18 Mar 2025
St Albans’ Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership will be joining national celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway, one of Britain’s great
contributions to the world.
Railway 200 commemorates the opening of the world’s first permanent steam locomotive railway – The Stockton and Darlington Railway in North-East England – with railways across the country taking part in the initiative.
The Abbey Line, which was the original rail link into St Albans from George Stephenson’s line at Watford, will be celebrating the occasion with a range of activities and events.
The first of these is the ‘Abbey Line Tales’ project, which will be collecting feelgood stories and images about the Line. These might include memories from the ‘good ol’ days’, or present day tales and people’s hopes for the future.
Contributions will be shared on the web, on social media, at events and at the Abbey Line stations from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey. Email nfo@abbeylinecommunityrail.org.uk to submit your tale or find out more.
The Partnership is also promoting their newly-produced video short about the Abbey Line – or Abbey Flyer as it is commonly known.
St Albans-based film producer, Julie d’Adamo, whose career involves filming major sporting events across the world, has put together the video.
She said: “It is always a pleasure to support local community groups with their creative ambitions. I hope this film helps to spread the word about the Line and the great work that the Community Rail Partnership is doing with local communities.”
The film will be shown before some of the main feature films at the Odyssey Cinema during Community Rail Week (19-25 May) or viewed below:
Later on in the year, the Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership will be attending Bricket Wood’s Armed Forces Day and the Cottonmill Gathering in St Albans. As well as promoting the Line, local walks and sustainable travel, the Partnership is sponsoring the North London Society of Model Engineers’ miniature locomotive for everyone to ride-on for free!
Partnership officer Kate Swindells said: “We are so excited to celebrate Railway 200 with passengers that already use the Abbey Line, and people in the surrounding communities. We want to convince more people to ‘GoGreenByTrain’, and give the Abbey Line a go.”
