Station Name: BANBURY MERTON STREET

[Source: Nick Catford]


One of the two railcars, judging by the size of the brake it is M79900, stands at Banbury Merton Street after arrival from Buckingham or beyond sometime in the late 1950s. The tail lamp is yet to be moved to the other end and the destination blind still shows 'Banbury' but the open doors and portable steps tell us arrival was a few minutes before the photograph was taken. The driver is still in what was, upon arrival, the leading cab and it would seem he is talking to the man on the platform whilst glancing towards the camera. The LMS 'Hawkeye' nameboards on the platform announced 'Banbury (Merton Street)' but the full name was never applied to DMU destination blinds and indeed it would have been difficult to do so without making the font very small or using an abbreviation. It did not matter of course, as it is most unlikely anybody would have taken 'Banbury' on the destination blinds to mean Banbury General which in any case was adjacent. The passengers using Banbury Merton Street and stations along the way were perhaps fortunate the line did not fall victim to 4-wheel diesel railbuses although it very nearly did. The reason why it did not can be determined from the details of M79900/1 given elsewhere; to recap briefly the small brake compartment of M79900 had proved inadequate, resulting in provision of a larger brake in M79901 therefore provision of capacity for parcels, sundries and so on was necessary. Railbuses would not have provided this capacity and especially on what was then the secondary main line between Verney Junction and Bletchley.
Photo from John Mann collection


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