Sandy Bedfordshire UK - Bedford & Cambridge Railway

This railway formed one of the few east-west routes across country, with the capability of reaching the east coast ports.

Its origins lie in plans and proposals to build railways between Bletchley and Bedford, Bedford and Cambridge, with the connections eventually being built to link Cambridge with Oxford - hence the "Universities Line".

Robert Stephenson surveyed the routes between Bletchley and Bedford, and also between Bedford and Cambridge, in 1844/45. Had his recommendation been followed, the line would have run through Sandy, and then headed north easterly towards Tetworth and Waresley.

However, this scheme was abandoned, and only the Bedford to Bletchley route was built, which opened on November 17th 1846. In the 1850's William Henry Whitbread formed the Bedford & Cambridge Railway Company, and progressed an Act through Parliament.

In the meantime, Captain William Peel RN had already started to build his railway, from Potton to Sandy, in order to join up with the Great Northern Railway. This opened in 1857, and in 1862 was absorbed into the Bedford & Cambridge Railway, who were then able to use Peel's route instead of earlier proposals.

Route of Bedford to Cambridge Railway

Stations were constructed at Gamlingay, 1 mile from the town, (after objections from the Old North Road's turnpike trustees), Old North Road (on the turnpike) and Lords Bridge ( a stop for Lord Oxford, who was lord of the local manor). To the west of Sandy, stations were built at Blunham and Willington, on the way to Bedford. There was also for a short time, a stop at Girtford Halt - there is no evidence of its' existence now but certainly in the late 1930's it was possible to buy tickets at 'John's Cafe' which was situated close by but has long since disappeared with the re-development of the A1. Also, during the Second World War, a spur line was put in from the main London to Edinburgh route, so that in the event of any bombing by the Germans, trains would be able to divert to come in via St Pancras. This spur was taken up during re-development of the area and the only evidence now is the ballast forming part of a public footpath leading toward the Sunderland Road industrial area. The route to Bedford now forms part of the National Cycle Route No: 51 and along its path can be seen the remains of former sidings and trackside buildings as well as a couple of restored bridges over the Ivel.

The current station house at Potton is not the first - when Captain Peel built his original railway line, it ended at Potton and the sheds were some 2-300 yards further south, more or less in a straight line from the route from Sandy. A line curve was put in when the line was extended towards Cambridge. The station house is now a private residence and parts of the track to the north of the property have been built over by industrial developers.

The railway itself was operated by the London and North Western Railway, who from 1862 ran 5 trains per day each way, between Bedford and Cambridge, and one on Sundays. In 1938, there was an experimental service using the then "new" diesel-electric multiple units between Oxford and Cambridge. The war intervened, and the experiment discontinued.

By 1967, the line was operating diesel hauled trains. The railway survived the "Beeching axe" after the evaluation of Britain's railways in 1961 led to wholesale closure of many rural routes, as the good Dr Beeching (the report's author), recognised the potential growth of an East -West route to the ports of Felixstowe and Harwich. Alas British Railways thought differently, and the line was closed on 31st December 1967.

A "Webb" 2-4-0 goods engine, hauling a goods train out of Sandy on to the Bedford - Potton line c1900