The Dunstable Branch Lines were railway

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

s that joined the English town of

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

to the main lines at Leighton Buzzard and

Welwyn Welwyn is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands, Hertfordshire, Oaklands. It is sometimes referred to as Old Welwyn or Welwyn Village, ...

. The two lines were under separate ownership and joined just east of the Dunstable North station. The

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

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 Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

opened in 1858. The company then amalgamated with the

Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway The Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway is a former railway in Hertfordshire, England, which merged in 1858 with the Luton, Dunstable and Welwyn Railway to form the Hertford, Luton and Dunstable Railway, which was then taken over by the Great No ...

to form the

Hertford, Luton and Dunstable Railway The Hertford, Luton and Dunstable Railway was a railway affiliated to the Great Northern Railway (Great Britain), Great Northern Railway. It was formed when the Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway (opened 1858) merged with the Luton, Dunstable a ...

. 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 The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

from 1923 until

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

was formed in 1948. Passenger services were withdrawn in 1965 under the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

, and the track between Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard was removed. The line between Dunstable and the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

at Luton remained open for freight until 1990. Dunstable is now one of the largest towns in the

South East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

without a railway connection.

Stations

Dunstable, Hertford, Hitchin & St Albans RJD 35

Leighton Buzzard

Stanbridgeford

Stanbridgeford railway station () was close to the village of Stanbridge.

Dunstable North

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

Dunstable Town

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 Flanders and Swann were a British comedy duo. Lyricist, actor and singer Michael Flanders (1922–1975) and composer and pianist Donald Swann (1923–1994) collaborated in writing and performing comic songs. They first worked together in a scho ...

. The station was on Station Road.

Luton Bute Street

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.

Luton Hoo

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 Luton Hoo is an English country house and Estate (land), estate near Luton in Bedfordshire and Harpenden in Hertfordshire. Most of the estate lies within the civil parish of Hyde, Bedfordshire. The Old English language, Saxon word wikt:hoo#Etym ...

house and the village of New Mill End. It was close to the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

station of

Chiltern Green Chiltern Green is a hamlet located in Bedfordshire, England. It is in the civil parish of Hyde. The settlement lent its name to Chiltern Green railway station, which was located in nearby New Mill End. The railway station closed in 1952. Toda ...

and the GNR and Midland lines took a parallel course from Luton. The station building and platform still exist, sited next to a

sewage Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged from residenc ...

works.

Harpenden East

Harpenden East () was one of two stations serving the town of

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...

, the other station which remains open being Harpenden Central. Originally named Harpenden, the East suffix was added in 1950 to distinguish it from the

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

Wheathampstead railway station () served

Wheathampstead Wheathampstead is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, north of St Albans. The population of the ward at the 2001 census was 6,058. Included within the parish is the small hamlet of Amwell. History Settlements in this area were ...

Ayot

Ayot railway station () served the village of

Ayot St Peter Ayot St Peter is a village and civil parish in the Welwyn Hatfield district of Hertfordshire, England, about two miles north-west of Welwyn Garden City. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 166. At the 2011 Census the population ...

. 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.Countryside Management Service
A Circular Ride from Welwyn
. It closed on 26 July 1948.

Welwyn Junction

Trains initially ran to temporary wooden platforms at Welwyn (on the site of the present

Welwyn Garden City railway station Welwyn Garden City railway station serves the town of Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England. It is from on the East Coast Main Line. Train services are currently provided by Thameslink and Great Northern. History A station named ''W ...

). From 1 September 1860 trains ran on to Hatfield, and the temporary platforms were closed. The present station was opened in 1926.

Passenger services

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

Freight services

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

Subsequent use of the line

Dunstable, Dismantled railway and National Cycle Network Route 6 - geograph

Luton & Dunstable Busway (geograph 3716893)

Within Leighton Buzzard, the line is now used as a footpath and cycleway which crosses the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter st ...

and

River Ouzel The River Ouzel , also known as the River Lovat, is a river in England, and a tributary of the River Great Ouse. It rises in the Chiltern Hills and flows north to join the Ouse at Newport Pagnell. It is usually called the ''River Ouzel'' ...

. Between Leighton Buzzard and Stanbridgeford, it was used to build part of the

A505 The A505 is an A-class road in England. It follows part of the route of the Icknield Way and the corresponding Icknield Way Path and runs from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire to the A11 Abington Interchange North in Cambridgeshire. Route ...

Leighton-Linslade Southern Bypass.

National Cycle Route 6 Route Parts of the route are currently incomplete and some sections follow other routes. London to Milton Keynes The proposed route is to begin in central London, running from via Paddington railway station to the Grand Union Canal. The to ...

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 The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire (WTBCN) is a registered charity which manages 126 nature reserves covering . It has over 35,000 members, and 95% of people in Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshi ...

. The line between Dunstable and Luton has never been legally decommissioned. The track has been removed and a

guided busway Guided buses are buses capable of being steered by external means, usually on a dedicated track or roll way that excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of schedules even during rush hours. Unlike trolleybuses or rubber-tired trams ...

was constructed on the old

trackbed The track bed or trackbed is the groundwork onto which a railway track is laid. Trackbeds of disused railways are sometimes used for recreational paths or new light rail links. According to Network Rail, the trackbed is the layers of ballast a ...

, the

Luton to Dunstable Busway The Luton-Dunstable Busway is a guided busway system in Bedfordshire, England, which connects the towns of Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Luton with Luton Airport. It was built on the route of a disused railway track and opened in September 2013 ...

, 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 The Lea Valley Walk is a long-distance path located between Leagrave, the source of the River Lea near Luton, and the Thames, at Limehouse Basin, Limehouse, east London. From its source much of the walk is rural. At Hertford the path follows t ...

follows the line between Luton Hoo and Harpenden. East of

, heading towards

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

, the trackbed was converted to a path called the

Ayot Greenway The Ayot Greenway is a rail trail which extends from Ayot St Peter, just west of Welwyn Garden City and the A1(M) Motorway to Wheathampstead in Hertfordshire. Part of National Cycle Network Route 57, it runs for three miles along a former br ...