Stanmore Branch Line

Stanmore railway station

Stanmore Branch Line
Legend
Watford DC & Bakerloo line | West Coast Main Line Stanmore Village Belmont Harrow & Wealdstone Watford DC & Bakerloo line | West Coast Main Line

The Stanmore Branch Line was a railway line that split off from the West Coast Main Line in Greater London, England. The branch had two stations on the line, Stanmore Village and Belmont (opened later) and the interchange station of Harrow & Wealdstone. It was promoted by local hotel owner Fredrick Gordon and intended to be operated by the LNWR. With a luxury customer base in mind, Stanmore station was elegantly designed to resemble a church.

Opening in 1890, the branch was little-used. While it apparently served a prosperous and developing commuter area, the line did not offer through services to London, having a connection to the main line facing north, away from London and on the other side of the main line to the suburban Watford DC line. As a slow single-track route, it was rapidly outcompeted by buses, other rail routes and especially by the Metropolitan Railway's electrified double-track line to Stanmore which opened in 1932. To arrest the decline, diesel railcar working was attempted and a station opened in Belmont in 1932 to serve local housing. Services to Stanmore were withdrawn in 1952 but goods use and a service from Harrow to Belmont continued until 1964.^[1]

Part of the trackbed is now a footpath.^[2]

References