Harpenden railway station

National Rail station in Hertfordshire, England

Harpenden

Facing South from platform 1 (Southbound) at Harpenden

General information
Location| Harpenden, City of St Albans
Coordinates| 51°48′54″N 0°21′07″W﻿ / ﻿51.815°N 0.352°W﻿ / 51.815; -0.352
Grid reference| TL137142
Managed by| Thameslink
Platforms| 4
Construction
Accessible| Yes
Other information
Station code| HPD
Classification| DfT category D
Key dates
1868| Opened

Location

Harpenden

Location within Hertfordshire

Harpenden station at night

Harpenden railway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving the town of Harpenden, Hertfordshire. It is 24 miles 51 chains (39.7 km) down the line from London St Pancras and is situated between St Albans City to the south and Luton Airport Parkway to the north. Its three-letter station code is HPD.

The station is served by Govia Thameslink-operated trains on the Thameslink route.

## History

[edit]

Harpenden was the second station built in the town, by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St. Pancras. Nothing remains of the original station buildings. Although located on Station Road, the road is actually named after the first station, Harpenden East, which was built in 1860 and closed in 1965.

A branch line, built by the Hemel Hempstead Railway Company in 1877, known as the Nickey Line but operated by the Midland, formerly diverged from the main line north of the station. The intention had been to meet the LNWR at Boxmoor, but the section from Hemel Hempstead never had a passenger service. In 1886, a south curve was added to the junction allowing passengers to join the London trains at Harpenden rather than Luton.[1] The branch was closed in 1979, but the route remains in use as a cycleway, passing under the M1 in a tunnel.

A row of five brick built former coal merchant's offices along the station approach are now used as small retail and office units.

### Stationmasters

[edit]

Alfred King, station master from 1920 to 1927, committed suicide at age 53 on 29 March 1927 by lying on the rails in front of an express train. The inquest found that he had been suffering from depression and delusions for a long time.[2]

* Joseph Vizall Bendall 1870 - 1872[3] (formerly station master at Ketton, afterwards station master at Cheltenham)
* George Salmon 1872 - 1899[4] (formerly station master at Irchester)
* Horace E. Horne 1899 - 1907[4] (afterwards station master at Cheltenham)
* E. Jones 1907 - 1920[5] (formerly station master at Higham Ferrers, afterwards station master at St Albans)
* Alfred John King 1920[6] \- 1927[2] (formerly station master at Raunds and Olney)
* E. Goode until 1932
* F.C. Cooper 1932 - 1942[7] (afterwards station master at Bath)

## Facilities

[edit]

The station has toilets, a newsagent, dry cleaner, taxi office and rank, and a coffee shop.

The station also has ticket machines on both sides of the station.

The station has a PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together for a cheaper price.

All four platforms have been extended to support 12-carriage trains, as part of the Thameslink programme; this also required the widening of a road bridge. Work on these started on 21 November 2010 and was completed in May 2011.[8] The construction of a new footbridge, with lifts for disabled access, has been completed and links up all four platforms. and[9] The east side of the station (platform 1 side) has two entrances, both with ticket gates to ease congestion during peak times. The west side entrance is where the ticket office is located, but it also has ticket machines.

An extra deck of parking spaces is planned to be built on top of the existing east side car park. When completed, it will add an extra 200 parking spaces.[10]

## Services

[edit]

### Service history

[edit]

#### 2006/07 services

[edit]

The typical off-peak service pattern saw six trains per hour in each direction, operated by First Capital Connect. Four of these were fast trains between Bedford and Brighton, via King's Cross Thameslink station in central London and Gatwick Airport. The remaining two trains called at all stations between Luton and Sutton (in South London).

#### December 2007

[edit]

Following the closure of King's Cross Thameslink station, trains on the Thameslink route now operate between Bedford, Luton, Sutton and Brighton calling at the new low level platforms at St Pancras.

#### 2009

[edit]

From March 2009, First Capital Connect, in partnership with Southeastern, began running a Luton-Sevenoaks service, which called at Harpenden.

### Current Services

[edit]

All services at Harpenden are operated by Thameslink using Class 700 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[11]

* 6 tph to Luton of which 4 continue to Bedford
* 2 tph to Brighton
* 2 tph to Three Bridges via Redhill
* 2 tph to Rainham via Dartford

During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services to and from Orpington and East Grinstead.

The station is also served by a half-hourly night service between Bedford and Three Bridges on Sunday to Friday nights.

Preceding station  |  National Rail | Following station

|
|

Luton Airport Parkway

| | Thameslink

Thameslink

| |

St Albans City

| Disused railways  |

Roundwood Halt

Line and station closed

| | Midland Railway

Nickey Line

| | Terminus

## Gallery

[edit]

Panorama of Harpenden station from north end of platform 1 during the day

Panorama of Harpenden station from south end of platform 1 at night

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Radford, B., (1983) Midland Line Memories: a Pictorial History of the Midland Railway Main Line Between London (St Pancras) & Derby London: Bloomsbury Books
2. ^ a b "Stationmasters' Suicide". Northampton Mercury. England. 1 April 1927. Retrieved 6 March 2021 - via British Newspaper Archive.
3. ^ "1871-1879 Coaching". Midland Railway Operating, Traffic and Coaching Depts: 566. 1871. Retrieved 6 March 2021.
4. ^ a b "1899-1908 Coaching; Piece 1027". Midland Railway Operating, Traffic and Coaching Depts: 733. 1899. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
5. ^ "Country Notes". Northampton Mercury. England. 18 June 1920. Retrieved 6 March 2021 - via British Newspaper Archive.
6. ^ "M.R. Station Staff Changes". Derby Daily Telegraph. England. 21 May 1920. Retrieved 6 March 2021 - via British Newspaper Archive.
7. ^ "Bath's New L.M.S. Stationmaster". Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette. England. 3 October 1942. Retrieved 6 March 2021 - via British Newspaper Archive.
8. ^ "Better security for Harpenden station - Media centre - News | First Capital Connect". Archived from the original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 1 January 2011.
9. ^ "London to Bedford - new stations, longer platforms - Thameslink Programme". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2010.
10. ^ White, Debbie. "Extra deck planned for Harpenden station car park".
11. ^ Table 52 National Rail timetable, May 2022

## Sources

[edit]

* Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Harpenden railway station.

* Train times and station information for Harpenden railway station from National Rail

* v
* t
* e

Railway stations in Hertfordshire

Abbey line|

* St Albans Abbey
* Park Street
* How Wood
* Bricket Wood
* Garston
* Watford North
* Watford Junction

East Coast Main Line|

* (from Edinburgh Waverley)
* Hitchin
* Stevenage
* Knebworth
* Welwyn North
* Welwyn Garden City
* Hatfield
* Welham Green
* Brookmans Park
* Potters Bar
* (to London King's Cross)

Hertford East branch line|

* Hertford East
* Ware
* St Margarets
* Rye House
* Broxbourne

Hertford Loop Line|

* Stevenage
* Watton-at-Stone
* Hertford North
* Bayford
* Cuffley
* (to Moorgate)

Cambridge line|

* (from Cambridge)
* Royston
* (Ashwell and Morden)
* Baldock
* Letchworth Garden City
* Hitchin

Lea Valley lines|

| Cheshunt via Southbury|

* (from London Liverpool Street)
* Theobalds Grove
* Cheshunt

|

Hertford East via Tottenham Hale|

* (from London Liverpool Street)
* Waltham Cross
* Cheshunt
* Broxbourne
* Rye House
* St Margarets
* Ware
* Hertford East

London–Aylesbury line|

* (from London Marylebone)
* Moor Park
* Rickmansworth
* Chorleywood
* (to Aylesbury Vale Parkway)

Thameslink|

* (from Bedford)
* Harpenden
* St Albans City
* Radlett
* Elstree & Borehamwood
* (to Brighton)

Watford DC line|

* Watford Junction
* Watford High Street
* Bushey
* Carpenders Park
* (to London Euston)

West Anglia Main Line|

* (from Cambridge)
* Bishop's Stortford
* Sawbridgeworth
* (Harlow Mill
* Harlow Town
* Roydon)
* Broxbourne
* Cheshunt
* (to London Liverpool Street)

West Coast Main Line|

* (from London Euston)
* Bushey
* Watford Junction
* Apsley
* Kings Langley
* Hemel Hempstead
* Berkhamsted
* Tring
* (to Glasgow Central)

* v
* t
* e

Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Southeastern routes

Thameslink and Great Northern routes serving this station

Thameslink
Bedford to Brighton|

* Bedford
* (Wixams planned)
* Flitwick
* Harlington
* Leagrave
* Luton
* Luton Airport Parkway
* Harpenden
* St Albans City
* West Hampstead Thameslink
* St Pancras International
* Farringdon
* City Thameslink
* London Blackfriars
* Elephant & Castle
* Loughborough Junction
* Herne Hill
* Tulse Hill
* London Bridge
* East Croydon
* Redhill
* Gatwick Airport
* Three Bridges
* Balcombe
* Haywards Heath
* Wivelsfield
* Burgess Hill
* Hassocks
* Preston Park
* Brighton

Stations in italics are served on limited occasions, at peak hours or on Sundays only.

* Govia
* National Rail
* Thameslink
* Great Northern
* Southeastern
* Southern
* Gatwick Express

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