Edwin_m Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 The original route is also severed by a rowing lake east of Bedford. It also did quite a good job of missing all sizeable centres of population between Bedford and Cambridge, so some way of picking up Luton or Stevenage would be good (and also improve ECML interchange). To my mind there seems little point in building a new route into Cambridge when the Royston line would have enough capacity. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chris p bacon Posted March 9, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 9, 2014 Interesting. I though a lot of the route east of Bedford had been built on but a quick look at google maps shows that its only in Sandy and Potton, although there are quite a few houses there on the old trackbed. I know I live in Sandy. still plenty of room North of the town. A junction there and then on the Up to Hitchin with a reversal onto the Cambridge branch, for West bound a service could access the down platform at Hitchin by running wrong line over the new flyover (bi- directional signalling?) then North. Just a thought..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chris p bacon Posted March 9, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 9, 2014 The original route is also severed by a rowing lake east of Bedford. There is no rowing lake. Just a pipedream for the 2012 olympics, all the area has become landfill and the trackbed is still there as route 51 cycleway from Bedford to Sandy. No population but it is the shortest and easiest way to cross from the existing route to the ECML with a slight deviation near Blunham. The villages of Willington and Blunham would be a hotbed of protest though, as they were when it was mooted about 10 years ago. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 Thanks Dave (Chris) - I assumed it had happened as there was so much hoo-ha about it a few years back. By hosting the rowing instead, maybe Eton College has done a public service! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold chris p bacon Posted March 9, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 9, 2014 Thanks Dave (Chris) - I assumed it had happened as there was so much hoo-ha about it a few years back. By hosting the rowing instead, maybe Eton College has done a public service! Yes it was in the local rag (Beds on Sunday) week after week, I think it was more to do with stopping the railway ever being returned by some local Councillors rather than actually rowing. From Bedford St Johns there is nothing actually blocking the old trackbed until you get to Blunham where there is a small development of houses on the line and yard, after that the trackbed has become a road where it passes under the A1 and from then on it is blocked by housing (1990) and a school (1976) part of the embankment to carry it up and over the ECML is still there although breached in a couple of places. It was kept as a noise barrier between housing and the Industrial estate. That part of the route is a no go but there is still plenty of open farm land north of the town should the route be considered. From Sandy the route through Potton, Gamlingay and Lords Bridge makes no sense.....although I wish I had a time machine........ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ess1uk Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 plans for a 125mph electric railway now being talked about. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 By 2017 trains will be running Oxford to MK and Aylesbury to MK by 2019 it will be electrified and linking up with the Midland MM there will be new services offering a wide range of destinations from the south to the north.Frieght and cross country will provide regular services plus commuter services all adding up to a useful link taking pressure off other lines.Pity they did not do this twenty years ago but local government and the DFT are not known for speed are they! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 To my mind there seems little point in building a new route into Cambridge when the Royston line would have enough capacity. Shepreth Branch Junction into Cambridge is already at full capacity. Something would need to be done there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 (edited) There appears to be room to build a third track on the west side from Shepreth Branch up to where the double track expands into three or four on the approaches to Cambridge. At least that was so until someone built a bridge over it, only wide enough for two tracks! Or possibly two bridges, the second one is too new to appear on Bing angled view and I can't see underneath it on aerial. [bangs head against wall] Edited May 23, 2014 by Edwin_m Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted May 23, 2014 Share Posted May 23, 2014 I blame the bloke who lifted the last bit of the Oxford - Cambridge up to Long Road Bridge... Oh hang on that was me.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LNERGE Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 I think it was 2000. It was donated by Railtrack and we took it out by rail to the Mid Norfolk Railway in think four train loads. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher125 Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 (edited) plans for a 125mph electric railway now being talked about. Interesting - the last I saw East West Rail was being designed for 100mph, where has 125mph been mentioned? Chris Edited May 24, 2014 by Christopher125 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 Network Rail said that the speed when electrified will be 125mph but they will have to have a big publicity campaign to advise the locals as they have got used to no trains and one station in private hands is very close to the line. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike morley Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 Swanbourne station, a handful of miles west of Bletchley, snapped on a cycle ride to Quainton Road's Gala on the fourth of this month. Not too long ago the track had disappeared completely beneath the undergrowth and trees, some of which had become quite sizeable. The vegetation has been cut back to the level in the foreground along all the readily accessible bits of the Bletchley - Winslow section, which probably means its been done along the entire section. I used to be Porkies postman and it was at least three, probably over four years ago that . . . would it have been Network Rail or Railtrack employees that long ago? were working their way along the houses that backed onto the line, delivering leaflets warning residents that work was about to begin on clearing the line prior to restoring it to useable condition. Its nice to see that some progress has finally been made. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium jjb1970 Posted May 24, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 24, 2014 This is a terrific development for me as clearly as a MK resident I'll be one of the prime beneficiaries and it'll open up days out in Oxford by train. Oxford is a lovely place but I find going by car a pain, it'll be so much nicer to go by train. Also it opens up the possibility of a viable alternative rail route to London when the WCML has problems. Yes, I know there is the Marston Vale line over to Bedford and then MML to London but whenever I've tried that it has been painful. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Pannier Tank Posted May 24, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 24, 2014 Swanbourne station, a handful of miles west of Bletchley, snapped on a cycle ride to Quainton Road's Gala on the fourth of this month. I last stood on Swanbourne's platform on 17th October 1964 having travelled in on South Midlands Railtour; happy memories.... http://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/60s/641017lc.html 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike morley Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 (edited) I moved to Bletchley in the late 80's and soon after arriving found my new boss was a fellow railway enthusiast who was actively involved in the efforts to re-open the Bletchley-Oxford line. He took me to a meeting in Winslow village hall where someone from Network SouthEast(?) was the main speaker and very good he was, too. It was made clear that there was no problem with the principal of restoring passenger traffic to the line, but he also made it quite clear (without ever quite stating it so bluntly) that the line was already so close to full capacity with the freight traffic that in those days was still using the line that it would be extremely difficult find paths for any passenger trains. Despite that, they managed to find a path for a Marylebone to Milton Keynes Christmas Shoppers Special along the line (I've never seen so many pheasants in my life!) and another, rather more intriguing train that resulted in my parents arriving for a visit one weekend with the news that a pannier tank that could only have come from Quainton Road was sizzling quietly on Newton Road bridge. Edited May 24, 2014 by mike morley Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
porkie Posted May 24, 2014 Author Share Posted May 24, 2014 Hi mike.. I wondered where you had gone a few months ago when I meet a different postie at my door. It's been really quite on the line since Christmas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike morley Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 I now deliver on Shenley Church End, the nearest station to which is Loughton Village on the North Bucks Light Railway (AKA Milton Keynes Central on the WCML) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Pannier Tank Posted May 24, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 24, 2014 (edited) It was made clear that there was no problem with the principal of restoring passenger traffic to the line, but he also made it quite clear (without ever quite stating it so bluntly) that the line was already so close to full capacity with the freight traffic that in those days was still using the line that it would be extremely difficult find paths for any passenger trains. I don't think that there was that much traffic post 1980's on the Branch; singling the branch throughout didn't help though. Edited May 24, 2014 by Pannier Tank Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
porkie Posted May 24, 2014 Author Share Posted May 24, 2014 Lol I spoke too soon. A freightliner class 70 has just rumbled past Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike morley Posted May 24, 2014 Share Posted May 24, 2014 What must have been pretty much the last regular use of the flyover and the line behind that end of Bletchley was turning round north-bound ballast trains from Salters Siding during the final months of the refurb of the WCML. One of the last trains of all was exceptionally long, with one end not too far from the Newton Road bridge and the other end up near the Newfoundout pond and the flyover. All would have been well, had the driver of the 66 in charge not forgotten to close the valve on the brake pipe when he'd uncoupled prior to running round. I was delivering to the houses near the Newton Road bridge when he coupled up to the far end of the train and I realised what had happened immediately when the driver attempted his brake test and I heard the hiss of unrestrained compressed air from close at hand combined with the bellow of a 66 at full revs from some distance away. As all residents of that end of Bletchley can confirm, there are certain circumstances in which the effing and blinding of a pissed-off EWS driver can be louder than the noise being generated by his train . . . 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Pannier Tank Posted May 25, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 25, 2014 What must have been pretty much the last regular use of the flyover and the line behind that end of Bletchley was turning round north-bound ballast trains from Salters Siding during the final months of the refurb of the WCML. Salters Siding is a new one on me, where's that? Forders Siding? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Pannier Tank Posted May 25, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 25, 2014 Lol I spoke too soon. A freightliner class 70 has just rumbled past Runs as required:- http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/H80049/2014/05/24/advanced Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike morley Posted May 25, 2014 Share Posted May 25, 2014 Yes! Forders, not Salters. I'm finding the "Reply quoting this post" facility isn't working for me and hasn't for a few weeks now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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