Dunstable_Branch_Lines Knowpia

The Dunstable Branch Lines were railway branch lines that joined the English town of Dunstable to the main lines at Leighton Buzzard and Welwyn. The two lines were under separate ownership and joined just east of the Dunstable North station.

Dunstable Branch Lines

Legend

Leighton Buzzard

West Coast Main Line

Grand Union Canal

River Ouzel

Stanbridgeford

Totternhoe sidings

Cement works

Midland Main Line

River Lea

Luton Midland Road

Luton Bute Street

Chiltern Green

Luton Hoo

Nickey line

Midland Main Line

Harpenden East

Blackbridge sidings

Welwyn Garden City

East Coast Main Line

to Hertford Cowbridge

The London and North Western Railway built the line from Leighton Buzzard station to Dunstable. This opened in 1848.

The Luton, Dunstable and Welwyn Junction Railway planned a connecting line from the Great Northern Railway at Welwyn. The line between Dunstable and Luton opened in 1858. The company then amalgamated with the Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway to form the Hertford, Luton and Dunstable Railway. The track to Welwyn was completed in 1860 and the line was taken over by the Great Northern in the following year. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway from 1923 until British Railways was formed in 1948.

Passenger services were withdrawn in 1965 under the Beeching Axe, and the track between Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard was removed. The line between Dunstable and the Midland Main Line at Luton remained open for freight until 1990. Dunstable is now one of the largest towns in the South East without a railway connection.^[1]

Stations edit

A 1902 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the vicinity of Dunstable (upper left)

Leighton Buzzard edit

Stanbridgeford edit

Stanbridgeford railway station (51°53′50.00″N 0°35′29.00″W / 51.8972222°N 0.5913889°W / 51.8972222; -0.5913889 (Stanbridgeford railway station)) was close to the village of Stanbridge.

Dunstable North edit

Dunstable North railway station was originally the terminus of the line from Leighton Buzzard.

Dunstable Town edit

Dunstable Town railway station (51°53′12″N 0°30′38″W / 51.8866°N 0.5106°W / 51.8866; -0.5106 (Dunstable Town railway station)) (originally Dunstable Church Street) was the terminus station on the spur off the Great Northern Railway from Hatfield. It served the town of Dunstable until closure in 1965. The station was immortalised in 1964 in the song "Slow Train" by Flanders and Swann. The station was on Station Road.^[2]

Luton Bute Street edit

Luton Bute Street railway station (51°52′54″N 0°24′49″W / 51.88173°N 0.41372°W / 51.88173; -0.41372 (Luton Bute Street railway station)) was the first to be built in Luton. It was opened in 1858.

It was valuable to Luton people not only for passengers but also facilitating the London market for the town's trade in plaited straw goods. The station closed in 1965.^[3]

Luton Hoo edit

Luton Hoo railway station (51°50′57″N 0°22′32.7″W / 51.84917°N 0.375750°W / 51.84917; -0.375750 (Luton Hoo railway station)) was opened in 1860 and originally called New Mill End. The name changed to Luton Hoo in 1891 and the station closed in 1965.

It served Luton Hoo house and the village of New Mill End. It was close to the Midland Railway station of Chiltern Green and the GNR and Midland lines took a parallel course from Luton.

The station building and platform still exist, sited next to a sewage works.

Harpenden East edit

Harpenden East (51°49′18.5″N 0°20′26.4″W / 51.821806°N 0.340667°W / 51.821806; -0.340667 (Harpenden East railway station)) was one of two stations serving the town of Harpenden, the other station which remains open being Harpenden Central. Originally named Harpenden, the East suffix was added in 1950 to distinguish it from the Midland Railway station.

The line was single track with a crossing loop.

The station opened in 1860 and closed in 1965. Since closure it has been demolished and housing has been built both on the site of the station and on the line in the immediate area.

Wheathampstead edit

Wheathampstead railway station (51°48′55″N 0°17′31″W / 51.81531°N 0.29202°W / 51.81531; -0.29202 (Wheathampstead railway station)) served Wheathampstead.

Ayot edit

Ayot railway station (51°48′54″N 0°13′46″W / 51.81503°N 0.22935°W / 51.81503; -0.22935 (Ayot railway station)) served the village of Ayot St Peter. It opened as Ayott St Peters on 2 July 1877, and was named Ayott from 1 April 1878 until October 1878.

The station was destroyed by fire in 1948 and never rebuilt.^[4] It closed on 26 July 1948.

Welwyn Junction edit

Trains initially ran to temporary wooden platforms at Welwyn (on the site of the present Welwyn Garden City railway station). From 1 September 1860 trains ran on to Hatfield, and the temporary platforms were closed. The present station was opened in 1926.

Passenger services edit

The last passenger train, packed with enthusiasts, was hauled by Brush Type 2 D5589 on 24 April 1965.

Freight services edit

A goods service serving the Bedford Trucks factory in Dunstable continued until well into the 1980s.

Subsequent use of the line edit

National Cycle Route 6 at Sewell Cutting

The new guided busway route

Within Leighton Buzzard, the line is now used as a footpath and cycleway which crosses the Grand Union Canal and River Ouzel. Between Leighton Buzzard and Stanbridgeford, it was used to build part of the A505 Leighton-Linslade Southern Bypass. National Cycle Route 6 follows the line between Stanbridgeford and Dunstable, including Sewell Cutting, which is managed as a nature reserve by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.^[5]

The line between Dunstable and Luton has never been legally decommissioned. The track has been removed and a guided busway was constructed on the old trackbed, the Luton to Dunstable Busway, which opened in 2013. Buses run on this route as far as Dunstable Town and then divert via the old cement works.

The Lea Valley Walk follows the line between Luton Hoo and Harpenden. East of Wheathampstead, heading towards Welwyn Garden City, the trackbed was converted to a path called the Ayot Greenway.^[4]

References edit

^ Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service, British Railways Board Archived 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Steam World, June 2006.
^ Radford, B., (1983) Midland Line Memories: a Pictorial History of the Midland Railway Main Line Between London (St Pancras) & Derby London: Bloomsbury Books.
^ ^a ^b Countryside Management Service, A Circular Ride from Welwyn Archived 25 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
^ "Sewell Cutting". Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2015.

External links edit

Greenleas Rail History CLUTCH Club, Dunstable Branch
Lost Lines, Hatfield–Dunstable–Leighton Buzzard^{[permanent dead link]} (photos taken between 1989 and 2007)
J. F. Williams, Memories of Dunstable North Station 1942–1965
Dunstable Gazette, Picture the Past, Dunstable Bygones^{[permanent dead link]} (photos of Church Street Station and the bridge over High Street North)
Disused Stations, Luton Bute Street
Disused Stations, Luton Hoo
Disused Stations, Harpenden East
Disused Stations, Wheathampstead
Luton Council, Luton Dunstable Busway