The End of the Line

Tim Edwin, Dave Walsh and Chris Whittle share their memories of the Nicky Line and Heath Park Halt

By Liz Warriner

Cotterells Siding
Three Box Moor Trust volunteers talk about their memories
Cotterells siding c1949
HALS
Heath Park Halt with Cotterells in the background
Dacorum Heritage Trust
The destruction of the arch
Unknown
The Waggon and Horses with rubble.
unknown
Nearly Gone
unknown
Early 20th Century picture of mill on Cotterells
Dacorum Heritage Trust

Tim Edwin, Dave Walsh and Chris Whittle are all long time residents of Hemel Hempstead who volunteer for the Box Moor Trust. We interviewed them together at the Box Moor Trust HQ. Many thanks to them for the use of their facilities.

Cotterells Siding

Tim and Dave describe the way across the river from the rail track that ran along Cotterells.

Tim: “my mother went down (Charles Street) on her bike, her brakes failed and she ended up actually on the Nicky Line”.

The Embankment and Heath Park Halt

The trio reminisce about the train and the embankment, and the mischief that Tim got up to.

Chris “my father would help my grandfather set up the magistrates court and I would be taken to the swings, which were in the playing fields”

The End of the Line

Dave and Tim talk about how the line was removed and the destruction of the Marlowes bridge on 3rd July 1960.

Dave: “They closed the road, and there there was, ooh, two or three hundred people there outside the Waggon and Horses. Watching it. And  they kept swinging this ball, and it didn’t work. How they got it down I don’t know but, I know we were there for a couple of hours.”

Downloads
This page was added on 26/02/2016.

Add your comment about this page

Your email address will not be published.

  • Hi, The colour picture above belongs to me. I have the 35mm slide of it. I put it on HHR sometime ago someone must have lifted it. I entered it again last weekend un der a comment someone made above the destruction of the viaduct. I don’t mind it being shown. Alan Barrett

    By alan barrett (29/12/2017)