Millbrook railway station serves the villages of Millbrook and

Marston Moretaine Marston Moreteyne (or Marston Moretaine) is a large English village and civil parish located on the A421 between Bedford and Milton Keynes in the county of Bedfordshire. The population was 4,560 at the 2001 census, and 4,556 at the 2011 census ...

in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the Marston Vale Line, between

Stewartby Stewartby is a model village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, originally built for the workers of the London Brick Company. The village was designed and built to the plans of the company's architect Mr F W Walker, laid out on ‘Garden City� ...

and

Lidlington Lidlington is a small village and civil parish in Central Bedfordshire, England surrounded by farmland, in the Marston Vale. The hamlets of Boughton End and Thrupp End are also part of the parish. The village has an unusual Gothic-style churc ...

. Millbrook is also the principal stop for the Marston Vale Millennium Country Park.

History

First opened in 1846 by the Bedford Railway, the station was originally named "Marston", but changed to "Ampthill (Marston)" in 1850 after the nearby

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

. The opening of a second and more conveniently-sited Ampthill station by 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 ...

in 1868 on its

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. ...

gave rise to confusion which was only resolved in 1877 when the original Ampthill station was renamed "Millbrook for Ampthill". The station is the fourth and final on the Marston Vale Line to be built in a

half-timbered Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

that had been insisted upon by the 7th Duke of Bedford for stations situated in the vicinity of the Woburn Estate. The two station platforms are east of 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 ...

. The station developed substantial coal traffic, as well as trade in cattle and goods with stables in its goods yard and a wagon repairers. A

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

called the Morteyne Arms opened opposite the station. Traffic increased still further with the development of the brick industry in the area; a

siding Siding may refer to: * Siding (construction), the outer covering or cladding of a house * Siding (rail) A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line, branch l ...

was opened on 7 May 1928 to cater for the trade in bricks, the towers of the Millbrook Brick Company could be seen from the station. The brick traffic peaked in the 1930s, with a second

brickworks A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a quarry for cl ...

called "Marston Moretaine" being opened a mile from the station; although it was too far for a siding, bricks were transported by road to the station where they were loaded on to rail wagons. The station, whose name was changed to "Millbrook" in 1910, was reduced to an unstaffed halt in 1968, having lost its formerly substantial goods facilities four years previously. The station building was restored in the early 1980s and converted into a private residence. In 1999, the low station platforms – the last of their type remaining on the line – were rebuilt to the standard height appropriate to modern trains. In 2021, a bench in memory of

Captain Tom Moore Captain Sir Thomas Moore (30 April 1920 – 2 February 2021), more popularly known as Captain Tom, was a British Army officer and fundraiser who made international headlines in 2020 when he raised money for charity in the run-up to his 100th bir ...

was unveiled on the station platform.

Services

Millbrook station, in common with others on the Marston Vale Line, is covered by the Marston Vale

Community rail Community rail in Britain is the support of railway lines and stations by local organisations, usually through community rail partnerships (CRPs) comprising railway operators, local councils, and other community organisations, and rail user group ...

Partnership, which aims to increase use of the line by involving local people. The station should not be confused with Millbrook station (Hampshire). An hourly service operates in each direction on weekdays and Saturdays, with no trains on Sundays. A Saturday service operates on most Bank holidays. Average journey times to are 17 mins and to 25 mins. Services are operated with Class 230 multiple units.

References

Sources

External links

*
Station on navigable 1946 O.S. map.
{{Railway stations in Bedfordshire Grade II listed buildings in Bedfordshire Railway stations in Bedfordshire DfT Category F2 stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846 Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains Ampthill 1846 establishments in England East West Rail