*Christmas Special Countdown Day 5* - Trains at Watford Junction, WCML, 30/10/25

Watford Junction is a railway station that serves Watford, Hertfordshire. The station is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), 17 miles 34 chains from London Euston and the Abbey Line, a branch line to St Albans. Journeys to London take between 16 and 52 minutes depending on the service used: shorter times on fast non-stop trains and slower on the stopping Watford DC line services. Trains also run to Clapham Junction and East Croydon via the West London Line. The station is a major hub for local bus services and the connecting station for buses to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter. The station is located north of a viaduct over the Colne valley and immediately south of Watford Tunnel.

The first railway station to open in Watford was situated on the north side of St Albans Road, approximately 200 metres (220 yd) further up the line from the present-day station. This small, single-storey red-brick building was built 1836-7 when the first section of the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was opened between London and Boxmoor. The station provided first and second-class waiting rooms, a departure yard, a carriage shed and engine house. The platforms were situated in a deep cutting which was accessed via a staircase. In its 21 years of operation it also served as a station for royalty; in the short period when the Dowager Queen Adelaide was resident at Cassiobury House (c.1846-49), this station was remodelled to provide her with a royal waiting room, and it was also reportedly used by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on a trip to visit Sir Robert Peel in November 1843, when they travelled by road from Windsor Castle to take a train from Watford to Tamworth. The old station closed when it was replaced by a new, larger station, which opened on 5 May 1858. The new Watford Junction station was located south of St Albans Road in order to accommodate the newly constructed branch line to St Albans. The junction station was rebuilt in 1909, and was extensively redeveloped in the 1980s. The Grade-II-listed Old Station House still stands at 147A St Albans Road, a rare surviving example of architecture from the beginning of the railway age, and today the building is occupied by a second-hand car dealership.

The Bakerloo line was extended to Watford Junction in 1917, giving a shared service north of Willesden Junction with the main line electric trains which served Euston and Broad Street stations. However, since 1982 Hmmm the line north of Harrow & Wealdstone has only been served by what is now the London Overground service from Euston station; this service uses these DC lines for its "all stations" local service.

Oyster Card capability was extended to this station on 11 November 2007 on both the London Overground and Southern. It was extended to London Midland services on 18 November 2007. However, the station is outside London fare zones 1–9 and special fares apply.

With the electrification of the entire West London Line in the 1990s, it became practical to run services from Watford Junction to Clapham Junction, allowing passengers to cross London without changing trains. Southern rail operated an hourly service from Milton Keynes, now starting from Watford Junction, to East Croydon with connections to Brighton and Gatwick.

Duration of the video: 12:30 - 15:08

We’ll be seeing services by Avanti West Coast, London Northwestern Railway, London Overground, Southern and freight as well.

I hope you enjoyed this video if you did smash that like button and don’t forget to subscribe for more upcoming videos and feel free to leave any comments or recommendations of stations that you would like for me to do in the comments below as I’ll try respond back to them as soon as possible.

It’s been at least a few months since I last did any train spotting sessions at Watford Junction however it’s always a nice station to come to plus it was quite a bonus that there was quite a lot of London Northwestern Railway & West Midlands Railway 730’s in passenger service along with seeing quite a fair amount of freight as well which is always good to have.

My next station will be Bromley South which is situated on the Southeastern Mainline it’s been quite a long time since I did any train spotting there but hopefully it’ll be a good station to come back and revisit so until then thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.