never built Toddington station?

Hi all,

A few old locals from thee village seem to recollect some planning of a station to be built from many years ago in the village of Toddington Bedfordshire, the main road through the village is called station road with another road known as "the sidings" which was as says on the tin, where I am told the sidings were going to be.

I have had no luck at finding info on this but would love to hear how and where it would of fitted in, as Harlington is close by, between Bedford and Luton on the Midland Main Line. I can only think if this was real it would have taken Harlington of the map.

any kind of response is appreciated whether how big or small you believe it is, I'm interested.

Old OS maps, for example https://maps.nls.uk/view/101568482 show the present Station Road was called "Tanners End" in the 1880s through until at least the 1940s. Was it simply renamed "Station Road" to remove the name of a not too pleasant industrial trade and because it leads to Harlington Road and the station there?
I can't imagine after WW2 there could have been any plan to build a railway there with oncoming nationalisation and other factors.

John Webb said:

Old OS maps, for example https://maps.nls.uk/view/101568482 show the present Station Road was called "Tanners End" in the 1880s through until at least the 1940s. Was it simply renamed "Station Road" to remove the name of a not too pleasant industrial trade and because it leads to Harlington Road and the station there?
I can't imagine after WW2 there could have been any plan to build a railway there with oncoming nationalisation and other factors.

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I can’t imagine it myself.. I thought it was strange.. thanks for the comment mate

Ladder23 said:

I can’t imagine it myself.. I thought it was strange.. thanks for the comment mate

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My pleasure. Does Toddington have a Local History Society? If it does, it may be worth seeking them out.
Looking at the OS Explorer 193 map (Luton and Stevenage) Toddington appears from the contours to be perched on a hill; I would have thought getting a railway line close to it would have been very awkward.

I lived in Toddington for almost 25 years, and commuted from Harlington.

While I can't remember the source now, I recall reading that the Midland Railway originally hoped to route the line through Toddington rather than the smaller settlement of Harlington, but landowners were far more willing to negotiate on the route via Harlington. It's unlikely that a line would ever have been engineered through the centre of the village, and the alignment north from Sundon would most likely have been close to what is now the northbound carriageway of the M1