From ‘The Hatfield-St Albans Branch of the GNR’ by Roger Taylor and Brian Anderson

Smallford Residents’ Association is celebrating! We have been awarded a substantial ‘All our Stories’ Grant from The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to support an exciting local community project.

Smallford Station opened in 1866, closed in 1951 and will be celebrating its 150th anniversary in 4 years’ time. The ticket office, which is a Grade II Listed Building, stands on private land (owned by a building supplies company, O’Shea’s, who have been very supportive) and, especially given its age, is in remarkably good condition.

The Project will run throughout 2013 (and beyond) with the purpose of –

• researching –

• the history of Smallford Station and the branch line it served – now the Alban Way.
• the impact the station and branch line had on our community and the surrounding area.
• sharing our findings –
  • with our local community
  • exploiting the power of the internet, with individuals, groups and communities far beyond our own!

We are seeking –

• people who would like to get involved in this exciting community project.
• people who recall the station and the branch line when it was operating – as we want to capture their memories.

Contact us for more information

As well as ‘enthusiasts’ (be it for local history or railways, whatever) we want to attract people who have never done anything like this before – and to support this notion we’re setting side over 20% of our grant to provide training – eg on researching, interviewing, making videos, setting up a website; plus we have some funds towards visits – eg to National Railway Museum in York and National Archives in Kew.

We are also discussing two other possible associated projects –

• Bringing Smallford Station to Life – renovating the building and finding a viable use for it.
• Renovating all the platforms along the old branch line – a collaborative project working together with other Residents’ Associations and interested groups along The Alban Way.