Dunstable North was a railway station on 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 ...
's
branch line from Leighton Buzzard which served
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 ...
in Bedfordshire from 1848 to 1967. Originally the terminus of 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 ...
's
branch line from Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable became the point where the line met with the
Great Northern Great Northern may refer to:
Transport
* One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation).
* Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway.
* Great ...
's branch line from
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 ...
in 1858. The station became the hub of a number of
sidings connecting a variety of concerns to the line, including
Waterlows,
Bedfordshire County Council
Bedfordshire County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Bedfordshire in England. It was established on 24 January 1889 and was abolished on 1 April 2009. The county council was based in Bedford.
In 1997 Luton Borough ...
,
Associated Portland Cement
Blue Circle Industries was a British public company manufacturing cement. It was founded in 1900 as the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd through the fusion of 24 cement works, mostly around on the Thames and Medway estuaries, toget ...
, Dunstable
gasworks
A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space.
Early gasworks
Coal ...
and a coal yard operated by the Great Northern. Against a background of falling passenger numbers and declining freight returns, the station closed to passengers in 1965 and to goods in 1967. Connections were retained with the cement works and coal yard, which became an oil depot, until 1988 and the line eventually closed in 1991. The site of the station is now occupied by offices of
Central Bedfordshire Council Central Bedfordshire Council is the local authority for the Central Bedfordshire unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created from the merger of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire District Councils ...
(previously the headquarters of
South Bedfordshire
South Bedfordshire was, from 1974 to 2009, a non-metropolitan district of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. Its main towns were Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard.
Creation
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 as part of a gen ...
District Council). A section of the former line to the west of the site has become part of
route 6 of the
National Cycle Network
The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...
.
History
![Dunstablemap 1944](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Dunstablemap_1944.jpg)
The passing of the Dunstable & London & Birmingham Railway Act on 30 June 1845 authorised the construction of a short branch line from to connect
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 ...
with the
London and Birmingham's
main line
Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to:
Transportation
Railway
* Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system
* Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...
. The proposals were devised by
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
and
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS HFRSE FRSA Doctor of Civil Law, DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railway ...
. The line opened for freight on 29 May 1848 and to passengers on 1 June. A station was opened beside the
A5 Watling Street
Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main R ...
. It was constructed almost on the level with the road to allow a connection to be made with the Luton, Dunstable and Welwyn Junction Railway which opened a 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 ...
in May 1858. The crossing of Watling Street would require the road to be raised by and a
level crossing
A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...
to be constructed, but Parliament refused consent for the works. A solution was found whereby the original Dunstable station would be reconstructed at a higher level to allow the road to be crossed by a bridge, whilst also lowering the road level to allow sufficient clearance. This was accepted and a new station opened in January 1866. The delay in opening the new station was caused by protracted negotiations between the two railway companies as to who would bear the costs of construction. In the event, it was 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 ...
, which had absorbed the Dunstable & London & Birmingham Railway.
![Dunstable, Hertford, Hitchin & St Albans RJD 35](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Dunstable%2C_Hertford%2C_Hitchin_%26_St_Albans_RJD_35.jpg)
The new Dunstable station had two platforms and a
bay; the Down platform was used by trains (the extension from Luton to
Hatfield was completed in 1860), the bay was used for Leighton services and the Up platform was, it is believed, used as a
run-round loop
A headshunt (or escape track in the United States) is a short length of track provided to release locomotives at terminal platforms, or to allow shunting to take place clear of main lines.
Terminal headshunt
A 'terminal headshunt' is a short le ...
. The site of the original Dunstable station became the
goods yard
A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are l ...
. This yard saw large quantities of coal and fertiliser traffic, in addition to general traffic. To the south of the yard lay the town's
gasworks
A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space.
Early gasworks
Coal ...
which were served by
sidings, whilst to the west was a
signal box
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
which controlled access to the yard as well as the level crossing over Brewer's Hill Road. A rail-served
Bedfordshire County Council
Bedfordshire County Council was the county council of the non-metropolitan county of Bedfordshire in England. It was established on 24 January 1889 and was abolished on 1 April 2009. The county council was based in Bedford.
In 1997 Luton Borough ...
depot was situated on the other side of the level crossing immediately to the north of the running lines. Other sidings served
Waterlow's printing works
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...
, the
Great Northern Great Northern may refer to:
Transport
* One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation).
* Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway.
* Great ...
coal yard from 1871, and the
Associated Portland Cement
Blue Circle Industries was a British public company manufacturing cement. It was founded in 1900 as the Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers Ltd through the fusion of 24 cement works, mostly around on the Thames and Medway estuaries, toget ...
works at
Houghton Regis
Houghton Regis is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, East of England.
The parish is located in Central Bedfordshire, which includes the hamlets of Bidwell, Bedfordshire, Bidwell, Thorn, Bedfordshire, Th ...
from 1925. Due to
subsidence
Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...
a new 50-lever signal box replaced the LNWR one from 16 August 1958; it was only to have a short life as closure came just over a decade later on 23 March 1969. At this time the station was still lit by
gas lamp
Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly ...
s.
![Dunstable, South Bedfordshire District Council offices - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Dunstable%2C_South_Bedfordshire_District_Council_offices_-_geograph.org.uk_-_145493.jpg)
Passenger traffic over the Dunstable branch in its later years was not great except on market days, and Dunstable North, as it became after 1950, was closed to passengers in 1965 and to goods in 1967. The line to Leighton Buzzard closed from 1 January 1966, with tracklifting at Dunstable beginning in 1968. The former Great Northern coal yard became an oil storage depot in October 1968 which, together with the cement works, was served by between one and three trains daily. The section of line across the A5 bridge was closed in 1969 as it had cracked and the costs of replacement were not justified by the line's remaining traffic. The remaining sidings were disconnected and the signal box closed and demolished. A new
loop line was laid between Waterlow's siding and the cement works to provide a run-around. From 1971 the coal for the cement works was shifted to road and the rail connection was limited to the distribution of cement products. Cement and oil traffic continued until 1988 and closure of the line was authorised from 16 December 1991.
Present day
The station has been demolished and is now the site of offices of
Central Bedfordshire Council Central Bedfordshire Council is the local authority for the Central Bedfordshire unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. It was created from the merger of Mid Bedfordshire and South Bedfordshire District Councils ...
(previously the headquarters of
South Bedfordshire
South Bedfordshire was, from 1974 to 2009, a non-metropolitan district of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. Its main towns were Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Leighton Buzzard.
Creation
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 as part of a gen ...
District Council). What remains of the line to the west has become part of the
Sewell greenway from French's Avenue to just short of . The route is part of
National Cycle Network
The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...
route 6 and includes a bridge over the A505.
References
Sources
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External links
BBC feature on Dunstable's railways.*
ttp://www.lostlines.fotopic.net/c753257.html Pre-bypass images of the line.br>
Dunstable North station on navigable 1946 O. S. map.Photographs of removal of rail bridge near Dunstable North Station.
{{Closed stations Bedfordshire
Disused railway stations in Bedfordshire
Former London and North Western Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1848
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965
Transport in Luton/Dunstable Urban Area
Dunstable
Beeching closures in England
1866 establishments in England