I remember as a child going from Wood Green station (or possibly Finsbury Park) through to St Albans London Road station on this line. It would of been about 1962/63 i think, although the line had been shut for passenger use for some time, they introduced passenger trains again for a short period around that time.......thats how i remember it.

This video for information for me. There is even a porters cabin still standing.

This took me back - a young boy happily exploring a branch line in its last months. I was doing exactly the same thing at the same time albeit 100 miles further north on the GNR Horncastle Branch in Lincolnshire.

I wish the Hatfield to St Albans was still there.

Me and my boy regulary ride on our bikes along here from Hatfield Ground lane to the very end near Verulam St Albans. Still has the existing tunnels and near to the end one of the stations is still there as a nursery school. Its a good ride or walk on a sunny day. There is even a porters cabin still standing.