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Watford: Former Croxley Green branch line railway

The buddleia grows ever denser on the trackbed of this disused railway line, abandoned to nature 12 years before this photograph was taken.

The railway originally formed part of the Watford to Rickmansworth line, opened in 1862, and shortly afterwards taken over by the London & North Western Railway (LNWR). In 1912 the LNWR opened a further branch line to Croxley Green, diverting from the original Rickmansworth branch about 100 metres into what is now the jungle. In 1952 the original Rickmansworth branch was closed, but the Croxley Green branch survived until 1996.

The Croxley Green branch was powered by an electrified third rail, seen on the right side of the running rails in this photograph. This electrification method was, and is, used throughout the suburban network of the former Southern Railway, but its use was very unusual this far north.