Bushey railway station

Bushey railway station serves the towns of Bushey and Oxhey and is situated on the Watford DC Line, 8 km (5 miles) north of Harrow & Wealdstone. The station was renamed from "Bushey & Oxhey" to "Bushey" on 6 May 1974, even though it is actually sited in the neighbouring town of Oxhey, and the nearest part of Bushey (Bushey Village) is over a mile away. Even so it was late in the 1980s before signage at the station reflected this change.

History
During the war years of 1939-1945 the station was often known as "Ampersand railway station" - this was due to a typically bureaucratic application of emergency regulations. To hinder enemy troops in the event of an invasion it was ordered that all station names should be painted out on station name-boards, and this was interpreted at Bushey & Oxhey to mean the words 'Bushey' and 'Oxhey' but not the '&'. For the duration of the war, therefore, the station proudly bore the designation '&' - a tribute to official thinking everywhere!

The London and Birmingham Railway, the first mainline railway in the United Kingdom, first ran (non-stop) through here on 20 July 1837.

London Underground's Bakerloo Line trains served the station from 16 April 1917 until 24 September 1982.

On 20 April 1980, a passenger train heading for Bletchley derailed immediately before Bushey station after hitting track maintenance machinery. The leading bogie of the Class 310 EMU derailed, but the train remained upright and damage was slight. One member of the track maintenance team sustained a broken pelvis.

More recently the high-speed rail link to London for the Virgin Trains network trains has been the only source of building work to the station, where a storage yard and redundant buildings were converted into a high-voltage substation to supply the significantly higher current required for the new trains.

The high speed trains' last stop before London is either Watford Junction or Milton Keynes.

Upgrade
Starting at the end of November 2007, Transport for London began upgrading and updating the station. The current phase seems to be re-painting the doors and windows. The signs have been changed to London Overground standards (allegedly "temporary" (see Gallery), as at other Overgound stations), the underpass has been repainted and the old green and blue railings have been repainted orange. In addition, the alleyway linking the entrance of the station to Kingsfield Road has been upgraded, replacing the repeatedly vandalised wooden fences with new metal fencing. The bicycle shed at the front of the station has been recently converted (Dec 2007) into a shop and newsagents. Also as of 2009 London Overground are operating their new trains on this service which led to much excitement among Rail enthusiasts.

Services
Bushey is on the London Overground "DC lines" between London Euston and Watford Junction and the London Midland services between London and Tring. The platforms for the local DC service are curved away and apart from the mainline route. There are three mainline platforms; two forming an island platform between the fast up and the slow down lines, the other serving the slow up line. This means that the fast down line has no platform at Bushey, though there are remnants visible.

For London Overground services, Monday to Saturday daytimes there is a train every 20 minutes calling at all stations to London Euston (southbound) and Watford Junction (northbound). Evenings and Sundays there is a half-hourly service in each direction.

For London Midland services, Monday to Saturday daytimes the half-hourly service to London Euston and Tring stops at Bushey. Evenings the hourly "all stations" Euston - Milton Keynes Central services stop here.

Transport links
London buses route 142, 258 and other routes.