Trains at Tring, WCML | 18/11/17

A wet and chilly visit to Tring station on the West Coast Mainline after spending around a hour and a half on Saturday November 18th 2017
Tring info:
Tring railway station is 1.5 miles outside the small town of Tring, close to the Grand Union Canal and actually nearer the village of Aldbury in Hertfordshire, England. The former Royal Station Hotel and Restaurant has been converted into residential accommodation and beyond that is a small collection of houses, some modern, including a terrace of former LNWR railway cottages. Situated on the West Coast Main Line, the station is now an important marshalling point for commuter trains from here for most stations to London Euston.
There are five full length (12-car) platforms, with one side platform and two islands. To the east of the station are some south facing sidings connecting to the slow lines. Platforms 1 & 2 are the fast-line platforms, platforms 3 & 5 are the slow-line platforms and platform 4 is a platform used by starting and terminating services to/from Euston and additional through trains southbound.
History:
Tring station was opened by the London and Birmingham Railway on 16 October 1837 when the L&BR extended its line out of London beyond Boxmoor to Tring. The first train to Tring ran from Primrose Hill at 9:00 am on 16 October 1837, reaching Tring at 10:10 am. On 15 November 1844, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made their first train journey north from Euston, reaching Tring in 52 minutes where the train stopped to take on water. Despite rain, the appearance of the royal train attracted crowds of farm labourers and local children, to the Queen's delight. It is reported the after this stop, Victoria asked that the speed of her train be reduced.
The L&BR was constructed by the railway engineer Robert Stephenson. He originally planned a route which would have taken the new railway to the east of Tring, but vociferous opposition from influential local landowners such as the Earl of Essex, Earl of Clarendon, Lord Brownlow and Sir Astley Cooper delayed the project and forced the route to be changed before parliamentary approval could be obtained, with the result that Tring railway station had to be sited some distance from the town. The remote location of Tring station is sometimes wrongly attributed to objections which were said to have been made by Lord Rothschild to protect his land in Tring; in fact, Lord Rothschild was not born until 1840, three years after the railway had opened and the Tring lands were only acquired by his father Lionel in 1872. He did, however, object to a much later plan to build a steam tramway between Tring Station and Aylesbury. Tring station's distance from the town would have been greater had the L&BR placed the station at Pitstone Green, some 3 miles further north, as it originally planned to do. The preferred location at Pendley required purchasing land from the Comte d’Harcourt, another landowner reluctant to admit the railways to his estate, and he demanded such an exorbitant price that the L&BR selected a cheaper but less convenient plot of land. The townspeople of Tring were so enthusiastic for a railway that in 1837 they raised funds to bridge the difference in price between what the Company was prepared to pay and the price demanded by the Harcourt estate. They also supported the construction of a new road to the station and according to the 1839 issue of the Railway Times, "As soon as the Company had determined upon making it a first class station (where every train stops), the inhabitants came forward in a very spirited manner, and at their own expense formed a new road direct to the town".
Services:
The typical off-peak services in each direction are:
Mondays-Saturdays
3 trains per hour to London Euston, of which:
1 is fast, calling at Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead and Watford Junction only.
1 is semi-fast calling at Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, Apsley, Kings Langley, Watford Junction, Bushey and Harrow and Wealdstone.
1 is slow calling at Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, Apsley, Kings Langley, Watford Junction, Bushey, Harrow & Wealdstone and Wembley Central.
1 train per hour to East Croydon, calling at Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, Watford Junction, Harrow and Wealdstone, Wembley Central, Shepherd's Bush, Kensington Olympia, West Brompton, Imperial Wharf, Clapham Junction, then all stations to East Croydon with occasional extensions to South Croydon.
2 trains per hour to Milton Keynes Central, of which 1 calls at Cheddington, Leighton Buzzard and Bletchley. The other service stops at Leighton Buzzard and Bletchley.
Sundays
2 trains per hour to Euston, one calls at Berkhamsted, Hemel Hempstead, Watford Junction and Harrow and Wealdstone, whilst the other service calls at Berkhamstead, Hemel Hempstead, Apsley, Kings Langley, Watford Junction, Bushey and Harrow and Wealdstone.
1 train per hour to Milton Keynes Central, calling at Cheddington, Leighton Buzzard and Bletchley.