Ayot Greenway photo gallery

Part of the Lost Rails project

You can view the pictures using the photo gallery below, or click here to launch a slideshow.

Photo:Luton-bound train passing the Welwyn builders' siding, 1959.
Photo:N7 and passenger train approaching Welwyn builders' siding, bunker first, 1959.
Photo:The temporary halt building at Welwyn Garden City between 1920 and 1926, Dunstable train coming in bunker-first.
Photo:The Dunstable train arrived at Welwyn Garden City, 1959.
Photo:N7 locomotive on Luton train at Welwyn Garden City Station in 1959.
Photo:A grimy N7 tank engine with two passenger coaches about to go under the White Bridge behind Welwyn Garden City Campus, 1959.
Photo:N7 tank engines with coal wagons passing through Sherrards Wood on the western outskirts of Welwyn Garden City, 1960s.
Photo:Looking west from Brocks Wood towards the site of Ayot Station, September 2009.
Photo:Trackbed east of Ayot, close to A1 motorway, September 2009.
Photo:Luton-bound passenger train with N7 locomotive, c 1960.
Photo:East-bound N7 tank engine with freight at Ayot c 1960.
Photo:Ayot Station between the Wars.
Photo:Ayot Station burnt down in 1948, and was never rebuilt. Intense heat caused the tracks to buckle.
Photo:A tank engine derailed at Ayot St Peter, 1938.
Photo:Class 20 diesel shunter rescuing a Diesel Multiple Unit at Ayot in January 1963.
Photo:Special excursion train (a preserved GNR saddle tank) at Ayot in March 1962.
Photo:Trackbed looking east (uphill) towards the site of Ayot Station, June 2009.
Photo:Heavily-wooded embankment at Hunters Bridge between Ayot and Wheathampstead, June 2009.
Photo:Hunters Bridge, between Ayot and Wheathampstead, carried a farm track beneath the railway embankment. April 2010.
Photo:Dogs Mercury and ash trees growing on the embankment near Hunters Bridge, between Ayot and Wheathampstead. April 2010.
Photo:Bluebells in Robinson's Wood, between Ayot and Wheathampstead, May 2010.
Photo:N7 tank engine on the London rubbish run at Ayot on its way to Blackbridge Tip outside Wheathampstead, 1959.
Photo:The trackbed seen from Blackbridge Tip, near Wheathampstead, April 2010.
Photo:Blackbridge Tip, near Wheathampstead, with teasel, elder, and nettle. June 2009.
Photo:Blackbridge Tip, near Wheathampstead, with teasel, elder, and nettle. June 2009.
Photo:New planting to screen Blackbridge Tip, near Wheathampstead. June 2009.
Photo:Wheathampstead Station, Great Northern Railway, about 1910, passenger train approaching.
Photo:Passenger training arriving at Wheathampstead, bunker first, in 1959. There was a steep pull up to the station.
Photo:Coming in to Wheathampstead Station, perched above the village, from the west in 1959.
Photo:Wheathampstead Station part-demolished in September 1972.
Photo:Diesel Class 20 shunter with wagons on the Dunstable coal run, Harpenden East, 1966.
Photo:Wheathampstead Goods Yard lay to the west of the station, at a lower level; 1959.
Photo:Derelict line at Harpenden East , early 1966.
Photo:Harpenden East Station in 1966 just before the tracks were lifted.
Photo:N7 tank engine with brake van at Harpenden East Station, 1959
Photo:Harpenden East Station demolished in 1966
Photo:Diesel Multiple Unit [DMU] approaching Harpenden East a few months before the end of passenger services in 1965.
Photo:A Welwyn-bound passenger train passing bunker-first beneath Westfield Bridge, north Harpenden, in the 1930s. This stretch of track is now alongside Beeching Close.
Photo:Diesel recovery unit ready to haul away lifted track sections at East Hyde, May 1966.
Photo:Lifting track sections at East Hyde, north of Harpenden, May 1966.
Photo:Track sections loaded on to wagons at East Hyde, north of Harpenden, May 1966.
Photo:Cleared track at Harpenden East, May 1966.
Photo:Luton Hoo Station, looking east, in the 1950s.
Photo:Luton Hoo Station, early twentieth century
Photo:N7 tank engine with passenger train heading north from Luton Hoo Station, 1959
Photo:Diesel Multiple Unit travelling through Luton Hoo Station on the way to Welwyn just before closure, April 1965.
Photo:Dunstable-bound Diesel Multiple Unit at Luton Hoo, with photographer on platform, in April 1964, a year before closure.
Photo:Train arriving at Dunstable, the northern terminus, in May 1959. The driver returns the token (his authority to drive on the single track) to the signalman.
Photo:Diesel train at East Hyde, 1966.
Photo:Crane for track lifting at Harpenden East, 1966.
Photo:Points approaching Ayot St Lawrence Station, 1959.
Photo:Another view of Luton Hoo station, 1959.
Photo:Luton Hoo station in 1956.
Photo:Train near Harpenden East
Photo:Train at Harpenden East
Photo:Harpenden East signal box.
This gallery was added by N White on 02/03/2011.

Comments about this page

These photos and the interviews with those who remember the line are fascinating. Thank you for taking the time to do this!

By Richard Armstrong
On 14/02/2012

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