East West rail, Bletchley to oxford line

[Davexoc]

1 hour ago, mike morley said:

When I first moved to Milton Keynes in the very late eighties I worked for a few months at Newton Longville brickworks, right by the line as it comes out of Bletchley.  Every day the gung-ho USAF pilots (from Upper Heyford?)  used to entertain themselves by threading their F15's between the chimneys as fast as they dared, with the plane usually standing on a wingtip.  I once saw a Hercules do it . . .

 

F15s would have come from one of the East Anglian bases, Upper Heyford was F111s.

I too moved to MK in the 80s, a time when Bletchley regularly had Marylebone 115s around the depot, and the branch was run using a hotch-potch of cast-offs into Bedford St Johns.

The Stewartby chimney forest soon diminished to be replaced by landfill mounds with the Brogborough flare burning at the bottom of the hill. Then the A421 was dualled, Brogborough and Marston Moretaine bypassed and the landscape now is totally different.

Marston Moretaine now is part of the Millenium Forest which has walks around the old clay pits with bird hides for twitching, and a rather nice eatery too...

[rodent279]

We used to live in Bedford in the early 2000's. If the wind was in the right direction, you could get a whiff of sulphur from the brickworks, when they were firing bricks. If it was in a slightly different direction, you could tell if Charlie Wells had a brew on!

[ess1uk]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-51836827

 

good news?

[Nearholmer]

Might be; definitely sounds as if they have spotted a popular environmental campaign and electoral-disaster in the making, and decided to back-off, at least for now.

 

It would play badly in all directions:

 

- locally it would hack people off in constituencies that will shift back to their usual marginality once the B-word is forgotten;

 

- environmental campaigners locally and nationally could have an absolute field-day with it in terms of breaching carbon-neutrality targets, let alone direct environmental damage;

 

- people in the 'forgotten North' would be royally hacked-off if told that lots of money was to be spent linking two of the richest, poshest, and B-opposed cities together ...... it could be spun really badly for HMG by clever campaigners exploiting North/South antipathy.

 

But, the weasel-words still allow for stealth-building ....... a series of popular town/village bypasses that all conveniently join-up.

[lmsforever]

 Hooray  looks like they have listened to the people at last now the rail link has to be progressed as fast as possible but no wires is a big mistake.DAFT as usual will spend a fortune on roads but not on rail they are not fit for purpose and need to be repurposed and rail put in the hands of a reborn stategic rail authority .Localy we are expecting 16000 homes to be built alongside HS2 good luck to them!

[1E BoY]

Managed to escape into the country yesterday afternoon (16th March) to check out progress on the line of route.

 

Two new work sites have been established one at the entrance to the old Newton Longville brick works just the Aylesbury Vale Council side of the Newton Road railway bridge in Bletchley.

 

Another has been established adjacent to the former Swanbourne station. The view below was taken over the entrance gates shows the Horwood to Mursley road bridge in the distance. 

 

The second shows the platforms taken from the same spot in the other direction. Access to the former down platform was fenced off. The owner of the station house had previously kept the platforms and the track through them in immaculate condition.

 

[1E BoY]

Taken from the Newton Longville road that links the village with the A421 (Milton Keynes to Buckingham ) on 16th March.

 

The view is looking east towards Bletchley with the track bed looking in reasonable condition and having seen some recent vehicle movements. What remains of the disused down line can be seen.

 

One or two buildings (to the left of the track bed) can be seen in the background from the Bletchley skyline whilst on the right hand side the village of Bow Brickhill (served by the remaining section of the Varsity line from Bletchley to Bedford) can be seen on the hillside.

 

Edited March 17, 2020 by 1E BoY
Removal of a surplus 'has'

[highpeakman]

On 10/03/2020 at 11:01, Rugd1022 said:

 

Whether waiting to come out of Forders or following a unit from one end of the line to the other it's pretty much the same David. With two units shuffling up and down all day we're always behind one of them in either direction and often as not at each end we'll have to sit at the last signal on the double track section waiting for the unit to go into Bedford or Bletchley then come out again before getting the road. If they raised the line speed to 90mph we'd still be up the unit's tail amp no matter what we do because of all the station stops!

 

I wish I'd taken more photos when the semaphores were still in use....

 

Not sure if these will be of interest?

Stewartby, taken in 2003.

I have some others, taken at various times before that, but will only post if they are of interest.

[Rugd1022]

Definitely of interest - post away!

[Nearholmer]

Agree.

 

We clearly all regard this line with a degree of affection, but the photos do suggest that it might never be placed among the world's great scenic railway journeys.

[highpeakman]

23 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

Definitely of interest - post away!

 

Thanks. Now where did I put them?  !!

[highpeakman]

14 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Agree.

 

We clearly all regard this line with a degree of affection, but the photos do suggest that it might never be placed among the world's great scenic railway journeys.

 

I lived in Flitwick and Ampthill, close to Stewartby, for nearly thirty years so saw of lot of the "scenery". I also knew quite a few of the people who worked there - one our immediate neighbour. Like many such places, the scenery and pollution were accepted for the work they gave but that began to change quite rapidly in the 80s. We were lucky in that the wind blew most of the pollution away from us but I must admit to relief when the many brick works started to go but also surprise when Stewartby finally went as well. Luckily there was enough industry in the area to absorb most of the jobs (including a new Amazon warehouse).

 

It has to be said that the view from Ampthill Park (Where the Midland main line goes through the tunnels. Also of "Golden Hare fame - remember that?) over Marston Vale is much improved these days.

[highpeakman]

A few more of Millbrook Station and a newly built (new) St Johns Station. Lovely building. 

 

I was always a bit puzzled as to why St Johns new station was built but I assume it was because there were some bigger companies in the area. e.g. Granada - remember them? (Or had they gone by then?)

 

Isn't the hand painted sign at Millbrook great? Tells you everything you need to know in a compact form.

 

[Not Jeremy]

57 minutes ago, highpeakman said:

A few more of Millbrook Station and a newly built (new) St Johns Station. Lovely building. 

 

I was always a bit puzzled as to why St Johns new station was built but I assume it was because there were some bigger companies in the area. e.g. Granada - remember them? (Or had they gone by then?)

 

 

 

 

I walked along the from Bedford St Johns to Stewartby one Sunday very many years ago, and your picture above makes a fascinating comparison to my memory of the station then. A "skeletal" canopy over one line, the track continuing to Lords Bridge(?) and the most enormous LNW signal box in the middle background of your picture.

 

Being a yooft, I picked up a spare tail lamp from Stewartby, put it under my coat, and then walked back along the line with it to my Uncle's place just off the line at Kempston where we were staying.

 

I didn't see anyone or any trains either(!)

 

Jolly japes apart, I recently drove along the A421 through this landscape and was shocked at how built up and grisly it all was, absolutely nothing like my memory of a pretty rural albeit flat landscape.

 

How things have changed....

 

Not Jeremy

[Rugd1022]

Ye olde St.Johns.... and a bonus shot of Bedford mainline station during its reconstruction, what a bizarre / fascinating layout it looks, try modelling it and see what sort of reaction you'd get....!

 

 

 

 

[rodent279]

33 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

Ye olde St.Johns.... and a bonus shot of Bedford mainline station during its reconstruction, what a bizarre / fascinating layout it looks, try modelling it and see what sort of reaction you'd get....!

 

 

 

 

Bedford St John's must have been one of the most miserable stations on the network during the 1970's. Compared to the new Midland station, it must have seemed like a different planet.

 

Roughly where the old Midland station was, is now Focus Do it all. Or was until a few years ago, when they went under.

[lmsforever]

When I used to go to Bedford to see my customers as a rep  come lunch time I would park at St Johns as it was quiet and you could see the occasional  train.Once went by HST to Sheffield to visit a large model railway store good interesting journey Sheffield bit gruby but good buses very cheap and full.Bedford had good railway locations as you moved from there towards Northampton had many interesting artefacts still around.

[rodent279]

4 minutes ago, lmsforever said:

When I used to go to Bedford to see my customers as a rep  come lunch time I would park at St Johns as it was quiet and you could see the occasional  train.Once went by HST to Sheffield to visit a large model railway store good interesting journey Sheffield bit gruby but good buses very cheap and full.Bedford had good railway locations as you moved from there towards Northampton had many interesting artefacts still around.

I've always thought that if any railway would be a useful reopening, it's Bedford-Northampton. 

[Rugd1022]

Almost any combination of the secondary lines in the area between Rugby, Leicester, Market Harborough, Northampton, Wellingborough and Bedford would be useful today, particularly for freight flows.

[Tanllan]

On 17/03/2020 at 13:28, 1E BoY said:

Managed to escape into the country yesterday afternoon (16th March) to check out progress on the line of route.

 

Two new work sites have been established one at the entrance to the old Newton Longville brick works just the Aylesbury Vale Council side of the Newton Road railway bridge in Bletchley.

 

Another has been established adjacent to the former Swanbourne station. The view below was taken over the entrance gates shows the Horwood to Mursley road bridge in the distance. 

 

The second shows the platforms taken from the same spot in the other direction. Access to the former down platform was fenced off. The owner of the station house had previously kept the platforms and the track through them in immaculate condition.

 

Swanbourne Station used to be one of my regular rest stops when I used to spend most Sunday afternoons on my MTB. The place was always well kept. I must find the time to drive out there and see the devastation for myself . There is a public footpath that crosses the line at the station, has that been formally closed ?

[Nearholmer]

I don't think so.

 

I last had a proper look in the Autumn, and the footpath route had been protected from the work up to that stage.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Nearholmer

[chris p bacon]

3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Agree.

 

We clearly all regard this line with a degree of affection, but the photos do suggest that it might never be placed among the world's great scenic railway journeys.

 

About 20 years ago one of those Coffee table/Xmas books was produced with a title of "Worlds Great Train Journeys" (or similar)  and within it as one of the great railway journeys of the world was 'Bedford to Bletchley'  

I went to a talk organised by the Bedford to Bletchley Rail Users Association (BBRUA) and Richard Crane ( Chairman) was rather chuffed about it. 

[31A]

You could smell the brickworks 15 miles away in Cambridgeshire if the wind was in the right (wrong?) direction!  In the early 70's I sometimes went train spotting at Bletchley with mates, taking the bus to Bedford and then the train.  St. John's station seemed to keep on shrinking!  There were numerous closure proposals and on one trip we turned up there knowing it was after the closure date and wondering whether there would be a train at all - of course as it turned out, there was.

 

[melmerby]

3 hours ago, rodent279 said:

 

Roughly where the old Midland station was, is now Focus Do it all. Or was until a few years ago, when they went under.

The site of the old Midland station is now approx the station car park.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=18&lat=52.13535&lon=-0.47855&layers=168&right=BingSat

[caradoc]

9 hours ago, 31A said:

You could smell the brickworks 15 miles away in Cambridgeshire if the wind was in the right (wrong?) direction!  In the early 70's I sometimes went train spotting at Bletchley with mates, taking the bus to Bedford and then the train.  St. John's station seemed to keep on shrinking!  There were numerous closure proposals and on one trip we turned up there knowing it was after the closure date and wondering whether there would be a train at all - of course as it turned out, there was.

 

 

We used to do the same from Oxford, on the bus which had replaced the train to Bletchley. If we had enough money we would take the train to Bedford St Johns and wander round to Midland. We also used to visit (or at least try to visit) Bletchley Depot and on one occasion, on a organised school trip, visited Bletchley PSB. I keep meaning to revisit and take a trip to Bedford, although the service does not appear particularly reliable just now !