Forty-six local
historians from twelve local history societies around the county assembled at
Maulden Village Hall on Saturday 15 June 2013 for the Association’s AGM and a
day of lectures and a visit on the topic of “Bedfordshire
Railways”.
David Thomas gave a very
interesting illustrated talk focussing on the Bedfordshire branch of the Oxford
to Cambridge Line. This began in the county with the London & North Western
Railway line’s first stretch being built here from Bedford to Bletchley (still
in operation) in 1846. In 1851 the Bletchley to Oxford extension was built, and
finally, in 1861-2, the Bedford to Cambridge extension. The Oxbridge line’s
main stations in Bedfordshire were at Ridgmont, Lidlington, Marston, Bedford,
Blunham, Sandy and Potton with additional small halts, bringing the number of
stops to 15 within the county.
Because of the
importance of the universities at Oxford and Cambridge, this cross-country line
was sometimes known as the “Varsity Line” and its trains “brain trains”. It had
connections with six main lines heading north, west and east from London and
therefore gave great flexibility to passengers from Bedfordshire who could
travel around the country, by changing at points on the line to other railway
companies’ services, without having to go into London first (as is the case
today!).
Unfortunately, following
Dr Beeching’s rationalisation and drastic reduction in the railway system from
1967 onwards, the Bedford to Cambridge line was closed, with the Bedford to
Cambridge lines lifted, leaving only a service from Bedford to Bletchley,
meeting up with the London Midland Region main lines from London to the Midlands
and the North West.
David Thomas then traced
the more recent developments, including the closure of the old St John’s Station
in Bedford, with the line being diverted to Bedford Midland Station in 1984
(with a later, new, halt at Bedford St John) and the overall modernisation of
signalling and level crossings along the Bedford Bletchley line in 2004.
Earlier, in 1961, Marston saw the installation of the second-only automatic continental level crossing barriers in the country. Warning signs, unusually,
were in both English and Italian, as there were so many Italian-speaking workers
at the local brick works! Recently, it has been confirmed that there are firm
plans to reinstate the Bedford to Oxford railway service in the near
future.
The second speaker in
the morning was Nigel Lutt from the county record office (BLARS) who gave a very
informative illustrated talk outlining just some of the many archive sources for
material on railway history in Bedfordshire, not all of them in documents where
you would expect to find them.
Attendees to the
conference were then treated to a very tasty hot lunch, after which they were
able to view the range of interesting displays in the hall relating to railway
topics, with displays from the ADALHS
regarding temporary railways in Maulden Woods (operated by the Canadian
Foresters during WWI), Warren Wood and Wrest Park. Fergus Milne brought along
examples of his railway art and there was an extensive display from
BLARS.
For the afternoon
session, members moved by cars to Millbrook where David Thomas, who lives in the
Station House there, showed his collection of railway
memorabilia.
Although less ambitious
in its scope and number of speakers than in previous years (& consequently
less well attended than, say,
2012, when there were 91 attendees from some
20 Beds societies) the BLHA committee is to be congratulated on putting it on
and thanks given to the new Millbrook History Society for organising it. The
annual event is an almost unique opportunity for local historians to get
together and catch up with each other’s researches, activities and
publications. BLHA’s own umbrella website is an excellent, one-stop
source of contacts for all the many local history societies in Bedfordshire,
with links to their websites and, in many cases therefore, to their programme of
talks and visits.
BLHA is looking urgently
for volunteer societies from its membership to take on responsibility for
arranging a conference for 2014 (and also for 2015). Societies which have not
yet taken this on, perhaps finding the thought rather daunting, can receive much
help from those other societies which have organised conferences in previous
years.
To discuss conference
possibilities for future years, contact Clive Makin, BLHA Secretary, at
01582 655785 or via email
:
For
information on Bedfordshire railway history, see F.G. Cockman The Railway Age in Bedfordshire (Revised
edition 1994)
Written by Stuart
Antrobus
