The Watford Observer is again delighted to be teaming up with its friends at Watford Museum to take another journey back to the past to recall the key events and dates that helped shape the town’s future.

The 17th part of '50 events and dates that shaped Watford' looks back more than 150 years to the building of a new station in town – Watford Junction.

The museum’s volunteer archivist Christine Orchard said: “Watford's very first station, which was near to where the railway line went under St Albans Road, soon became too small for the numbers of passengers wishing to use it. Expansion was impossible as there was no room to add platforms as the required space was used by the pumping house and machinery.

“In 1858, the branch line to St Albans was almost complete and by 1860, the time of this illustration, the new junction station was built. This is also the time that Station Road would have been constructed. Since that time, Watford's main railway station has grown and further lines added.”

Watford Museum is closed for the festive period and will reopen at 10am on Thursday, January 6.