Kempston Hardwick is a stop on the Marston Vale Line in Bedfordshire between Bedford St Johns and Stewartby.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Marston Vale Line)
Station code:
KMH
Opened:
1905
Platforms:
2
The station was opened by the London North Western Railway as Kempston Hardwick Halt in 1905. The station was one of three halts on the line opened by the LNWR that year though only Kempston Hardwick has survived. Near to the station used to be Eastwoods Flettons brickworks, a private siding being located just to the East of the station [1].
Next to the station is a level crossing, which was manually operated until the 1960s. Automatic barriers were fitted in 2004. The station has been unstaffed since 1968, the original station building was demolished by a lorry!
The station was one of Britain's least used in the early 2000s though there were no moves to close it. Patronage has increased and is now around ten thousand a year.
LNWR 230 004 departs bound for Bedford
A look down the platform, the level crossing can be seen on the right
A view down the platform
Station sign
There isn't a huge lot at the station, or nearby!
LNWR 230 004 arrives bound for Bletchley
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Bletchley to Cambridge (Middleton Press, 2007) Fig. 55
Stewartby is a stop on the Marston Vale line in Bedfordshire between Millbrook and Kempston Hardwick.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Marston Vale Line)
Station code:
SWR
Opened:
1905
Platforms:
2
Stewartby was opened by the London North Western Railway in 1905, however when it was opened it was called Wootton Pillinge Halt as it served a nearby village of the same name. "Stewartby" was a model village which did not exist until 1926! Stewartby was built for workers of the nearby London Brick Company works, the station was renamed Stewartby in 1935 [1].
Near Stewartby were extensive sidings for the brick works which reached a production peak in the early 1970s. However the brick works went into a quick decline and brick traffic ceased on the line in the mid-1980s [2]. Stewartby the station remains though but has been unstaffed since 1968.
The station has two platforms staggered either side of a level crossing. The station is rather basic with just a couple of bus shelters and information displays for passengers.
LNWR 230 003 heads off for Bedford
Level crossing
Looking down the line
Kimberley College is nearby
Another view of the level crossing, barriers up!
LNWR 230 003 arrives bound for Bletchley
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Bletchley to Cambridge (Middleton Press, 2007) Map. XIII [2] Ibid. Fig. 51
Ridgmont is a stop on the Marston Vale line in Bedfordshire between Aspley Guise and Lidlington.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Marston Vale Line)
Station code:
RID
Opened:
1846
Platforms:
2
The station was opened in 1846 by the Bedford Railway, which built a line from Bedford to connect with the London & Birmingham Railway at Bletchley.
Later the station and line was taken over by the London North Western Railway and became part of the Varsity Line linking Oxford and Cambridge. The Varsity Line was largely closed in 1967 though services remained on the stretch between Bedford and Bletchley. There are proposals to rebuild the Varsity Line including the route through Ridgmont but until then it's line is known as the Marston Vale Line.
Ridgmont used to have sidings and several wagon turntables [1] though these have now gone. Ridgmont is one of the few stations on the line to retain it's original station building. This is nowadays a heritage centre for the line and a tea room. Next to the station is the signalling centre for the Marston Vale Line which opened in 2004 following a signalling upgrade of the line [2]. A level crossing is at one end of the station platforms and this is how to transfer between platforms.
Ridgmont is served by London Northwestern Railway with hourly services in both directions on weekdays and Saturdays. Services on the Marston Vale Line were taken over by the upcycled former London Underground stock Class 230 DMU in 2019.
LNWR 230 004 waits to depart for Bedford
Looking down the line towards Bletchley
Level crossing
Bus shelter on one platform...
...the rather more ornate original station building on the other platform!
LNWR 230 004 is about to pass through the level crossing
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Bletchley to Cambridge (Middleton Press, 2007) Map. X [2] Ibid. Fig. 38
The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway was a 610mm narrow gauge line linking sand quarries to the main line in Leighton Buzzard. Traffic began to drop after the Second World War though the railway continued into the 1960s. A preservation society began to run passenger services on the railway at weekends in 1968 with the last mineral trains running to Leighton Buzzard the following year. Unlike a lot of preserved railways the original line never closed.
Stonehenge Works is named after a brickworks that used to be next to the railway. Next to the station are locomotives and rolling stock not involved in passenger service. The railway's main workshops are here in a building which used to be the stables for horses which worked in the quarries.
The line does continue beyond Stonehenge Works and the railway is currently raising funds to extend services over a kilometre towards Double Arches quarry [2].
Stonehenge Works
Part of the impressive collection of ex-industrial locomotives at Stonehenge Works
Nowadays a single platform halt Bedford St Johns was Bedford's first station though is much changed since it opened in the mid-nineteenth century.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Marston Vale Line)
Station code:
BSJ
Opened:
1846
Platforms:
1
It was opened as Bedford by the Buckinghamshire Railway as part of the Oxford-Cambridge Line (more commonly known as the Varsity Line) in 1846. Confusingly the Midland Railway also called their station Bedford which they opened in 1859. In 1924 the original station was renamed Bedford St Johns and the newer station Bedford Midland Road.
The Varsity Line began to be closed in the late 1960s leaving just the route from Bedford St Johns to Bletchley. The original Bedford St Johns, by then a terminus, was closed in 1984 and a new single platform halt built on a new chord line to Bedford. The Bedford-Bletchley route is now known as the Marston Vale Line.
Bedford St Johns is a basic unmanned stop with just a single bus shelter and a passenger information screen. There are firm plans to re-open the Varsity Line which means Bedford St Johns could be restored as a more substantial station one day.
WMR 153 374 arrives with a Bletchley bound service
The full length of the platform can be seen in this photo
Station sign, former operator London Midland gave gold sign due to Olympian success in Bedford
Station sign
A bus shelter and a couple of benches make up Bedford St John's facilities
The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway was formed in 1919 linking sand quarries at Double Arches with the mainline railway at Grovesbury sidings in Leighton Buzzard. The railway was built to 610mm narrow gauge. The railway survived into the 1960s though traffic began to drop after the Second World War.
A group of preservationists began running passenger trains on the line at weekends in 1968, the final sand trains ran the year afterwards and the line was taken over as a heritage line [1] (unlike most heritage lines the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway was never actually closed). The sidings at Grovesbury have now been built over and the Southern terminus of the railway is at Page's Park.
Pages's Park is home to the railway's main engine shed and storage sidings for rolling stock. The station has two platforms and a run-round loop. A new station building was opened in 2016 replacing a temporary structure that had been in place since 1976. The new station building took some design ideas from the former LNWR mainline station in the town which was demolished in the late 1980s.
Orenstein & Koppel No. 11 PC Allen prepares to run around it's train
A train stands at the station
A view down the station
Beaudesert and a coach rake outside the engine shed
Battery electric shunter NG23 inside the engine shed
PC Allen takes on water
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Watford to Leighton Buzzard (Middleton Press, 2004) Fig. 114
Leighton Buzzard is a stop on the West Coast Main Line between Bletchley and Cheddington.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(West Coast Main Line)
Station code:
LBZ
Opened:
1838
Platforms:
4
The station was opened in 1838 as Leighton by the London & Birmingham Railway as part of the first section of the line from London Euston. The station was renamed Leighton Buzzard in 1911.
A branch line to Dunstable was added in 1848 from Leighton (this branch line was closed in 1967). The London & North Western Railway replaced the original station with a new one one hundred and sixty metres to the South in 1859 [1]. The station buildings were rebuilt in 1957. Further rebuilding took place in 1989. Leighton Buzzard used to be home to a goods yard and an engine shed but the latter closed in 1962 [2].
Although Leighton Buzzard now has four platforms the platforms on the West Coast Main Line fast lines are not always in use (as common with other stations on this stretch of the WCML). Leighton Buzzard is served by London Northwestern and Southern (West London Route). Virgin Trains services frequently pass through the station though none stop.
LNWR 350 106 with a Euston bound service
The fast lines are in the background
View down the platform
A Virgin Trains 221 passes through on the fast line
Euston bound 350 236 enters the station
Ready to depart
[1] Vic Mitchell & Keith Smith, Watford to Leighton Buzzard (Middleton Press, 2004) Fig. 107 [2] Ibid. Fig. 102
Aspley Guise is a stop on the Marston Vale Line which runs between Bletchley and Bedford. Aspley Guise is just inside the Bedfordshire border and is between Woburn Sands and Ridgmont.
Information
Type:
National Rail
(Marston Vale Line)
Station code:
ASP
Opened:
1905
Platforms:
2
The station was opened by the London & North Western Railway in 1905, later coming under the control of the LMS and British Railways.
The station was rebuilt by the LMS, being a rather basic halt beforehand with no shelters. The platforms, which are staggered either side of a level crossing (not the original arrangement), were extended in 1959 though can still only comfortably accommodate short trains. The station is very basic with just a couple of shelters and passenger information boards.
WMR 153 334 waits to depart
Platform shelter, dating from the LMS improvements to the station
Station sign
Level crossing
The platforms are either side of the level crossing
National Rail (Midland Main Line
& Marston Vale Line)
Station code:
BDM
Opened:
1859
Platforms:
5
Bedford is a busy station on the Midland Main Line also being the terminus of the Marston Vale Line from Bletchley and the terminus of Thameslink services to Brighton and Gatwick Airport via St Pancras.
The original Bedford station was opened in 1859 by the Midland Railway a few hundred metres away from the current site which opened in 1978. In the 1920s the station was renamed Bedford Midland Road though reverted back to its original name in 1988.
The station has grown steadily over the years with Marston Vale services which originally terminated at the former LNWR station at Bedford St. Johns being extended to Bedford in 1984 and using the new bay platform 1A.
There are plans for a radical rebuild of the station with a new station building back on the site of the original station and extended platforms and it will be the terminus for the new East-West Rail Link from Oxford due to be opened by 2024.
An EMT Class 222 service heading North along the MML
Looking up the platform to the main overbridge
London Midland Marston Vale service in the care of a Class 150 Sprinter
