DarloRich
Veteran Member
This is a trip report with a difference. This is a write up of a line I use every day: The Marston Vale line. This is the line that runs through Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire between Bletchley and Bedford servicing the communities along the way.
The line is old being built as the Bedford & London & Birmingham Railway in 1846 with an impeccable railway engineering history via George and Robert Stephenson and Thomas Brassey. It is worth thinking about that for a moment: Within 21 years of the first railways in this country even small communities in rural Buckinghamshire had a railway station; such was the pace of advancement and development of the railways during this period. During the construction of the line the London & Birmingham Railway became the London & North Western Railway who took over the running of the line and it has remained an LNW line since then.
The intermediate stations along the line have always been very simple with most best described as halts. There were six when the line opened: Bletchley, Fenny Stratford, Ridgmont, Lidlington, Millbrook and Bedford. In 1905 further stations opened of which Bow Brickhill, Aspley Guise, Stewartby and Kempston Hardwick survive. For most of its life the line terminated at Bedford St Johns, which was not convenient for the main station or onward connections. It was not until 1984 that a passenger link was established to Bedford Midland station. This meant that St Johns had to move location and transform itself into the grotty dump it is today.
Fenny Stratford by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
When they opened several of the stations were staffed and had imposing station houses built to house a station master. These buildings are in the half-timbered Gothic Revival style insisted upon by the 7th Duke of Bedford for stations close to his Woburn Estate. The buildings are Grade II listed and all apart from Kempston Hardwick survive. This one was demolished by a run away brick wagon in the 1960s. However, the station building at Fenny Stratford is, unlike the rest along the line, in poor condition and looks very tatty.
Until relatively recently the line had a distinctive character that would not have been out of place on a preserved railway, slow speed, rural, stations close together, tiny wayside halts, staffed level crossings, mechanical signalling and any number of signal boxes. In 2004 this was all swept away when the line was closed for modernisation. Gone were the semaphores and boxes, crossing gates were replaced with lifting barriers, the platforms at Stewartby, Lidlington and Aspley Guise were moved to stagger the level crossings to ease road traffic flows and the Marston Vale Signalling Centre built at Ridgmont to control the line.
Ridgmont by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
The line has been subject to repeated closure attempts: In 1959 the locals fought off an application by British Railways to withdraw passenger services. BR tried again in 1963 publishing closure plans for the entire Varsity line as faster routes between Oxford & Cambridge via London became available meaning the line was uncompetitive and closure looked certain. The lines between Oxford and Bletchley and Bedford and Cambridge closed in December 1967; somehow, against the odds, the section between Bletchley and Bedford remained open! All the stations became unstaffed and goods services were withdrawn and the line run down.
BR came back in 1972 with another closure notice citing improved road links and better buses (the arguments that had defeated the 1963 assault) and it looked like time was up for the line. Local residents mounted a strong rearguard action and BR blinked.
How, you may ask, did this line survive? Well, there are 2 reasons to my mind: bricks & rubbish. Stewartby was the home to the vast London Brick Company works bisected by the line. At their peak in the mid 70s these works turned out, via the worlds biggest kiln, 738 million bricks a year! Many of these bricks went out by train to feed the London building market and Bletchley kept a number of Class 25s and 31s on hand for this work. These trains could weigh over 1000t and must have been hard work at times for the types twos allocated to haul them. The London trains ended in 1984 and shortly thereafter the trains to Merseyside also stopped bringing to an end the brickliner. Sadly in 2008 the brick works closed as Hanson decided to concentrate brick production on sites near Peterborough.
Oxford to Cambridge Line, train leaving Stewartby brick works photographed from Forders Siding signal box, December 1982 by Chris Hutchinson, on Flickr
NOT MY PICTURE
As the brick trade fell away a new type of freight came into view: Rubbish, lots of rubbish! In 1974 a 20-year contract was signed between the Greater London Council and the London Brick Company for the disposal of the waste form the London Boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest. The contract was big enough that BR felt the line had a future and the threat of closure receded. Daily trains began to operate between Cricklewood and Stewartby bringing up to 1000t of waste a day to the former clay pits for disposal. This traffic came to an end around 2006 and the site is now being redeveloped.
Forder's Siding, Bedfordshire 2001 by wiltssignal, on Flickr
NOT MY PICTURE
Some of the sidings at Forders were used during the WCML rebuild to supply ballast to the work sites on the southern part of the main line which for a few years brought regular bulk ballast trains south from Toton to create a stockpile and loaded engineering trains were sent out via Bletchley. In 2014 trains, a few trains ran to Forders loaded with clay dug out from beneath London as part of the Crossrail excavations, ran to the site so the material could be used to seal the rubbish in place.
Fenny Stratford by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
The line was steam worked by the LNWR, LMS and BR until 1959 when DMUs took over and they have been with us in one form or another since then except for a short period in the late 90s when the service was run by a pair of top and tailed Fragonset Railways class 31s sandwiching a couple of mkiis!
Fragonset-31468-Hydra-BR_D5855-Bletchley-c1999iia by Michael Wadman, on Flickr
NOT MY PICTURE
So what is the line like today? Well, freight wise (once the saviour of the line) we have an empty stone train a couple of times a weak between Bletchley and Peak Forest. The loaded train runs south via the WCML with the empties going north via the Marston Vale line and the Midland. And thats it. We get the odd diversion, stock transfer or test train but nothing regular.
Bow Brickhill by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
Passenger wise London Midland offers an hourly service along the line 6 days a week. There are no trains on Sunday. The timetable is delivered by either a 2 car class 150 or single car class 153 unit with the roughly 17 mile journey taking about 45 minutes. It is a slow, almost tortoise like, journey at times but with 12 stations along the line and an average gap of 1.4 miles between stops you can perhaps see why!
Leaving the dull, windswept and oddly soulless Bletchley station (Bletchley Park, home of the wartime code breaking centre Station X is adjacent to the station - How many of the code breakers journeyed from their universities via this line and what secrets made their way back after the war was won?) from either platform 5 or 6 One day there might be direct trains from the Vale to Milton Keynes but for now a change is required if you want to make the 5 minute journey north.
Bletchley by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
Above us is the 1959 flyover taking the line from Oxford over and around Bletchley station and the WCML. It links with the Marston Vale line just short of Fenny Stratford station. For so long this has been the whitest of white elephants but will be a crucial part in delivering a new railway line and expanded station at Bletchley once East West rail comes to life.
Bletchley by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
We immediately pass the stone terminal on the right and the London Midland carriage sidings on the left.On the left is the former Bletchley depot now used as stabling for track machines and as a base for running in trials for new EMUs, most recently the new units for Gatwick Express, In the past this was once the base of operations for the mainline emus and the diesel units in use on the line. Today the two units needed to work the line for the forthcoming week must travel down from Tyseley in Birmingham on a Sunday afternoon replacing the outgoing pair who return north for a service.
Bletchley by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
In no time we are slowing for the first station at Fenny Stratford just over a mile from Blethcley. This has one platform on a single line, a shelter and the PIS that has recently been installed at all stations along the route. Immediately after the station is the first of many level crossings on the line followed quickly by the bridge over the Grand Union Canal, which, while quiet now was once the high speed line of the past moving goods in bulk from the Midlands to London.
Fenny Stratford by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
Next up is the simple station at Bow Brickhill straddling a level crossing and rubbing shoulders with the neighbouring Red Bull F1 team HQ. I havent seen Daniel Ricciardo on the train yet but it can only be a matter of time as Sebatian Vettel was a regular passenger ( or maybe not!). Next up is Woburn Sands where the impressive station building is now a Costa outlet, followed by Aspley Guise where the smart gothic style station masters house is a private home. By now we are well out into the countryside and some of the villages served by the line seem very small.
Woburn Sands by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
Ridgmont, one of the busiest stations on the line, comes next and is home to the Marston Vale Signalling Centre. It is also adjacent to junction 13 of the M1 and a vast Amazon distribution centre which explains the passenger numbers. The former station house, having fallen in to disrepair, underwent a total refurbishment in 2014 by the Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity with funding from the Railway Heritage Trust. A tea room, gift shop, disabled access and toilets, additional car parking, three small 'start-up' offices and a meeting room have been created and a very good cup of tea served. The former Victorian booking office has been restored as a small heritage centre.
Ridgmont by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
The stop at Liddlington comes quickly and here the station straddles the level crossing. The old platform is clearly visible but was moved to help reduce road delays. We are entering the former brick fields now and Millbrook, which is the 7th station within 10 miles of starting at Bletchley, is our next port of call. In 1999, the low station platforms the last of their type remaining on the line were rebuilt to the standard height but not moved to straddle the crossing as elsewhere. Adjacent to the station is the Millbrook proving ground where 70km of varied road types are available to test new vehicles. It all seems very secret. Except when it is on Top Gear. On the other side of the line, stretching to the next station is the Marston Vale Millennium Country Park and what will one day be the Forest of Marston Vale. This park has been built around the clay pits dug out for bricks which have been turned into lakes and some of the former brick making sites.
Stewartby by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
The next station is Stewartby, once the centre of brick making in the area, where all that remains of the vast brickworks are a few tall chimneys, some cold brick kilns and a lot of cleared industrial wasteland. This station was also the last on the line to be converted to electric lighting, retaining oil lamps until 1981. After the station we pass Forders sidings and the former waste terminal on the left which is silent, over grown and in the process of being returned to nature as another country park. In no time we reach Kempston Hardwick, the quietest station on the line and yet more flooded former clay pits and demolished brick works. On the right, not far away is the Midland main line which is a signal that Bedford is not far away while on the left more distribution warehouses are springing up.
Stewartby by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
After diving under the busy A421, now a dual carriage way which offers journey times between Bedford and Milton Keynes as least twice as quick as the train we enter the outskirts of Bedford before squeaking round the curve into the very simple station at Bedford St Johns. Leaving St Johns we trundle over the Great Ouse and through the carriage sidings before rolling to halt in the short bay platform at Bedford Midland before the crew changes ends and the train heads back the way it came.
Bedford St Johns by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
Although quiet passenger figures on the line have gone up in the 5 years I have been using the line with the 153 now struggling to cope at peak times which are centred around the shift changes at the Amazon distribution warehouse at Ridgmont. Credit for that has to go to the Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership who work tirelessly to promote the line and improve journeys for passengers. London Midland have slowly but surely provided better connections at Bletchley and with housing set to increase rapidly along the line the future bodes well.
Bedford by DarloRich2009, on Flickr
Soon the line will change once again and I thought it might be an idea to capture something of the line before it became part of the modern, fast & electrified East West Varsity line rather than the rural, quiet, out of the way back water it currently is.
The line is old being built as the Bedford & London & Birmingham Railway in 1846 with an impeccable railway engineering history via George and Robert Stephenson and Thomas Brassey. It is worth thinking about that for a moment: Within 21 years of the first railways in this country even small communities in rural Buckinghamshire had a railway station; such was the pace of advancement and development of the railways during this period. During the construction of the line the London & Birmingham Railway became the London & North Western Railway who took over the running of the line and it has remained an LNW line since then.
The intermediate stations along the line have always been very simple with most best described as halts. There were six when the line opened: Bletchley, Fenny Stratford, Ridgmont, Lidlington, Millbrook and Bedford. In 1905 further stations opened of which Bow Brickhill, Aspley Guise, Stewartby and Kempston Hardwick survive. For most of its life the line terminated at Bedford St Johns, which was not convenient for the main station or onward connections. It was not until 1984 that a passenger link was established to Bedford Midland station. This meant that St Johns had to move location and transform itself into the grotty dump it is today.
Fenny Stratford by DarloRich2009, on FlickrWhen they opened several of the stations were staffed and had imposing station houses built to house a station master. These buildings are in the half-timbered Gothic Revival style insisted upon by the 7th Duke of Bedford for stations close to his Woburn Estate. The buildings are Grade II listed and all apart from Kempston Hardwick survive. This one was demolished by a run away brick wagon in the 1960s. However, the station building at Fenny Stratford is, unlike the rest along the line, in poor condition and looks very tatty.
Until relatively recently the line had a distinctive character that would not have been out of place on a preserved railway, slow speed, rural, stations close together, tiny wayside halts, staffed level crossings, mechanical signalling and any number of signal boxes. In 2004 this was all swept away when the line was closed for modernisation. Gone were the semaphores and boxes, crossing gates were replaced with lifting barriers, the platforms at Stewartby, Lidlington and Aspley Guise were moved to stagger the level crossings to ease road traffic flows and the Marston Vale Signalling Centre built at Ridgmont to control the line.
Ridgmont by DarloRich2009, on FlickrThe line has been subject to repeated closure attempts: In 1959 the locals fought off an application by British Railways to withdraw passenger services. BR tried again in 1963 publishing closure plans for the entire Varsity line as faster routes between Oxford & Cambridge via London became available meaning the line was uncompetitive and closure looked certain. The lines between Oxford and Bletchley and Bedford and Cambridge closed in December 1967; somehow, against the odds, the section between Bletchley and Bedford remained open! All the stations became unstaffed and goods services were withdrawn and the line run down.
BR came back in 1972 with another closure notice citing improved road links and better buses (the arguments that had defeated the 1963 assault) and it looked like time was up for the line. Local residents mounted a strong rearguard action and BR blinked.
How, you may ask, did this line survive? Well, there are 2 reasons to my mind: bricks & rubbish. Stewartby was the home to the vast London Brick Company works bisected by the line. At their peak in the mid 70s these works turned out, via the worlds biggest kiln, 738 million bricks a year! Many of these bricks went out by train to feed the London building market and Bletchley kept a number of Class 25s and 31s on hand for this work. These trains could weigh over 1000t and must have been hard work at times for the types twos allocated to haul them. The London trains ended in 1984 and shortly thereafter the trains to Merseyside also stopped bringing to an end the brickliner. Sadly in 2008 the brick works closed as Hanson decided to concentrate brick production on sites near Peterborough.
Oxford to Cambridge Line, train leaving Stewartby brick works photographed from Forders Siding signal box, December 1982 by Chris Hutchinson, on FlickrNOT MY PICTURE
As the brick trade fell away a new type of freight came into view: Rubbish, lots of rubbish! In 1974 a 20-year contract was signed between the Greater London Council and the London Brick Company for the disposal of the waste form the London Boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest. The contract was big enough that BR felt the line had a future and the threat of closure receded. Daily trains began to operate between Cricklewood and Stewartby bringing up to 1000t of waste a day to the former clay pits for disposal. This traffic came to an end around 2006 and the site is now being redeveloped.
Forder's Siding, Bedfordshire 2001 by wiltssignal, on FlickrNOT MY PICTURE
Some of the sidings at Forders were used during the WCML rebuild to supply ballast to the work sites on the southern part of the main line which for a few years brought regular bulk ballast trains south from Toton to create a stockpile and loaded engineering trains were sent out via Bletchley. In 2014 trains, a few trains ran to Forders loaded with clay dug out from beneath London as part of the Crossrail excavations, ran to the site so the material could be used to seal the rubbish in place.
Fenny Stratford by DarloRich2009, on FlickrThe line was steam worked by the LNWR, LMS and BR until 1959 when DMUs took over and they have been with us in one form or another since then except for a short period in the late 90s when the service was run by a pair of top and tailed Fragonset Railways class 31s sandwiching a couple of mkiis!
Fragonset-31468-Hydra-BR_D5855-Bletchley-c1999iia by Michael Wadman, on FlickrNOT MY PICTURE
So what is the line like today? Well, freight wise (once the saviour of the line) we have an empty stone train a couple of times a weak between Bletchley and Peak Forest. The loaded train runs south via the WCML with the empties going north via the Marston Vale line and the Midland. And thats it. We get the odd diversion, stock transfer or test train but nothing regular.
Bow Brickhill by DarloRich2009, on FlickrPassenger wise London Midland offers an hourly service along the line 6 days a week. There are no trains on Sunday. The timetable is delivered by either a 2 car class 150 or single car class 153 unit with the roughly 17 mile journey taking about 45 minutes. It is a slow, almost tortoise like, journey at times but with 12 stations along the line and an average gap of 1.4 miles between stops you can perhaps see why!
Leaving the dull, windswept and oddly soulless Bletchley station (Bletchley Park, home of the wartime code breaking centre Station X is adjacent to the station - How many of the code breakers journeyed from their universities via this line and what secrets made their way back after the war was won?) from either platform 5 or 6 One day there might be direct trains from the Vale to Milton Keynes but for now a change is required if you want to make the 5 minute journey north.
Bletchley by DarloRich2009, on FlickrAbove us is the 1959 flyover taking the line from Oxford over and around Bletchley station and the WCML. It links with the Marston Vale line just short of Fenny Stratford station. For so long this has been the whitest of white elephants but will be a crucial part in delivering a new railway line and expanded station at Bletchley once East West rail comes to life.
Bletchley by DarloRich2009, on FlickrWe immediately pass the stone terminal on the right and the London Midland carriage sidings on the left.On the left is the former Bletchley depot now used as stabling for track machines and as a base for running in trials for new EMUs, most recently the new units for Gatwick Express, In the past this was once the base of operations for the mainline emus and the diesel units in use on the line. Today the two units needed to work the line for the forthcoming week must travel down from Tyseley in Birmingham on a Sunday afternoon replacing the outgoing pair who return north for a service.
Bletchley by DarloRich2009, on FlickrIn no time we are slowing for the first station at Fenny Stratford just over a mile from Blethcley. This has one platform on a single line, a shelter and the PIS that has recently been installed at all stations along the route. Immediately after the station is the first of many level crossings on the line followed quickly by the bridge over the Grand Union Canal, which, while quiet now was once the high speed line of the past moving goods in bulk from the Midlands to London.
Fenny Stratford by DarloRich2009, on FlickrNext up is the simple station at Bow Brickhill straddling a level crossing and rubbing shoulders with the neighbouring Red Bull F1 team HQ. I havent seen Daniel Ricciardo on the train yet but it can only be a matter of time as Sebatian Vettel was a regular passenger ( or maybe not!). Next up is Woburn Sands where the impressive station building is now a Costa outlet, followed by Aspley Guise where the smart gothic style station masters house is a private home. By now we are well out into the countryside and some of the villages served by the line seem very small.
Woburn Sands by DarloRich2009, on FlickrRidgmont, one of the busiest stations on the line, comes next and is home to the Marston Vale Signalling Centre. It is also adjacent to junction 13 of the M1 and a vast Amazon distribution centre which explains the passenger numbers. The former station house, having fallen in to disrepair, underwent a total refurbishment in 2014 by the Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity with funding from the Railway Heritage Trust. A tea room, gift shop, disabled access and toilets, additional car parking, three small 'start-up' offices and a meeting room have been created and a very good cup of tea served. The former Victorian booking office has been restored as a small heritage centre.
Ridgmont by DarloRich2009, on FlickrThe stop at Liddlington comes quickly and here the station straddles the level crossing. The old platform is clearly visible but was moved to help reduce road delays. We are entering the former brick fields now and Millbrook, which is the 7th station within 10 miles of starting at Bletchley, is our next port of call. In 1999, the low station platforms the last of their type remaining on the line were rebuilt to the standard height but not moved to straddle the crossing as elsewhere. Adjacent to the station is the Millbrook proving ground where 70km of varied road types are available to test new vehicles. It all seems very secret. Except when it is on Top Gear. On the other side of the line, stretching to the next station is the Marston Vale Millennium Country Park and what will one day be the Forest of Marston Vale. This park has been built around the clay pits dug out for bricks which have been turned into lakes and some of the former brick making sites.
Stewartby by DarloRich2009, on FlickrThe next station is Stewartby, once the centre of brick making in the area, where all that remains of the vast brickworks are a few tall chimneys, some cold brick kilns and a lot of cleared industrial wasteland. This station was also the last on the line to be converted to electric lighting, retaining oil lamps until 1981. After the station we pass Forders sidings and the former waste terminal on the left which is silent, over grown and in the process of being returned to nature as another country park. In no time we reach Kempston Hardwick, the quietest station on the line and yet more flooded former clay pits and demolished brick works. On the right, not far away is the Midland main line which is a signal that Bedford is not far away while on the left more distribution warehouses are springing up.
Stewartby by DarloRich2009, on Flickr After diving under the busy A421, now a dual carriage way which offers journey times between Bedford and Milton Keynes as least twice as quick as the train we enter the outskirts of Bedford before squeaking round the curve into the very simple station at Bedford St Johns. Leaving St Johns we trundle over the Great Ouse and through the carriage sidings before rolling to halt in the short bay platform at Bedford Midland before the crew changes ends and the train heads back the way it came.
Bedford St Johns by DarloRich2009, on FlickrAlthough quiet passenger figures on the line have gone up in the 5 years I have been using the line with the 153 now struggling to cope at peak times which are centred around the shift changes at the Amazon distribution warehouse at Ridgmont. Credit for that has to go to the Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership who work tirelessly to promote the line and improve journeys for passengers. London Midland have slowly but surely provided better connections at Bletchley and with housing set to increase rapidly along the line the future bodes well.
Bedford by DarloRich2009, on FlickrSoon the line will change once again and I thought it might be an idea to capture something of the line before it became part of the modern, fast & electrified East West Varsity line rather than the rural, quiet, out of the way back water it currently is.
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