Great Northern Branch Lines- Hatfield to Hertford

The Great Northern Railway branch to Hertford, one of three connections emanating from the junction at Hatfield, exuded a bucolic charm which belied its location twenty miles from central London. The terrain traversed was one of rolling Hertfordshire countryside interspersed with landed estates, farms and pleasant rural landscapes. Born by the desire of local landowners and businessmen to provide rail access west of the county town, and connecting with the 1843 Eastern Counties Railway (later Great Eastern Railway) branch from Broxbourne on the Cambridge main line, the initial aim was to join with the nearest point on the GNR main line six miles to the west at a remote junction at Welwyn. Flattered by success, moves were then made to extend the railway and connect with the London & North Western Railway at Dunstable. The GNR management at King's Cross alarmed by the threatened incursion into their territory, absorbed the branch three years later and soon after services were extended to Hatfield.