Shefford was a

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 prep ...

on the Bedford to Hitchin Line which served the town of Shefford in

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 ...

, England. Opened in 1857, it gave more than a century of service before closing in 1962.

History

Shefford station was opened by the Midland Railway in 1857 as part of its line from

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 ...

to Hitchin, part of an original scheme to allow 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 ...

a direct route to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

using the rival Great Northern Railway metals from Hitchin. When this did not work out, the Great Northern giving preference to their trains at the Hitchin junction, the Midland decided to build a new line south from Bedford to their new

St Pancras station St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It ...

in London. This new section opened in 1868. This Passenger traffic over the Bedford to Hitchin section then became minimal and services were reduced to a shuttle by 1880. The section between Southill and Shefford was the only part to remain double-tracked after 1911. The station building differed from the others on the line in that it was originally constructed of wood and stood on the viaduct which carried the line across Shefford High Street. Following nationalisation in 1948, British Railways demolished the station building and replaced it with a

pre-fabricated Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. The term is ...

concrete structure at road level. The platforms were replaced by timber ones which came from Carpenders Park station. The station's

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 ...

was located on the opposite site of the High Street, and despite its small size, it still managed to handle a substantial amount of agricultural traffic. The inter-war years saw a decline in traffic with the introduction of buses between Bedford and Hitchin. Traffic picked up again during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

when troop specials were run to enable conscripts to return home from the RAF camps at Cardington and

Henlow Henlow is a village and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of the county of Bedfordshire, England, about south-east of the county town of Bedford. The name Henlow is believed to derive from the old English ''henna hlaw'', meaning ...

. The introduction of

railbuses A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed ...

after the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

did little to improve traffic, and the line closed in 1962.

Stationmasters

*W. Peacock until 1861 *R.V. Warwick 1861 - 1862 *J. Ward 1862 - 1863 *C. Tidball 1863 - 1864 *I. Broom from 1864 *Luke Fox ca. 1871 until 1875 *Daniel Heath from 1875 - 1887 *F. Watkin 1887 - 1890 *John Walters 1890 - 1898 *Frederick Christian 1898 - 1909 *Frank G. Sugars 1909 - 1921 (also station master at Southill, afterwards station master at Pye Bridge) *Alfred Ballard 1921 - 1930 (formerly station master at Old Dalby, also station master at Southill) *John F. Georgeson ca. 1946 (also station master at Henlow) *R.C.T. Wilson from 1950 (formerly station master at Manton)

Present day

The station buildings were demolished soon after closure to make way for new housing, with the viaduct following in November 1976. The housing estate is situated on a road named "Old Station Way". After the line had closed, a proposal was made to re-use the trackbed as part of a bypass for the town, but this idea was not pursued.Davies, R and Grant, M.D., p. 115. The site of the goods yard is now the location of Shefford Industrial Park.

References

External links

Shefford station on a 1946 O.S. map
{{Closed stations Bedfordshire Disused railway stations in Bedfordshire Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1857 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1962 Charles Henry Driver railway stations 1857 establishments in England