Notes: The main station building was on the down side and was built in the architectural style of the Bedford & Cambridge Railway, a style which included strong gables in yellow gault brick together with red brick dressings and string courses. As with the other Bedford & Cambridge-built stations with the exception of Potton, the main station comprised a two-storey stationmaster's house with the booking office on the lower floor. There was a single storey wing on the west side which formed and open-fronted shelter with a toilet block with narrow vented windows at its west end. An unusual wooden open-fronted shelter served for passengers on the up platform.

The goods goods yard was also on the down side and to the east of the station. It comprised two sidings one of which passed through a substantial brick goods shed built to a typical LNWR design; this siding terminated behind the down platform. The other siding ran behind the goods pens serving the coal yard. Cattle pens were sited at the east end of the goods shed. Access to the yard was controlled by a signal box sited on the down platform a few yards to the east of the station building. The yard closed on 19 April 1965.

The line retained its LMS 'Hawkseye' signs until closure to passengers in 1968.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE OXFORD - CAMBRIDGE RAILWAY (Bedford - Cambridge section)
The Bedford & Cambridge Railway Bill was put before parliament in 1860 and despite objections from the Eastern Counties Railway the Bill received the Royal Assent on 6th August. As part of the Act, the new Bedford & Cambridgeshire Railway bought out the Sandy & Potton Railway which had opened in 1857 from Sandy to a terminus on Biggleswade Road, Potton.

Work on the line began in April 1861 with the short lived Sandy & Potton Railway closing in December 1861. Much of the route was re-laid and Potton Station was resited close by.

The first train containing directors and shareholders of the company departed from Bedford at 9.04 on 4th July 1862, arriving at Cambridge at 1.30 pm. Three days later the line was officially opened for goods traffic and to passengers on 1st August, finally linking the two university cities of Oxford and Cambridge.

The Bletchley to Bedford line had opened in 1846 and the opening of the Bedford to Cambridge line provided an important cross country link 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.

Intermediate stations were built at Blunham, Potton, Gamlingay, Old North Road & Lords Bridge and a bay was provided at the recently rebuilt Cambridge Station to accommodate the Oxford and Bedford trains. At Sandy the trains from Bedford crossed over the Great Northern line on a lattice bridge running down into the new station which was located alongside the Great Northern station. A new station at Willington was added in 1906 and in 1938 a new halt was opened at Girtford between Blunham & Sandy; this was short lived however closing two years later.

From the offset the train service was run by the London & North Western Railway absorbing the Bedford & Cambridge Railway in July 1865

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 line closed after the last day of service on 30th December 1967 although the section between Bletchley and Bedford remained open.

Sources:

• Oxford to Cambridge Railway (Volume 2 Bletchley - Cambridge) by Bill Simpson - Oxford Publishing Company 1981 ISBN 86093 121 8
• Forgotten Railways - East Anglia by R S. Joby - David & Charles 1975
  ISBN 0 7153 7312 9
  

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 & Lords Bridge
See also The Bedford Railway (stations still open)