Seven participants met at Hitchin station for a visit to local sites of pre-grouping interest. Some were also 'grouping' prior to the evening DLR tour and had taken part in our 'Achilles Heel Trekker' (BLN 1260.1288) the previous day. The Great Northern (GNR) Hitchin station OP 7 Aug 1850. The Royston & Hitchin Railway opened 21 Oct 1850 and the Leicester & Hitchin (later the Midland Railway) on 7 May 1857. The station was extensively rebuilt in 1910/11 but some of the 1850 original survives at the country end of P1 where the platform is noticeably lower. This building is the refreshment room and gents (separate entrances, honest!).

The site of the steam shed (open from 1850 to 1961) was seen at P1 London end. The area behind it was earmarked for a new locomotive works to supplement/replace that at Doncaster! This project was abandoned on the outbreak of WWI (Hitchin Pacifics would not have sounded sound quite right!) and the area is now a housing estate. The locations of the former engineers' yard and three signal boxes (Hitchin South, Hitchin Yard and Cambridge Junction) were also pointed out. Outside the station, two GNR manhole covers were noted, as were Station Terrace (formerly Great Northern Cottages, erected 1850 for railway workers), Bytham Bank (Station Master's house - 1910) and The Bungalow (formerly the Platform Master's house). The sites of the chalk quarry and sidings south of the station (Down side) and the coal bins and siding occupied by the approach road to the car park were pointed out. A short bus ride took the party to Ickleford village where the MR embankment, now mostly a nature reserve, was followed to the former GN & Midland Junction with the ECML. The MR Bedford route CP from 1 Jan 1962 and CA (Hitchin to Shefford) 30 Dec 1963. Gerry's Hole was noted (a borrow pit where one 'Gerry' fell in and drowned on his way back to Letchworth from one of the pubs in Ickleford). The walk passed close to the new flyover (OP June 2013) which cuts into the Midland embankment.

Almost opposite to and east of the junction with the Midland stood the Hitchin Greystone lime works and associated quarry. Opened before 1880 they closed in the late 1950s; its short standard gauge branch joined the main line just north of Cambridge Jn (formerly Shepreth Branch Jn). The quarry and lime works site is now a scrap yard with light industry. The branch alignment was traced to the abutments of the former bridge over the river Hiz and to its connection with the main line.

Returning to the station area, the MR 'Midland Cottages' erected in 1857 for railway workers were seen. Nos 1-6, 7a and 8-12 are original; the others are modern but in the same style. The Midland locomotive shed site (14H, later 14A, opened 1857 closed 1920) and now occupied by McDonald's was noted. Next, was the former Hitchin diesel depot (34D) (1961 to 1973). Opposite are the very attractive Midland weighbridge and its office. The status of the weighbridge mechanism is unknown and, although the building has seen better days, it is within the conservation area and moves are afoot possibly to apply for listing. The two-storey building next is the former Great Northern goods warehouse, erected in the 1890s and still in use by NR. Thanks to local member Bill Davis for organising a most interesting fixture. More information on the area can be found here.