BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BEDFORD
RAILWAY
A group of local businessmen first promoted a line to Bedford
in 1844. The proposal was supported by engineer George Stephenson.
A public meeting was held on 23rd April 1844 where there was some
discussion about where the line should form a junction with the
London & Birmingham. Stephenson was keen that the junction
should be at Bletchley and although there was spirited opposition
his proposal was eventually accepted.
A prospectus for the Bedford & London & Birmingham Railway
was drawn up on 28th May 1844, with the engineers being named
as George and Robert Stephenson. When complete the line was to
be worked by the London & Birmingham Railway. Work on the
line started on 13th December 1945 and was completed in September
1846
During the construction of the Bedford line, the London &
Birmingham Railway amalgamated with the Grand Junction Railway
to form the London & North Western Railway who took over the
running of the line.
Intermediate stations from Bletchley were Fenny Stratford, Ridgmont,
Lillington and Manston (later renamed Millbrook). The line opened
on 18th November 1846; the line from Oxford - Bletchley opened
on 20th May 1851. The final link from Bedford to Cambridge opened
on 7th July 1862 provided an important cross country line between
Oxford and Cambridge forming one of the few east-west routes,
with the capability of reaching the east coast ports. Most services
however ran from Oxford to Bletchley and from Bletchley to Cambridge.
The Second World War intensified traffic on the line like never
before. With the return of peace and the nationalisation of the
run down railway network the newly formed British Railways board
was looking to close unprofitable lines.
In 1955 The Railway Modernisation Plan proposed improvements
in cross country facilities between Oxford and Cambridge with
the aim of maintaining a link between the major main line railways
outside the congested Greater London area thereby allowing freight
traffic to be transferred between three railway regions and easing
the burden on London marshaling yards. Within a few years the
policy changed and the line was not upgraded with the Bletchley
flyover remaining as a monument to the fruitless proposal.
An attempt was made to close the Oxford - Bletchley - Cambridge
line in 1959 but local pressure succeeded in winning a reprieve.
There was some relief when Dr. Beeching did not include the cross
country Oxford to Cambridge line in his closure proposals in 1963
but just one year later, the British Railways Board published
closure plans for the whole route. The introduction of new diesel
trains in the 1960's allowed British Railways to run much faster
trains and the need for a cross country service declined as passengers
found it quicker to travel from Oxford to Cambridge via London.
The lines between Oxford and Bletchley and Bedford and Cambridge
closed after the last day of service on 30th December 1967 although
the section between Bletchley and Bedford remained open although
downgraded.
All the stations lost their goods and parcels facilities and every
station became an unstaffed halt from 15th July 1968. It wasn't
long before closure was once again proposed and it was announced
that the remaining section of the Oxford - Cambridge route would
close in October 1972. There were numerous objections to the closure
which was postponed until a suitable replacement bus service could
be introduced. Once this was in place closure was announced for
31st December 1972.
The Bedford Rail Users' Association was formed to fight the closure
and the opposition was so strong that British Rail was forced
to postpone once again pending an appeal by local groups. At this
time government think on rail closures was changing with the government
offering a grant towards maintaining the service. With the development
of the new town of Milton Keynes the line began attracting new
customers.
In 1973 a 20 year contract between the Greater London Council
and the London Brick Company assured the lines future. The contract
was worth £10m to British Rail who began operating block
trains between new sidings at Stewartby and a new handling depot
at Hendon.
The following pictures were all taken in December 1967, a week
before closure of the Oxford - Bletchley and Bedford - Cambridge
lines. There are no photographs of Bow Brickhill Halt and Aspley
Guise.
To see stations on the Bedford Railway between Bletchley and Bedford (The Marston Vale Line) click on the station name:
Fenny Stratford, Bow Brickhill, Woburn Sands, Aspley Guise, Husborne Crawley (Closed), Ridgmont, Lidlington, Millbrook, Stewartby, Wooton Broadmead (Closed), Kempston Hardwick & Kempston & Elstow
To see the other
stations on the Oxford - Cambridge line click on the station name:
Oxford Rewley Road, Port
Meadow Halt, Wolvercote
Halt, Oxford
Road Halt, Islip,
Oddington
Halt, Charlton
Halt, Wendlebury
Halt, Bicester
London Road, Launton,
Marsh
Gibbon & Poundon, Claydon,
Verney
Junction, Winslow,
Swanbourne,
Bedford
St. Johns, Willington,
Blunham,
Girtford
Halt, Sandy,
Potton,
Gamlingay,
Old North
Road & Lords
Bridge
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