Leighton Buzzard railway station

Leighton Buzzard railway station serves the towns of Leighton Buzzard and Linslade in the county of Bedfordshire and nearby areas of Buckinghamshire. Actually situated in Linslade, the station is 40 miles (64 km) north west of London Euston and is served by London Northwestern Railway services on the West Coast Main Line. Until the 1960s the station was the start of a branch to Dunstable and Luton, with a junction just north of the present station. The station has four platforms. Platforms 1 & 2 serve the fast lines and are used by Avanti West Coast services running non-stop to/from London Euston. Platforms 3 & 4 are served by slower London Northwestern railway services to/from London Euston and by Southern services between East Croydon and Milton Keynes Central.

Leighton Buzzard
LocationLinslade, Central Bedfordshire
England
Grid referenceSP910250
Managed byLondon Northwestern Railway
Platforms4
Other information
Station codeLBZ
ClassificationDfT category C2
History
Original companyLondon and Birmingham Railway
Key dates
9 April 1838Opened as Leighton
14 February 1859Rebuilt 160m to the south
1 July 1911Renamed Leighton Buzzard
6 February 1967Goods services withdrawn
September 1989Rebuilt
Passengers
2015/16 1.789 million
2016/17 1.841 million
2017/18 1.798 million
2018/19 1.842 million
2019/20 1.753 million
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
The station in 1948

Page's Park railway station, terminus for the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway (a narrow gauge heritage railway), is on the opposite side of the town.

History

The first station simply known as Leighton was opened by the London and Birmingham Railway on 9 April 1838[1] as part of the first section of its line from London Euston to Denbigh Hall.[2] The line had originally been planned to pass through Buckingham but opposition from the Duke of Buckingham ensured that it forced east through Linslade.[3] A station with two-facing platforms was opened a ¼-mile south of the Linslade tunnels. These are arranged unusually for a four track main line: the southbound slow line has a tunnel to itself as does the northbound fast line, however the northbound slow and southbound fast lines share a tunnel. This stems from the fact that the line was built as double-track and when quadrupled, the two extra lines could only be placed along both sides, as single-track tunnels.

In May 1848, the station became a junction when a branch line to Dunstable was opened.[4] The London and North Western Railway replaced the first station in February 1859 by another more permanent structure located 8 chains (160 m) to the south.[5] The new building had an imposing frontage featuring arched windows.[3] Access to the Dunstable branch was controlled by Leighton No. 2 signal box situated to the north of the station, while the actual branch signals were controlled by the main line box to the south.[6] In 1874, land was purchased to the south of the station alongside the Dunstable branch for the construction of goods sidings, which eventually became known as Wing Yard.[7]

The LNWR was absorbed by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in the 1923 railway grouping and, in 1927, it added a crossover between the fast and slow lines. This was to play a significant role in the derailment of Royal Scot No. 6114 "Coldstream Guardsman" at Linslade on 22 March 1931 when the driver took the crossover at 50–60 mph instead of the regulation 15 mph. There had been a diversion in place on the fast lines and the driver had missed the warning signals.[8] The engine overturned and six people were killed, including the driver and fireman.[9] The Scotland amateur football team was on the train, but remained unscathed.[10]

In 1957–1958 the platform buildings were rebuilt and a concrete awning placed over the platform. At the entrance a larger booking / waiting hall, central heating, electric lighting and the cycle storage, parcels and loading bay were improved.[11]

The Great Train Robbery of 1963 occurred just south of this station, at Bridego Bridge near Ledburn, at a bridge on the southbound stretch towards Cheddington.[12] Wing Yard was closed in February 1967[13] and it is now used as a car park,[14] while the branch to Dunstable was closed from June.[7] In 1989, the platforms were lengthened to accommodate 12-coach trains and a £1.8m project to rebuild the station was started.[7]

Up freight approaching Linslade Tunnel in 1948

Motive power depot

The London and North Western Railway opened a small motive power depot at the south end of the station in 1859. This was reroofed in 1957 but closed 5 November 1962 and was demolished.[15]

Services

The station is served by trains operated by London Northwestern Railway and Southern.

The Monday-Saturday off-peak service is:

London Northwestern Railway
Southern
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Bletchley or
Milton Keynes Central		   London Northwestern Railway
London commuter service		   Cheddington or
Berkhamsted or
London Euston
Bletchley   London Northwestern Railway
London-Birmingham		   Cheddington or
Berkhamsted or
London Euston
Southern
Disused railways
Terminus   London and North Western Railway
Dunstable Branch Line		   Stanbridgeford
Line and station closed

Interchange

Leighton Buzzard station is served by several local buses. The F70 bus route, operated by Arriva, provides a direct Bus rapid transit service to Luton via the Luton to Dunstable Busway, with an onward connection to Luton Airport and also to Milton Keynes.[16] The F77 bus route, also operated by Arriva, provides the same service to Luton and also a service to Bletchley.[17][18][19]

Reinstating the connection to Luton

There have been past proposals about reopening the route to Luton when little of it had been lost to new construction, as either a rail link or as a guided busway.[20] Although there is now a guided busway between Dunstable and Luton, much of the Leighton Buzzard to Dunstable section was lost to the Leighton Buzzard Southern Bypass.

Accidents and incidents

On 22 March 1931, a passenger train was derailed due to excessive speed through a crossover. Six people were killed.[21]

References
  1. Butt 1995, p. 141.
  2. Leleux 1984, p. 19.
  3. Simpson 1998, p. 7.
  4. Oppitz 2000, p. 100.
  5. Woodward & Woodward 2008, fig. 2.
  6. Woodward & Woodward 2008, fig. 4.
  7. Simpson 1998, p. 83.
  8. Leleux 1984, p. 240.
  9. Simpson 1998, p. 36.
  10. "A Celebration – 100 Years of the SAFA" (PDF). p. 17. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  11. Railway Magazine December 1957 p. 883
  12. Oppitz 2000, pp. 99–100.
  13. Clinker 1978, p. 75.
  14. Shannon 1995, p. 70.
  15. Roger Griffiths and Paul Smith, The directory of British engine sheds:1 (Oxford Publishing Co., 1999), p.119. ISBN 0 86093 542 6.
  16. "F70 Timetable". bustimes. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  17. "F77 Timetable". bustimes. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  18. "Routes & Timetables". Busway. Luton Borough Council. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  19. "Bus timetables and bus routes". centralbedfordshire.gov.uk. Central Bedfordshire Council. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  20. "Report calls for busway extension to Leighton Buzzard and Cheddington". Leighton Buzzard Observer. 27 March 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  21. Hall 1990, p. 97.

Sources
  • Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  • Clinker, C.R. (October 1978). Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830–1977. Bristol: Avon-Anglia Publications & Services. ISBN 0-905466-19-5.
  • Hall, Stanley (1990). The Railway Detectives. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0 7110 1929 0.
  • Leleux, Robin (1984) [1976]. A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: The East Midlands (Volume 9). Newton Abbot, Devon: David St. John Thomas. ISBN 978-0-946537-06-8.
  • Oppitz, Leslie (2000). Lost Railways of the Chilterns (Lost Railways Series). Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. ISBN 978-1-85306-643-6.
  • Shannon, Paul (1995). British Railways Past and Present: Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and West Hertfordshire (No. 24). Wadenhoe, Peterborough: Past & Present Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85895-073-0.
  • Simpson, Bill (1998). The Dunstable Branch. Witney, Oxon: Lamplight Publications. ISBN 978-1-899246-03-8.
  • Woodward, Sue; Woodward, Geoff (May 2008). Branch Line to Dunstable from Leighton Buzzard to Hatfield. Midhurst, West Sussex: Middleton Press. ISBN 978-1-906008-27-7.

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