Name that line and you could win a weekend break for two.

A British Rail competition asks commuters to invent a new name for the local Watford to Euston line. The most appropriate name will be used for advertising and promotions.

More than £2 million has already been spent on improving stations along the 76-year-old route. New plans include a passenger information system, closed circuit television security and the latest signalling system.

[From the Watford Observer of March 25, 1988]

 

To the gentlemen of British Rail, I wish to raise my hat. Not only have they completed their long-awaited London to Birmingham “rail speed link” but they have celebrated the occasion by publishing a quite remarkable book titled “Traveller’s Guide”.

This is indeed a guide in the very broadest sense. Not only does it (rightly) sing the praise of the new service, but also tells you where you can walk, eat, shop, fish, and watch sport not only in London but at just about every stop along the line to Birmingham.

There is a descriptive and informative breakdown of the major towns on the route, including one on Watford which gives a remarkable number of facts and figures in a very short space.

Another section deals with house prices “up the line” and as you might guess, Watford is listed as the most expensive area. The book’s “House hunter’s guide to prices” shows at a glance that a four-bedroom detached house in Watford will cost from £8,000 to £15,000, whereas a similar shack in Rugby will cost only £5,000.

[From the Watford Observer of March 10, 1967]

 

Spring is in the air – and the first toads have started their yearly dice with death crossing the busy stretch of Hampermill Lane, Oxhey, to get to spawning grounds on the other side.

Nature lover Mrs Janet Potter, of Raglan Gardens, Oxhey, said this week that the 1977 Toad Lift has begun.

The first toads appeared two or three weeks ago which, like last year, is early, and the toads’ most active period, immediately after dusk, coincides with the rush hour. “Their chances of getting safely across Hampermill Lane at this time of day must be almost nil,” she said.

After last year’s appeal in the Watford Observer, Mrs Potter was able to make a list of volunteers willing to assist. So far, no more than 70 toads have been lifted in any evening and regular helpers are coping. If there is a rush – in 1975, for instance, 475 and 436 toads were carried across on two consecutive evenings, the Watford Observer readers who volunteered will be invited to help.

“We don’t do it for fun, because it is really quite terrifying,” she says.

Mrs Potter says helpers are aware they annoy some motorists, but a number stop to inquire what is happening and give encouragement by being sympathetic to the cause.

[From the Watford Observer of March 11, 1977]