Bedford–Northampton line

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Bedford–Northampton line
Legend
Northampton and
Peterborough Railway
Northampton loop
Northampton Castle
NR Bridge Street depot
 Northampton Bridge Street
Bridge Street
NR Claughton Road depot
Northampton
St. John's Street
Northampton Power Station
Northampton and
Peterborough Railway
Geismar factory depot
Brackmills
Industrial Estate
MOD depot
 Piddington
Stratford-upon-Avon and
Midland Junction Railway
Olney
 Turvey
Bedford Midland
(MR
)
Midland Main Line
 

The Bedford–Northampton line was a branch of the Midland Railway which served stations in three counties: Northampton and Horton in Northamptonshire, Olney in Buckinghamshire and Turvey and Bedford in Bedfordshire, England. Opened in 1872, the intermediate stations closed to passengers in 1962, leaving a small section between Northampton and Piddington station to remain open until 1981 for the purposes of the Ministry of Defence establishment. The track remains down on another small section of the line between Northampton and Brackmills. The reopening of the line has been proposed by the Bedfordshire Railway & Transport Association.

History

Authorisation

The first proposal to link the

Sir Charles Fox & Son surveyed a route diverging west from Bedford, passing through Biddenham then south of Turvey to reach Olney before cutting across Flore and Weedon.[3] The successful line was promoted by Lieutenant-Colonel W.B. Higgins of Picts Hill, Turvey, together with James Howard and William Henry Whitbread.[3]

On 5 July 1865, an

counties of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, were surveyed by Charles Liddell.[9][2][10]

Under the terms of the 1865 Act, the Midland Railway agreed to work the 21.5-mile (34.6-kilometre) line for seven years while retaining 50% of its receipts, and thereafter at 50% of receipts.[6]

Construction

In the event, only the first and second of the authorised lines were constructed.

Board of Trade but also the Midland Railway's engineer before services could begin.[11] It had initially been planned for the line to have its own terminus station in Bedford but this idea was dropped due to the demands made by landowners in Bedford, as well as the saving of £20,000 to be made by using the Midland Railway's Bedford station.[12]

Also in 1865, construction was started at Newport Pagnell for an extension of the Wolverton-Newport Pagnell Line to Olney which would have formed a junction at Olney. Construction was abandoned after several major cuttings were excavated north of Newport Pagnell which are visible on old maps.[citation needed]

The line was described as a "contractor's line" as the gradients were very heavy, the steepest being 1 in 84, which rendered it unsuitable for fast trains; the line was also sharply curved and ran mainly through

Olney, and Piddington.[6] The line had been diverted closer to Olney as the Marquess of Northampton did not want it running across his land at Yardley Hastings.[16]

Operation

The line opened on 10 June 1872

1923 Grouping.[16][19][20]

The Midland provided an initial service of five trains a day in each direction; this increased to six in 1922 and seven by 1938, but the service frequency was nevertheless minimal.[21][9][19] There was never any Sunday service.[19] St John's station closed in July 1939[22][23][5] following a decision by the LMS to divert all its passenger services to Northampton Castle station,[21][24] where branch services used bay platforms at the London end of the station.[25][26] This required the junction with the London and North Western Railway's Blisworth to Peterborough line at Hardingstone to be reversed.[21][27][20] The change meant that trains called additionally at Northampton Bridge Street.[20] In August 1916, a siding was laid at Hardingstone Junction for the construction of Northampton Power Station.[28] The Power Station, which was commissioned in 1919, had its own rail facilities.[29]

The line did not suffer from the weight restrictions applied on the

Bedford to Hitchin Line and was worked for many years by Class 3Fs and 4Fs, and from time to time Black Fives and Class 8Fs were used.[25] During its later years, the service generally comprised an Ivatt 2-6-2T with a two-coach LMS non-corridor suburban push-pull set, well-suited for working lightweight trains stopping frequently and requiring rapid acceleration.[30] As the motive power used were based at Bedford, the locomotive was always at the Bedford end of the coaches to facilitate servicing, meaning that services were 'pushed' to Northampton and 'pulled' to Bedford or through to Hitchin.[15] The Ivatt 2-6-2Ts were on occasion replaced by LMS Ivatt Class 4s and Standard Class 2 2-6-2Ts were also used.[25]

The line's busiest period was during the war years.

siding to store valuable war materials.[21]

Decline and closure

Passenger numbers on the line were weak due in part to its failure to serve any sizeable community with the exception of Olney and in part to the inconvenient siting of stations.

signal box.[36][37][20]

Faced with the need to make economies following the end of the war, diesel railbuses were introduced in 1958 accompanied with an increase in service frequency to nine between Bedford and Northampton.

Bedford to Hitchin line, the railbuses, which frequently broke down, failed to reverse the Bedford to Northampton line's fortunes and, at a time when branches had to be shown to pay their way, income derived solely from schoolchildren and shoppers on market days was insufficient to ensure the line's survival.[20] Steam services were reintroduced for the last months of the passenger service on the line which was withdrawn as from 5 March 1962, with the last very well patronised train running on Saturday 3 March.[39][25][20][40] For a time, four Class 127 suburban DMUs were used for crew training on the line in preparation for their introduction on the Bedford to St Pancras line.[25]

The route remained open to serve the MOD's Piddington depot but the line beyond Piddington to Oakley Junction on the Midland Main Line was closed on 20 January 1964 after branch goods traffic had ceased on 6 January.[41][42][43] The 50-lever signal box at Oakley Junction, which had opened as a replacement for a previous box, closed on 10 May 1970.[42] In February 1968, once the line's remaining traffic had ceased, the line from Hardingstone Junction in Northampton to Piddington was transferred to the Ministry of Defence which administered it until 1981.[36][41] In October 1979, the Army provided a service for rail enthusiasts to travel between the Power Station and Piddington using an Army railbus.[41] Tracklifting from Piddington was completed by 1986.[41][37]

All that remained of the line was a short stretch south of Northampton to the Brackmills Industrial Estate.

continuous welded rail.[45] In December 2005, Network Rail officially designated the section of line as "Out of Use".[46] This was changed to "Out of Use (temporary)" in September 2009.[47]

Present and future

Route integrity

The

underbridges have been removed.[48] The line only had one level crossing, which is still there at Brackmills.[17]

Calls for reopening

In 2000,

Thameslink franchise.[48] Capita carried out an engineering study into the possibility of reopening the line and concluded that the likely cost would be around £220m for a double-track line with a station at Olney.[48] The cost was revised upwards to £275m in 2004.[48] The Government Office for the East of England published a multi-modal study in 2003 recommending a new Bedford–Northampton line as part of an extension of Thameslink.[49] The Bedfordshire Railway and Transport Association (BRTA), had called for the trackbed protection and advocated reopening since the Association's Inauguration in March 1997;[citation needed] as a part of its campaigning, it called on the government to include the reopening of the line as part of the West Coast Main Line modernisation.[50] Reopening is also supported by the Milton Keynes Rail Link Supporters Forum, but not the Northampton Rail Users' Group (NRUG), which did not oppose it either.[51][52][53] In May 2013 it was reported that the Bedfordshire Railway and Transport Association (BRTA) was seeking contributions towards the preparation of business case for the line, as well as liaising with local authorities with regard to the route of the line.[54]

On a more limited basis, BRTA have suggested that a park and ride railway station be provided at Brackmills.[55] In the light of local population growth, BRTA has suggested that a reopened line, including a station at Olney, would relieve the A428 road and promote tourism.[56]

In December 2014, a Network Rail study stated that the reopening of the line "would provide a considerably shorter, and already partially electrified, cross country route to the West Midlands."[57]

In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments).[58]

In March 2021, a bid was submitted to restore the line as part of the third round of the Restoring Your Railway fund. [59]

Disposal of the remaining trackbed

In October 2012, the

guided busway or a walkway/cyclepath.[60] The consent could allow the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC) to purchase the trackbed as part of a larger proposed scheme which would see the adjoining Power Station site redeveloped as the new riverside campus of the University of Northampton.[61] On 21 October 2013, it was announced that WNDC had purchased the section of disused line for £1.5m to create a cycle and pedestrian path.[62]

In February 2014 it was reported that the projected decommissioning by Network Rail of the line between Northampton station and the

M1 Motorway junctions 15A and 16.[63] The decommissioning of the line would mean that the expense of a rail overbridge could be avoided.[63] In August 2015, the disused tracks across Cotton End ( hist. Bridge Street level crossing ) in Cotton End were removed and the road resurfaced.[64] In April 2018, the plans to build the link road were approved by Northampton Borough Council; the project will be part-funded by SEMLEP.[65]

Images

  • Northampton Bridge Street Station in September 2013
    Northampton Bridge Street Station in September 2013
  • Northampton Bridge Street station in September 2013
    Northampton Bridge Street station in September 2013
  • Northampton's near by Network Rail Pomfret Arms close-Bridge Street depot in September 2013.
    Northampton's near by Network Rail Pomfret Arms close-Bridge Street depot in September 2013.

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Oppitz (2000), pp. 139–140.
  2. ^ a b c Cockman (1974), pp. 42–43.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Cockman (1972), p. 262.
  4. ^ a b c Oppitz (2000), p. 140.
  5. ^ a b c d Clinker (1960), p. 5.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Markham (1970), p. 26.
  7. ^ a b Awdry (1990), p. 60.
  8. ^ Kingscott (2008), p. 140.
  9. ^ a b Crane (1998), p. 31.
  10. ^ Cockman (1994), p. 42.
  11. ^ a b c d Cockman (1972), p. 263.
  12. ^ Cockman (1994), pp. 42–43.
  13. ^ Leleux (1984), p. 29.
  14. ^ Williams (1968), p. 206.
  15. ^ a b Hinitt & Leigh (1994), p. 34.
  16. ^ a b c d Butler (2006), p. 98.
  17. ^ a b c Cockman (1974), p. 43.
  18. ^ Cockman (1994), p. 43.
  19. ^ a b c d e f Oppitz (2000), p. 141.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cockman (1972), p. 265.
  21. ^ a b c d e Butler (2006), p. 99.
  22. ^ Butt (1995), p. 173.
  23. ^ Quick (2009), p. 295.
  24. ^ a b Kingscott (2008), p. 143.
  25. ^ a b c d e f Crane (1998), p. 35.
  26. ^ Hinitt & Leigh (1994), p. 35.
  27. ^ Mitchell & Smith (2004), fig. XIV.
  28. ^ a b c d Poulter (2021), p. 270.
  29. ^ Poulter (2021), pp. 270–271.
  30. ^ Hinitt & Leigh (1994), p. 33.
  31. ^ Crane (1998), pp. 31, 34.
  32. ^ Crane (1998), pp. 33–34.
  33. ^ Mitchell & Smith (2004), fig. XI.
  34. ^ Cockman (1972), p. 264.
  35. ^ Mitchell & Smith (2004), figs. XI and XII.
  36. ^ a b Crane (1998), p. 34.
  37. ^ a b c Kingscott (2008), p. 144.
  38. ^ a b Butler (2006), p. 101.
  39. ^ Oppitz (2000), pp. 141–142.
  40. ^ Hinitt & Leigh (1994), p. 37.
  41. ^ a b c d Butler (2006), p. 102.
  42. ^ a b Mitchell & Smith (2004), fig. 49.
  43. ^ Hurst (1992), p. 24.
  44. ^ "GEISMAR (UK) LTD". Retrieved 25 January 2010.
  45. ^
    Office of the Rail Regulator. 2005. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  46. ^ Network Rail (1 December 2005). "Proposed G1 Network Change: MD175 Northampton South Junction to Brackmills" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  47. ^ Network Rail (16 September 2009). "Proposed G1 Network Change: MD175 Northampton South Junction to Brackmills; Designation of Line as 'Out of Use'" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  48. ^
    Capita Symonds
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  49. Milton Keynes Council. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  50. ^ "New bid to reopen old rail link". BBC News Online. 21 June 2004. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  51. ^ "Call for Northampton to Bedford rail link to re-open". BBC News Online. 11 July 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  52. ^ "Group chief backing rail line discussions". Northampton Herald & Post. 14 June 2012. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  53. ^ "Plans on track for Bedford and Northampton link". Bedfordshire on Sunday. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  54. Rail Magazine
    (721): 18.
  55. ^ Bedfordshire Railway & Transport Association (January–February 2014). "BRTA Newsletter Edition No. 43" (PDF). page 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  56. ^ "BRTA campaign for Bedford-Northampton rail link". Bedfordshire on Sunday. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
  57. ^ "Improving Connectivity" (PDF). Network Rail. December 2014. p. 37. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 January 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
  58. ^ [1] p.42
  59. ^ In full: The 85 abandoned rail schemes vying for restoration funding 16 March 2021
  60. ^
    Office of Rail Regulation. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  61. ^ Bontoft, Wayne (19 January 2013). "End of the line for disused rail track". Northampton Chronicle & Echo. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  62. ^ "Northampton disused rail line bought by WNDC". BBC News Online. 22 October 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2013.
  63. ^ a b "Roads could finally be linked to help relieve match day congestion". Northampton Chronicle & Echo. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  64. Northampton County Council. 10 August 2015. Archived from the original
    on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  65. ^ Lynch, Paul (11 April 2018). "Green light given to traffic-easing St James link road after seven years of debate". Northampton Chronicle & Echo. Retrieved 19 March 2019.

Sources

See also
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