Bushey railway station

Infobox London station
name = Bushey


manager = London Overground
zone = 8
locale = Oxhey
borough = Watford
start = 1841
code = BSH
platforms = 5 (4 operational)
railexits0405 = 0.563
railexits0506 = 0.620
railexits0607 = 0.737

Bushey railway station serves the towns of Bushey and Oxhey. The station was renamed from "Bushey & Oxhey" to "Bushey" on 6 May 1974, even though it is actually sited in the neighbouring town of Oxhey, and the nearest part of Bushey (Bushey Village) is over a mile away. Even so it was late in the 1980s before signage at the station reflected this change.

History

During the war years of 1939-1945 the station was often known as "Ampersand railway station" - this was due to a typically bureaucratic application of emergency regulations. To hinder enemy troops in the event of an invasion it was ordered that all station names should be painted out on station name-boards, and this was interpreted at Bushey & Oxhey to mean the words 'Bushey' and 'Oxhey' but not the '&'. For the duration of the war, therefore, the station proudly bore the designation '&' - a tribute to official thinking everywhere!

The London and Birmingham Railway, the first mainline railway in the United Kingdom, first ran (non-stop) through here on 20 July 1837.

London Underground's Bakerloo Line trains served the station from 16 April 1917 until 24 September 1982.

On 20th April 1980, a high speed train heading for Watford Junction derailed immediately before Bushey station due to a broken weld in the track. The locomotive and first three carriages continued past the viaduct on the other side of the station, but the remaining carriages overturned and brought down the power lines along the platform. In spite of the severity of the derailment, all carriages retained structural integrity and only minor injuries were reported of the passengers.

Over the last 10 years the station has fallen into disrepair with paint flaking from the walls and ceilings and vandalism left unrepaired. More recently the high-speed rail link to London for the Virgin Trains network trains has been the only source of building work to the station, where a storage yard and redundant buildings were converted into a high-voltage substation to supply the significantly higher current required for the new trains.

The high speed trains' last stop before London is either Watford Junction or Milton Keynes.

Upgrade

Starting at the end of November 2007, Transport for London will start to upgrade and update the station.The current phase seems to be re-painting the doors and windows. The signs have been changed to London Overground standards (some are temporary, some are to stay), the underpass has been repainted and the old green and blue railings have been repainted orange.In addition, the alleyway linking the entrance of the station to Kingsfield Road has been upgraded, replacing the repeatedly vandalised wooden fences with new metal fencing. An unused room at the front of the station has been recently converted (Dec 2007) into a shop and newsagents.

ervices

Bushey is on the London Overground "DC lines" between London Euston and Watford Junction and the London Midland services between London and Tring. The platforms for the local DC service are curved away and apart from the mainline route. There are two mainline platforms; one being an island platform between the fast down and the slow up lines, the other serving the slow down line and the station entrance. This means that the fast up line has no platform at Bushey.

For London Overground services, Monday to Saturday daytimes there is a train every 20 minutes calling at all stations to London Euston (southbound) and Watford Junction (northbound). Evenings and Sundays there is a half-hourly service in each direction.

For London Midland services, Monday to Saturday daytimes the half-hourly service to London Euston and Tring stops at Bushey. Evenings the hourly "all stations" Euston - Milton Keynes Central service stop there.

Gallery

External links