The Lengthy One, The 321 - Five

Watford to Uxbridge.

This blog was composed on Wednesday afternoon after a truly bloggable outing on Llew Jones service 19 from Llandudno (blog to follow next week). 

For all sorts of reasons it was somewhat tiring, so fbb is creating this post with eyelids "virtually" propped open with a couple of memory sticks.

And a reminder that our 2024 321 terminates at Watford Hospital and we need to change to a 322 which has come through from Hemel Hempstead.

But the 1977 service 321 ran all the way to Uxbridge also calling at ...

 Watford Junction Station

Once upon a time it looked like this! 

Next it called at

Watford Market Place

... which we met in yesterday's blog. Note that today's 322 is timed at Market Street.

Unlike at St Albans where City station did not get a mention in 1977, there are time points for ...

Croxley Green Station

Once a reasonably well built edifice ...

... it ended up very sad indeed.

The line's final fling was one solitary bus jouyrey in each direction.

Ten years after closure, evidence still remained.

Once the line offered a proper service in association with the branch to Rickmansworth Church Street which closed in 1952. 

Blow is an over enlarged extract from the above. It shows a service too erratic to encourage passenger use!

Both were electrified as for the Watford electrics from Euston. Here a pre-BR Oerlikon set at Croxley Geen ...

And a similar unit at Rickmansworth Church Street.

It is worth noting that in the fbb extract from the 1977 timetable (above bordered in green) London's county buses ran every 10 minutes between Garston garage and Rickmansworth. This heady headway was on a Saturday, back in the day when Saturday was busier than Monday to Friday. Even during the week the "local" frequency was every 15.

Why catch an erratic train service when your bus is reliable, far more frequent and cheaper?

Back to Croxley ...

Croxley Station

(also shown on the map above) was, and still is, on the Metropolitan branch to Watford. It hasn't changed much since 1977.

Rickmansworth Station

Here Met trains are joined by National Rail in the form of Chiltern Trains.

Berry Lane Estate

Quite a complicated route, running frequently in 1977 but at an unbalanced twice an hour today (see timetable extract above), the Rickmansworth 321 had its own dinky turning circle now used by Arriva's 322.

And there is today's 322 doing it!

Maple Cross The Cross

Recently, it was just a pub that may have had a more ancient historical existence. Now divided into private dwellings, It is on the main road, and in 1977 was served by the half hourly 321s to Uxbridge plus the hourly terminating journeys.

These hourly "shorts", like today's terminating equivalents, simply served a small loop in the estate with their time point on a road called Downings Wood ...

... where, hit news, a brand new "rustic" people shelter has recently been installed.

Sweet!

As previously explained, the only realistic service now running south from Maple Cross is the limited stop route 724. Like its 321 chum, this serves Denham Station ...

.. on the Chiltern Line of National Rail, one stop on from the end of the Central underground line at West Ruislip.

The old 321 terminated at Uxbridge with its Metropolitan and Piccadilly line services.

No doubt somebody will know the correct dates when the 321 was withdrawn south of Maple Cross.

And we should not leave this topic without wondering whatever happened to the plan to re-open the Croxley Green branch by diverting all (or in later proposals,  some) of the Metropolitan line trains into Watford Junction.

It seem that Herfordshire lost their bottle and couldn't find enough money!

Here concludes the 321 blog series - or does it? Yesterday, fbb received more information from correspondent Julian which will need a proper ponder.

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 13th September