Ridgmont railway station is a small unstaffed

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

that serves the village of

Ridgmont Ridgmont is a small village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is located beside junction 13 of the M1 motorway, and close to Milton Keynes and Woburn Abbey. The 2001 census states the total population to be 418,Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

. The station is about away from Ridgmont on the other side of the

M1 Motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which lat ...

, (beside Junction 13),

Brogborough Brogborough is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, by junction 13 of the M1 motorway. According to the 2001, census it had a population of 343, reducing to 302 at the 2011 Census. The villag ...

and

Husborne Crawley Husborne Crawley is a small village and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, located close to Junction 13 of the M1 motorway. The village touches the borders of the Woburn Abbey estate on one side, and the village of Aspley Guise on the other. ...

. It also serves the large

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warehouse next door. It is on the

Bletchley Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in the south-west of Milton Keynes, and is split between the civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley. Bletchley is best known ...

—

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

Marston Vale Line.

Trains

The station is served by

London Northwestern Railway West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...

Bletchley — Bedford local services. Services are operated using Class 230 multiple units. Although not geographically the midpoint of the line, many train services 'cross' at Ridgmont station. There is no Sunday passenger service timetabled although the line remains open with signalers on duty at the Marston Vale Signalling Centre at Ridgmont.

Future

It is planned that the Marston Vale line will be upgraded as part of the

East West Rail East West Rail is a major project to establish a strategic railway connecting East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England. In particular, it plans to build (or rebuild) a line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keyne ...

programme, to permit running. The Oxford-Bedford services are planned to stop here.

Former station house

The former station house, built in 1846 in the Cottage Orné architectural style, underwent a total refurbishment in 2014 managed by the Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity (BRCC) with funding from the Railway Heritage Trust. A tea room, gift shop, disabled access and toilets, additional car parking, three small 'start-up' offices and a meeting room have been provided. The former Victorian booking office has been restored as a small heritage centre. Scenes from the feature film ' One Day' were filmed at the station.

General information

Ridgmont is in sight of Junction 13 of the

M1 motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which lat ...

and the station is adjacent to a number of distribution centres. It was at Ridgmont that a new Marston Vale signalling control centre was built as part of the Bedford — Bletchley route modernisation in 2004. This centre replaced all the

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'' ...

es and block posts (some contained within station buildings including Ridgmont) on the route. Trains crossing at Ridgmont Station 07102015

Services

An hourly service operates in each direction, Mondays to Saturdays.

Community Rail Partnership

Ridgmont 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,Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership
/ref> which aims to increase use of the line by involving local people.

References

External links

* {{Railway stations in Bedfordshire Railway stations in Bedfordshire DfT Category F2 stations Grade II listed buildings in Bedfordshire Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1846 Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains 1846 establishments in England Grade II listed railway stations East West Rail