Should it have closed? Will it ever reopen? Let me know your thoughts below. Please *like* and *share* this film far and wide! Might you consider supporting my channel even more? www.buymeacoffee.com/rediscovering
Why oh why pay for a totally new route between Bedford and Cambridge when 80% or so of the original trackbed is intact? It has to be surely much cheaper to buy up the remaining 20% or so in private hands and you wouldn't have environmentalists complaining either.
@@ianhosier4042 between sandy and Cambridge some of the trackbed has been built on and at the Cambridge end there's a weard bus system built on the trackbed,
I can understand why it closed but I think it has become a more important route in the past 30 years. Re-opening with less stations and a faster line would make it a competitive route again.
The closure of this line was a prime example of corporate insanity. It should never have been closed, but economies such as on board ticket issuing and selective station closures could have saved the line which provided important connections to the GWR, Midland and. Great Northern lines as well as connections to East Anglia. With a little bit of corporate savvy, it could be profitable and should be reinstated asap.
It is a shame there is so much opposition to this project. The link between Cambridge and Oxford badly needs restoring. Great film once again, I really enjoyed seeing the archive film, please keep up the splendid work.
About 20 years ago I went from Oxford to Cambridge by train. It took me hours trailing through London and back again. Good lateral rail lines are desperately needed in the UK so that people can avoid having to either up to York or Down to London to go across the country.
@@xr6lad Steady on old boy - our friend was trying to say that what is happening in the UK currently is anybody's guess. If voters could vote for Brexit then literally anything could happen. Like it seems to have done in the past. Incidentally how is Brexit going? Families 7% worse off over the next few years I am now waiting for someone to tell us that this is the same across Europe :-))
It was really criminally short-sighted to close these rural railway lines. At a minimum they should have left the track-bed available for possible future use. Once a former trackbed is built over, the line can never be put back to use without great difficulty and expense. This was a marvellous video. The steam engine sounds whenever you show a photo of a steam train were a nice touch.
Thank you! If anyone has noticed the steam engine sounds, they've not yet mentioned it, so thanks for noticing - indeed, all the sound of the DMU is from a recording of me travelling on one some years ago!
It's amazing how much of the trackbed remains intact between Cambridge and Bedford. Hats off to the guys who preserved those stations and exciting to see progress on east west rail.
The track bed between Bedford and Cambridge is not being reused. The chosen route takes a much more southerly route so that the line will approach from the south via a new station south of Cambridge.
@@ds1868 seems so silly to make an entirely new route as it is far cheaper to buy up the 20% or so of the original trackbed in private hands. British rails real crime was selling the trackbed not closing the railway.
Another masterclass. Me and my son found a signal lamp in the undergrowth at Bedford at Johns. Found after 55 years in the undergrowth. It's restored and now sits in our living room
Thanks ever so much - and I saw the pictures of your discovery on FB and remain incredibly jealous! All these years out there making this films and I've found nothing!
This railway will greatly ease the burden on London, because East-West freight from Felixstowe to the Midlands will no longer need to thread its way through Stratford and occupy much needed slots on the North London line. This is such a common sense routing of such traffic flows that I'm surprised the viability question gets taken seriously. Non viable is not building it. However, I repeat my charge that not electrifying the railway from the start is gross negligence. Almost all the feeder lines are electrified already, so they are planning a hole in the network. What has changed since BR's shortsighted closure of the Varsity Line is mass containerisation of freight flows. Felixstowe is here a major facility. That wasn't the case in 1967. I believe that the phrase "east-west freight", which is standard railway parlance, gave the line its name anyway. Maybe there's a hint somewhere in that.
The line should never have closed but it is important that it is now fully rebuilt and during construction should be electrified throughout its entire route. An excellent video thank you.
Just ..... thank you and well done. I lived in Hitchin in the 60's. Travelled Hitchin to Bedford line. Rode Bedford to Bletchley, thanks to Ian Allan. I hope the disgruntled residence can be made to appreciate the WONDER that having a rail line as a neighbour, can bring
Glad you enjoyed it - do share far and wide if you can! And check out my film 'The Lost Main Line to London' which examines the Bedford to Hitchin line!
As someone who knew it well when it was open it was a travesty when it was closed. My great Uncle was station master and signalman at Blunham. I spent many many hours as a boy riding from Bedford St Johns to Blunham then watching the trains from his garden, passing the tokens to the drivers, and even sometimes riding on the footplate between Blunham and Beeston Mill the private siding. Uncle Walter and his sons Gordon and John were part of Blunham village life. Now sadly passed away but the many happy memories are still there. Won't reopen in my lifetime and not through the original trackbed in many places. False economy again. What a superb presentation. Thank you.
Having been born close to the branch to Oxford at West Bletchley in1950 i grew up with its daily life including watching . the collection of loaded brick wagons from the Newton Longville London Brickworks Company siding, and also between 1962 and 1965 me and my fellow engine spotting friends would travel to Oxford for the day, and indeed on one such a day we had that treat of a steam hauled express crossing over the branch heading for Marylebone. I am looking to ride the new reopened line to Bletchley next year as i have family there hoever it will be sad not to see the idilyic Swanbourne Station as i remember it. Thank you so much for a trip down memory lane.
I work for the company that maintains the railway. As a child I went to work with Dad at some weekends as he worked for BR. One weekend he was tasked to remove the bridge at Sandy that crossed the ECM. This varsity line should never have closed and the new one needs to follow the same route whatever it takes. 😊 I love this video. The accompanying music is very moving and represents a beautiful line.
It had been living on borrowed time since the 1930s and during WW2 did its fortunes have an upturn. But by 1959 BR had decided they wanted to close the line.
Excellent coverage of past, present, and potential. Personally, to stop the railway at Bedford would be tragic enough; to truncate it at Bletchley/Milton Keynes would castrate the whole purpose of the original cross-party agreement to link Oxford with its wealth creative equal at Cambridge. Thus once again, money spent on a big,rational vision for UK research and its substantial industrial and employment prospects, not to mention literally amazing prospects for railways rather than roads to link East Anglia with the west and north of the country. And all without touching London! Do it guys and gals - however long it takes.
I'm glad it looks like the line being rebuilt (and realigned where needed). Hopefully it'll run all the way to Cambridge, but it seems very shortsighted that it's not being upgraded with overhead electrification. By the time the corridor is complete, in any sensible world diesel traction (and certainly *new* diesel traction) would be untenable. At best, we'll have a halfway-house bodge job with battery-electric, with its requisite charging time and heavier, more resource-wasteful and slower-accelerating trains.
Absolutely fantastic Film/Documentary! I really love the efforts that people living near the Vartisy line have made to preserve Some old elements of the line! Like the canopy seen at potton station. The east west rail route is very important, it links England’s Two universities cities and Several towns like Bicester and Bedford along the way. I can’t wait to see this line in service, the first train between Oxford and Cambridge in over 50 years! What a day that will be when the line is complete.
As someone from across the pond who knows nothing about England's rail history or current transportation policies, I found this an intriguing story--the final chapter of which is yet to be written. So glad this route was one of the "lost" lines covered in a previous video of yours, RLR, as the before-and-after footage provides wonderful contrasts in the rebuilding efforts. Highly professional work as always, worthy of broadcast on the History or Rediscovering, er, Discovery Channel. Thank you, RLR, for posting this quality presentation.
All you need to know is that the British invented the railways and were the first to build them. The line between Oxford and Cambridge secured further funding today in the Chancellors autumn statement. The original budget of £5 billion will be over £6 billion due mainly to inflation, but the final figure will probably be higher. The story of Britain's railways can be summarised as foliows: Britain built the first railways and by the 1930s had the most comprehensive railway system in the world; in the 1950 and 60s the railways declined and the Beeching Report of 1965 led to the axing of over one third of the network, with more closures later on including this railway; and finally during this century a very slow reinvestment of the railways which has led to some notable achievements but still very much below what is needed.
@@ds1868 And to add to that, after the brutality of the B**ching Axe (remember this is a man who died wishing he'd closed MORE railways!) it's actually very hard to close a railway line in the UK now. As it should be, because they technically belong to us not private companies. Just like the railroad made America what it is the railways of the UK powered the industrial revolution (along with tea, obviously...). The US is only now waking up to what it calls High Speed Rail, which I believe is an average of around 71mph. Hmmm.
I think all disused railway lines should be turned into cycle tracks. Mainly as this would preserve the routes, which are usually the optimum way for rail to traverse the contours of the landscape. Once built upon or sold-off, bringing the trackbed back to use becomes far more complex.
@@nickbarber2080 still less of a hurdle to overcome than the route being totally lost to development and fragmented ownership. A route near me would be perfect for a cycle trail, but the local railway reinstatement group fiercely opposed it, for the same concern you raise. It's now been completely developed with housing and businesses. Any new rail link will now need to take a new alignment which will mean our town would not get a station.
@@shm5547 Yes,that is true. Perhaps they should be converted to cycle routes on the understanding that this is a mothballing for possible eventual railway use...written into the contracts.
Thank you so much for showing this film, I like old railways and buildings, the trouble is that way always think of the present but never think about what it may be like in 60 or a hundred years' time, once again, thank you so much for making this program.
It seems pretty daft to cut travel links between the two most-major universities in the UK. BR definitely screwed up freight aspects of The Modernisation Plan but the idea to have traffic avoid bottlenecking round North London was a good one. Plenty of brownfield sites (ex-brickworks) along the Marston Vale line just waiting for redevelopment! A slight correction: the Bletchley Flyover was not demolished. It has been upgraded/replaced during EWR construction which reused the existing earthworks and bridge pilings. The section directly above the WCML is new-build and has Aerial conductor rail running under it rather than traditional catenary wires. Ideally, EWR would be opening with OHLE but if that made the cost difference to get it open at all I will accept that. It can be put in later. I’ll close by saying “Death to Guided Busways!” (Even the inventor doesn’t recommend them any more).
The maintenance cost of the misguided busway is ridiculous - as for cycling and running alongside the buses - you're often at the height of the bus exhaust. It's too frightening for horses to use those paths. There have been deaths due to the lack of protection of pedestrians. It's an awful idea it needs ripping out and replacing with a proper railway that can handle incoming freight from Felixstowe.
When I played hooky I used to catch the train from Bletchley, the old station, to either Bow Brickhill or Woburn Sands so I could walk up into the woods that are part of the Duke of Bedford estate. The engine sheds and coach sheds in Bletchley were great playgrounds for us kids after they closed. Fenny Stratford station was always picturesque to me. I said before the house we lived in backed onto the line on its way to Oxford and I used to listen to the steam goods trains struggling with the slight incline. Happy days - Please list what music you use, your choice is perfect and warms my memories. Many thanks for these wonderful programmes.
Thanks ever so much for sharing your memories. As for the music, let me get that sorted and I'll put it in the description. Do share far and wide if you can!
The revised section from Sandy to Cambridge via the new town of Camborn built on the old airfield actually follows the route originally prposed in the 1840's. I went on a special excursion in 1989 from Oxford to Bedford just b4 closure. The section from Bedford to Cambridge I've explored on foot and by glider hired from nearby Gransden Lodge Airfield. This section was extensively explored in 2021. Good to see it reopening.
Thank you for an expertly crafted documentary on the Varsity Line - its past and its reopening, in part, or - hopefully - in whole; albeit on a new route into Cambridge. Some wonderful archive footage, with an informative narrative and some thoughful considerations about its possible impact, not least on the environment. But then, what about the probably much greater impact of the projected E-W express road link? This has now been cancelled, but there is more than one way to get from A to B, e.g. by a series of major 'improvement' schemes.
As someone who has driven from Peterborough to Oxford a few times (mainly because there isn't a rail route!) I can confirm that the road route isn't as bad as you might think. Once you are passed the roundabout nightmare of Milton Keynes (15 roundabouts in succession) the route is actually fairly quick.
In the early 1960s I lived at Potton and could catch a train about 7:50 (IIRC) to Sandy where there was a connection to a train to London arriving at 9:30ish(?). In about 1964 the timing was altered to a later time which just missed the connection at Sandy and, after a long wait, one could not arrive in London until after 11:00. The only alternative was an early morning bus to Biggleswade and thence to London. We complained, but were ignored by British Rail. My house was only a few yards from the station with the railway at the end of my back garden. Thanks for this video, it brought back many memories some good, some bad.
Being brought up in Gamlingay, before, during and after the closure of the Varsity line, this brought back many memories for which I thank you. You mention the line crossing the road "on the level" as it leaves Gamlingay for Potton. It was in fact that the road crossed the rails via an overbridge which has long since been demolished - an occurence I can remember well.
Thanks for pointing this out! Just goes to show that one can put in hours and hours of research and let such things slip through the net! Really glad you enjoyed the film nevertheless!
Yes. Another crazy closure by people whose vision didn't exceed 5-ish years. An exceptionally well constructed, organised, filmed and narrated piece. Thank you. I'm pessimistic about a future reopening due to cost and encroachment on now quiet lives.
I used to live in Crossing Cottage at Sandy, now in Potton not to far from the old station house, it’s brilliant seeing this footage of how the railway used to run.
Several thoughts spring to my mind. Undoing past closures are expensive and fraught with difficulty but essential to providing a choice of movement around the country. Only some aspire to own a car or board a coach. Reopened lines have the potential to breathe new life into areas bringing work opportunities close to the line. As for modern building techniques: well, let's say I still love the older stone and brick bridges but understand the cost-benefit of concrete, although, as the Glenfinnan viaduct shows, you can still create beauty with concrete. Today's engineers appear to lack imagination in their designs. A tremendously informative and well crafted film. Thank you.
Your videos are highly professional and make for engaging viewing. East west rail is vital and needs reopening in full with electrification. Passive provision all well and good, and I'd rather have the railway route built in full than a curtailed stump which stalls because feeble politicians use rising costs as an excuse to kill it off. Get the rails down to Cambridge, when it proves its worth (it will) then the fizzy knitting can be deployed.
Your documentaries are marvellous. Factual, without emotion and full of intriguing detail, I can watch them for hours. This one especially is interesting as, when I was a student at Oxford University, the only way to get to see a girlfriend at Cambridge was to travel by coach from city to city - a nightmare of a journey. (She sacked me soon afterwards anyway, so I didn’t do it for long!!!)
Superb video, a masterpiece and easily the best video on the Varsity Line by far! As usual the research, filming, narration etc is way ahead of others. I can only imagine the work and effort you put in over many hours, days and weeks. So, thank you for all your efforts in producing this film. A pleasure to watch.👏👍🙂
The many hours, days and weeks are all worthwhile when people such as yourself are so kind about my effort. Greatly appreciated - thank you - do share far and wide if you can!
Excellent and well-informed commentary. It is a difficult planning problem to substantiate completion of this line, building a new railway where none existed. The suggestion of an alternative route approaching Cambridge from the North appears to have much in its favour - and much less opposition. So your commentary leaves me with much thought - we shall see how it evolves!
I'm from Bedford & remember the operating old line as I lived right next to the st Leonards avenue station Bedford as a young kid. I also remember it went over Cardington Road via a bridge which has now been replaced by a level crossing ( now unused) which led to sandy. So I would love to see it restored. But the present climate in the UK makes me believe it could be after my life on this planet. (I'm 65 years old)
Fantastic! Thank you. I really enjoyed this one but, I enjoy all your productions! It’s great to see these old lines coming back but there’s a long way to go to get back to where we were in 1904!!! Rather than waste money on expensive vanity projects like HS2 I would rather money go into reopening lost lines like this one.
I feel that this may be more useful than EWR but I have nothing to substantiate that other than my opinion. Really glad you enjoyed the film - do share far and wide if you can!
With the cost of road travel increasing it would make sense to open most of the lines closed by Dr. Beeching, it was Ernest Marples who caused all the closures and he was a major shareholder of the firm who had the contract to build the M1 motorway, and seen the railway as a major competitor to his road building plans and ordered Dr. Beeching to initiate the closures and not knowing anything about railways he obeyed. Now we are seeing the error of the vast majority of railway routes that were closed.
I'm old enough to have travelled along this line in the distant past - via Bletchley and Bedford - it took ages! The concept is a good one, allowing London to be avoided if travelling from the West Country to the North East - and, upgraded, the line would have been of far more use than HS2.
@@RediscoveringLostRailways Born and brought up along the 'Gold Coast' - if you know where that was - my next door neighbour was the engine shed foreman at Didcot. My schoolteachers' husband was an engine driver. Guess where I spent all my spare time, how many footplates I rode upon, and just how many illicitic miles I rode without a ticket! I've fired (albeit badly) City of Truro, rather slower in those day than when going down the Somerset banks many years before. Coal? - we never bought any for our cottage, no-one minding if a little 'scrumping' took place at the local station - and the whole village (well, hamlet) was at it anyway. Oh, with enough space, the tales I could tell you ....!
Another great video. Honestly I don’t see why people don’t want this to happen. Most of the route is literally not even built over and nearly all of the original station buildings survive and are restored. Most houses wouldn’t even be affected with the only ones being are mainly the old station building that have been turned into houses. Anyway keep up the great work!!
I remember taking a Christmas Shopper service from Beaconsfield to Milton Keynes in December 1986. It was great travelling on some of the old GCR line from Aylesbury and then join the Oxford to Cambridge line north of Calvert. I remember stopping at Winslow. The journey took forever. Max speed was 30 on the bits not in regular use.
Until their replacement by Networker Turbos in the early 1990s, the old Marylebone lines DMUs were maintained at Bletchley depot for a time and BR used to run a couple of empty sets per day each way Aylesbury-Bletchley.
Really enjoyed that, the Cambridge guided bus route was lobbied to re-open existing rail line but council was hell bent on guided bus route, I am led to believe in the end it would have been cheaper to upgrade the existing rail line
Glad you enjoyed it! Do share far and wide if you can! As for the guided busway, it is obviously well-used and many rely on it, but I just prefer trains!
An excellent video. In May 1986 two friends and I stopped off at Verney Junction, en route to Aylesbury for football. We had a few excellent pints of Everards Tiger ale in the Verney Arms hotel. The odd Freightliner rumbling by. 20 years or so later, I visited Verney Junction and the hotel was a restaurant.
As always a excellent presentation, I remember a spur of track still heading east by the bus garage in Bedford in the early 70’s . I walked the section heading east at Cambridge before the mis guided bus was was put in as well, in fact I then walked the track bed to St Ives another lost opportunity,
Thank you for this excellent and thought-provoking update. Though I am very keen on seeing this Railway completed, it seems to me that the route from Bedford to Cambridge has not been properly thought through. The former alignment would seem to be more direct and less disruptive to communities and nature than the potential routes that you mention at the end of the video.
If the telescopes weren’t on the track bed, a case could be made for demolishing the busway to put the railway back (and I’d help swing the hammers). Unfortunately the track bed has been built over at Sandy, and EWR doesn’t have legal power to compulsorily purchase the houses to demolish them. Hence, a new route for Bedford-Cambs is required :(
Another quite splendid video! You raised the question of whether post-pandemic home working might negate some of the arguments for the line. I would like to suggest this may be a short-term "blip" and given the sheer quantity of new and proposed housing around Cambridge (and I assume Oxford) the timing of the line's reinstatement may be quite providential. I have noticed in recent months that the GN trains between Ely & Cambridge are back to a healthy capacity after a few years of near-empty carriages, and that's even after the doubling the units from 4 to 8!
Agree. I know many drifting back into the office as being at home alone, not having a laugh or chat with work colleagues does start to pale. Although I think that flexibility will remain to some extent, in my case we are expecting to come in for 2-3 days and can work the rest from home but I know many that do more than that. In my case it’s nice sitting at a proper desk with decent monitors at work than my desk at home with not the best setup. Training a new person remotely is also a pain.
Good evening. Just to let you know, I did watch this the other day but forgot to comment. Well done and another sterling job on the video. The effort and work you put into your films are outstanding sir. Many thanks and all the best. 😊🍻👍
Absolutely superb presentation, must have taken forever to put together, very well done. With our ever burgeoning population and consequent crowded roads I think there is a need for more railways though whether or not the new folk of Britain will put their hands in the pockets to pay to use railways is another matter.
Very kind of you to say so - Do share far and wide if you can! As for the railways and their use - they are so expensive to travel on that it is becoming prohibitive!
What a great video. I live near to the current works and for one can't wait until the link is ready between Oxford and Bletchley. I hope that it proceeds to Cambridge one day. Having spent more years can I care to remember driving to either Oxford and Cambridge....and the time it takes ...to me the benefits far out number the issues a new "Varsity" line will bring. But once again well done on such a great video.
I think this is video number 43. In my opinion, the very best so far. Absolutely brilliantly made. Full of history about the past. Superb information about the present and now the future of a fascinating railway line. This video is very professionaly made. Your camera work, drone footage and commentary make this video exceptional.
@@RediscoveringLostRailways Just brilliant - I think your relaxed style of commentary, added to the perfect choices of music, are a lesson in making a documentary that lives and breathes! Well Done again Sir!
I used the Varsity line in 1965 when travelling from Cambridge to Oxford to see which university I might prefer. Innocent as I was then of transportation politics, I had no notion that this most useful connection would be severed only three years later. But not, I trust, forever. A very well-produced documentary with excellent commentary, though I would echo the comment about pejorative language -- the HS2 project, whatever you may think of its merits, is demonstrating the great lengths to which environmental concerns about new railway construction are accepted and addressed these days.
Many thanks for your kind words about my film and your memories - which did you choose in the end? As for so-called pejorative language, I would say this is not fair - that this railway and HS2 will 'devastate' natural habitats is a matter of fact, whether or not they create alternatives in mitigation.
I hit the wrong button in error. i like this - I find this whole treatment of the East West Rail superbly thorough, and optimistic, but not fanciful. I'll try to follow the rail through
First class video, professionally produced. Hope that reopening can take place. As an adventurous young trainspotter I got the train from Cambridge to Sandy and back. That was in 1963.
I thought your film about the lost Great Central Railway was pretty good ...... . but well, you have totally surpassed yourself with the Cambridge to Oxford "Varsity" line. The aerial / drone footage, ground shots, all added & combined to some historical cine film & clips is just of the upmost quality. Congratulations on a most enjoyable film. I used to live a few miles north of this line, in Royston. Many a year we would drive along the then old A14 road, which became the A1198 and i always remembered the hump in the road as we entered Longstowe, aka, Old North Road. The owner has certainly done a fantastic job of keeping all the buildings in tip top condition. Even 2 stops along the line, at Potton, the owner of that station has done a superb job of maintaining a short section of platform complete with the canopy. I had the pleasure of meeting the owner and was invited to have a look around the remains of the platform.. I stood on the platform looking towards Sandy and then towards the Cambridge direction. Apart from the factory unit built across the trackbed in the Cambridge direction and the road overbridge in the Sandy direction being filled in it was a big, WOW moment i can assure you. These things have to be seen to be believed because along some other sections, if you were told that a line once ran through there, where now its just cultivated fields or dense woodland, you wouldn't be believed !!.
Many many lines closed weren't recommended by Beeching, Marples had the pier to override anything Beeching said. Marples wife held his shares in Marples construction, he was a villan who eventually did a midnight runner overseas as he was a tax fraudster.
Coming from Wales which had 90% of its railway torn out I would say it was madness. No Railway should be closed because apart from providing access it gives work in many rural areas both directly and indirectly from local suppliers, and access for those country areas to get a share of the expanding leisure market as a source of income for those communities.
This was a lot of work. Well done Rediscovering Lost Railways I didnt even realise 50 odd minutes had gomne by after watching this. Brilliant work. keep it up.
One of your best. Often in your presentations, abandoned plate layers huts feature. I wonder how those men felt when their day-to-day hard work and dedication in keeping the track maintained to such high standards was with a stroke of a pen closed, and the scrapers moved in and unceremoniously tore it up before their eyes. It must have been so devastating for them. At least you keep the memory alive of what once was and thank you. Peter, Melbourne, Australia
Great video! I get the feeling this takes time but I feel the effort put into all those different shots, the voice-over describing what we see and the lovely music.
Superb Video I visited the Swanage Railway in July it was superb journey and scenery especially as I travelled in the Observation Car. The journeys were superb with steam (Manston) or vintage diesel. The trains were well filled many people waiting at the main stations and especially Swanage and Corfe and Wareham.
Another excellent film from you, will be sharing on my local railway group via Facebook. I’ve paid a lot of interest in the EWR over the last six months, and it’s looking like it’s coming on well between Bicester and Bletchley
I used to occasionally travel to work on the Bicester Town to Oxford section many years ago. The problem was the number of times the service didn't run, sometimes because the military needed the single line for its purposes. On those occasions I'd get to the station to be met by the conductor who'd tell passengers to wait for coaches, or on one occasion taxis, to take us either to or from Oxford.
@@RediscoveringLostRailways That's what I was told it was at the time given the proximity to Bicester Town station and that single track to the Bicester Military Railway.
Looks like Mr Hunt got one thing right yesterday when he committed to finishing this railway line. How it was ever considered for closure defies belief really. Sad thing is its not electrified the benefits that would bring to the country would have been enormous.
I used this line from Bletchley in 1954 to get to a (sadly unsuccessful) interview for Fitzwilliam House (as it was then). To anyone with even a remote interest in the efficient transport of people and goods, it is hard to look at a map of the British railway sysytem in the early 1960s without crying.
Superb ...your best yet 👏👌 High quality documentary ...could have been made by a major network ...it's that good... Very interesting to me as Cambridge, Sandy, Bedford and Bletchley and Oxford were regular haunts for me as a young rail enthusiast..
Thank you for an interesting video. When the line closed there seemed to be an element of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing? The building of a major new City along the route, Milton Keynes, was agreed in 1967, a year later the line was closed! Personally I think it a good thing that the line is reopening and have watched with interest the parts you can see on my journeys between MK and Oxford. Of course any major civil engineering project will cause disruption but once completed things settle down. Obviously the Bedford and Cambridge elements are going to be difficult to resolve but I hope they manage.
Many thanks for your comment and even-handed thoughts on the subject - yes, a shame that the construction of MK didn't offer the line a new lease of life!
Superbly presented video. I recall travelling from Winslow (and back later) on a grim November evening in 1967. There was a fire in the waiting room grate and the lighting was, I think, by gas. The train appeared out of the darkness like a glazed and festive version of the Albert Hall. (It was a Derby Lightweight dmu, I don’t know which class.) The worst part of the exercise was cycling back to Quainton in the freezing early hours. A couple of years ago I traveled the Oxford to Bicester section but it wasn’t particularly memorable. It should never have been closed.
Such an excellent piece of work here! Top job! The same cannot be said for the British Rail management responsible for the lines closure in the first place. Hardly visionaries, more likely an arse covering bunch of flunkies eager to do the whims of their equally obtuse political masters. Thankfully a new generation of visionaries is fixing the wrongs of the past and hopefully a completely new iteration of the Varsity Line will come into being. The logistical problems of this project are immense and home owners do have genuine grievances. I just hope all these issues can be overcome. Also, given the economic situation in the UK at present let us hope the East West rail is not left high and dry without funding or political will.
Thank you indeed! I hope that the line between Cambridge and Bedford gets built, but as you suggest, a lot of political, social and financial obstacles remain in its path...
A great interesting documentary once again, thoroughly enjoyed it finding out the history of this line, it’s great news that it is being resurrected, it’s puzzling why a line that connected two university cities should close, one would think this would be an advantage to retain such a line! Equally puzzling is the certain amount of opposition to the reopening! But then historically there has always been and always will opposition and grumbling to things that will benefit the majority but displease the minority, you can’t please everybody! Thanks for your research and hard work sir, I always enjoy your videos, looking forwards to the next one.
A thoroughly superb and enjoyable film. It is a shame that a number the surviving relics have been demolished, but, it is absolutely fantastic that the railway has been reinstated. Thank goodness you have documented the relics that have now been lost to progress. I personally think that the guided busway should be ripped up, and the railway reinstated along its original alignment.
Funny how the money and will can be found to start rebuilding this line yet the famous Morpeth curve with a speed limit of 50 mph on the east coast main line is still waiting for a diversion line skirting morpeth some 145 years after it was first suggested after the first train derailment that happened there followed by 3 more derailments since.
Another wonderful video. Interesting that, previously, the GCML passed over the Varsity line, but with HS2 and EWR, that's reversed. A lot of groundworks must have been done at that point. Also of note is the connection to/from the Chiltern Main Line just east of Bicester Village built in 2015-16, allowing services from London Marylebone to Oxford via High Wycombe. The upgrade of the line between Bicester and Oxford (including the rebuilding and renaming of Bicester Village) was completed by Chiltern Railways as part of that scheme.
Excellent film and commentary. Much research and hours of editing must have gone in to making such a fine piece of work. Well done. Regarding the reinstatement project, it is encouraging that the East/West railway is being rebuilt though clearly the Bedford-Cambridge element is very controversial and probably very expensive. That said, I wonder what the economics of the line would be without that being built.
I lived in Sandy for a few months in 1976 and I think it was then that the bridge over the ECML was taken down. Sandy Upper school had been built on the trackbed and I picked blackberries on the embankment between there and the site of the bridge. As there was no cylceway I had to ride to Bedford by road, but did walk some way along the route.
Excellent - thanks for making this, it must have taken a great deal of effort. My one minor criticism is not enough maps! I got a bit confused en route, especially at the end when I suddenly discovered the proposed line was taking an entirely different route - odd when you showed us how well preserved much of the old line is. I would love to have seen a map comparing the two routes - and some discussion on the reason for a new route, and the pros and cons of all three routes. After a lifetime (I'm nearly 70) of seeing lines and stations closed, and mooching about trying to find what's left, it's quite amazing to see old lines being reopened and even new lines being built. But at what cost? I realise engineering standards have changed, but surely more of the old infrastructure could have been reused? If railway building is to cost this much, I can't see there being too much of it, especially at the moment. As for the completion of the the line into Cambridge, i would love to see it happen, but I fear it will go the way of the Cambridge trams. Unless there is a freight justification for such an east-west link, or some other strategic railway reason, I can't see there being enough traffic to justify the expense of building an entirely new line into Cambridge. The 'Varsity' connection is a nice romantic idea, but will there really be a lot of students and academics needing to travel from one university to another?!
Thanks for your thoughts, comment and memories. As for maps, I initially included them, but they slowed the pace down adversely and elongated an already long film as a consequence, so they had to go. However, lots of maps are online showing the new routes that are planned so do check them out!
Should it have closed? Will it ever reopen? Let me know your thoughts below. Please *like* and *share* this film far and wide! Might you consider supporting my channel even more? www.buymeacoffee.com/rediscovering
Hunt's budget today says it's got the money and it's got the go ahead that's great news,
It should never have been closed. Infrastructure should never be ripped up. They should have mothballed it and kept it for future use.
Why oh why pay for a totally new route between Bedford and Cambridge when 80% or so of the original trackbed is intact? It has to be surely much cheaper to buy up the remaining 20% or so in private hands and you wouldn't have environmentalists complaining either.
@@ianhosier4042 between sandy and Cambridge some of the trackbed has been built on and at the Cambridge end there's a weard bus system built on the trackbed,
I can understand why it closed but I think it has become a more important route in the past 30 years.
Re-opening with less stations and a faster line would make it a competitive route again.
The closure of this line was a prime example of corporate insanity. It should never have been closed, but economies such as on board ticket issuing and selective station closures could have saved the line which provided important connections to the GWR, Midland and. Great Northern lines as well as connections to East Anglia. With a little bit of corporate savvy, it could be profitable and should be reinstated asap.
Many thanks for your thoughts 🙏
It is a shame there is so much opposition to this project. The link between Cambridge and Oxford badly needs restoring. Great film once again, I really enjoyed seeing the archive film, please keep up the splendid work.
Many thanks indeed - Do share far and wide if you can!
@@RediscoveringLostRailways I have already spread the word, you will have a few more subscribers 😁
About 20 years ago I went from Oxford to Cambridge by train. It took me hours trailing through London and back again. Good lateral rail lines are desperately needed in the UK so that people can avoid having to either up to York or Down to London to go across the country.
Couldn't agree with you more!
Similarly Carmarthen to Aberystwyth. Currently you have to go via Shrewsbury.
Viewed from Switzerland the closure of the Cambridge to Oxford line verged on insanity, and the resistance to its reopening equally insane
The closure was a pretty questionable act to be sure!
Bear in mind this is the country that voted for Brexit.
@@cameronallan5624 wtf had that got to do with it apart from the massive chip on your shoulder?
@@cameronallan5624 I blame covid lol
@@xr6lad Steady on old boy - our friend was trying to say that what is happening in the UK currently is anybody's guess. If voters could vote for Brexit then literally anything could happen. Like it seems to have done in the past. Incidentally how is Brexit going? Families 7% worse off over the next few years I am now waiting for someone to tell us that this is the same across Europe :-))
It was really criminally short-sighted to close these rural railway lines. At a minimum they should have left the track-bed available for possible future use. Once a former trackbed is built over, the line can never be put back to use without great difficulty and expense. This was a marvellous video. The steam engine sounds whenever you show a photo of a steam train were a nice touch.
Thank you! If anyone has noticed the steam engine sounds, they've not yet mentioned it, so thanks for noticing - indeed, all the sound of the DMU is from a recording of me travelling on one some years ago!
It's amazing how much of the trackbed remains intact between Cambridge and Bedford. Hats off to the guys who preserved those stations and exciting to see progress on east west rail.
The track bed between Bedford and Cambridge is not being reused. The chosen route takes a much more southerly route so that the line will approach from the south via a new station south of Cambridge.
@@ds1868 seems so silly to make an entirely new route as it is far cheaper to buy up the 20% or so of the original trackbed in private hands. British rails real crime was selling the trackbed not closing the railway.
Many thanks for your thoughts - and agreed!
Another masterclass. Me and my son found a signal lamp in the undergrowth at Bedford at Johns. Found after 55 years in the undergrowth. It's restored and now sits in our living room
Thanks ever so much - and I saw the pictures of your discovery on FB and remain incredibly jealous! All these years out there making this films and I've found nothing!
I used that station back in the 80s - therefore that must be mine! 😂
This railway will greatly ease the burden on London, because East-West freight from Felixstowe to the Midlands will no longer need to thread its way through Stratford and occupy much needed slots on the North London line. This is such a common sense routing of such traffic flows that I'm surprised the viability question gets taken seriously. Non viable is not building it. However, I repeat my charge that not electrifying the railway from the start is gross negligence. Almost all the feeder lines are electrified already, so they are planning a hole in the network. What has changed since BR's shortsighted closure of the Varsity Line is mass containerisation of freight flows. Felixstowe is here a major facility. That wasn't the case in 1967. I believe that the phrase "east-west freight", which is standard railway parlance, gave the line its name anyway. Maybe there's a hint somewhere in that.
Thanks so much for your interesting remarks - agreed RE: electrifications and its viability as a goods route - here's hoping!
The line should never have closed but it is important that it is now fully rebuilt and during construction should be electrified throughout its entire route. An excellent video thank you.
Fingers crossed 🤞 and many thanks!
Just ..... thank you and well done. I lived in Hitchin in the 60's. Travelled Hitchin to Bedford line. Rode Bedford to Bletchley, thanks to Ian Allan. I hope the disgruntled residence can be made to appreciate the WONDER that having a rail line as a neighbour, can bring
Glad you enjoyed it - do share far and wide if you can! And check out my film 'The Lost Main Line to London' which examines the Bedford to Hitchin line!
As someone who knew it well when it was open it was a travesty when it was closed. My great Uncle was station master and signalman at Blunham. I spent many many hours as a boy riding from Bedford St Johns to Blunham then watching the trains from his garden, passing the tokens to the drivers, and even sometimes riding on the footplate between Blunham and Beeston Mill the private siding. Uncle Walter and his sons Gordon and John were part of Blunham village life. Now sadly passed away but the many happy memories are still there. Won't reopen in my lifetime and not through the original trackbed in many places. False economy again. What a superb presentation. Thank you.
Many thanks for your kind words, but moreover you remarkable memories which were a delight to read.
Lovely to read such memories - echoes (if slight) of my own childhood. Thank you.
Having been born close to the branch to Oxford at West Bletchley in1950 i grew up with its daily life including watching . the collection of loaded brick wagons from the Newton Longville London Brickworks Company siding, and also between 1962 and 1965 me and my fellow engine spotting friends would travel to Oxford for the day, and indeed on one such a day we had that treat of a steam hauled express crossing over the branch heading for Marylebone. I am looking to ride the new reopened line to Bletchley next year as i have family there hoever it will be sad not to see the idilyic Swanbourne Station as i remember it. Thank you so much for a trip down memory lane.
My pleasure and thank you for sharing your evocative memories of this line 🙏
I work for the company that maintains the railway. As a child I went to work with Dad at some weekends as he worked for BR. One weekend he was tasked to remove the bridge at Sandy that crossed the ECM. This varsity line should never have closed and the new one needs to follow the same route whatever it takes. 😊 I love this video. The accompanying music is very moving and represents a beautiful line.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful memories - such a shame it closed - the original route between Cambridge and Bedford made so much sense!
This is absolutely wonderful. The music that accompanies it, stirs the heartstrings.
Many thanks indeed. Do subscribe if you've not already done so!
Shouldn't have closed. Should definitely reopen.
Yes, I agree 👍
It had been living on borrowed time since the 1930s and during WW2 did its fortunes have an upturn. But by 1959 BR had decided they wanted to close the line.
Excellent coverage of past, present, and potential. Personally, to stop the railway at Bedford would be tragic enough; to truncate it at Bletchley/Milton Keynes would castrate the whole purpose of the original cross-party agreement to link Oxford with its wealth creative equal at Cambridge. Thus once again, money spent on a big,rational vision for UK research and its substantial industrial and employment prospects, not to mention literally amazing prospects for railways rather than roads to link East Anglia with the west and north of the country. And all without touching London! Do it guys and gals - however long it takes.
I share your thoughts and your enthusiasm! Really glad you enjoyed the film!
I'm glad it looks like the line being rebuilt (and realigned where needed). Hopefully it'll run all the way to Cambridge, but it seems very shortsighted that it's not being upgraded with overhead electrification. By the time the corridor is complete, in any sensible world diesel traction (and certainly *new* diesel traction) would be untenable. At best, we'll have a halfway-house bodge job with battery-electric, with its requisite charging time and heavier, more resource-wasteful and slower-accelerating trains.
Agreed - failure to electrify this line from the start seems absurd.
Absolutely fantastic Film/Documentary! I really love the efforts that people living near the Vartisy line have made to preserve Some old elements of the line! Like the canopy seen at potton station. The east west rail route is very important, it links England’s Two universities cities and Several towns like Bicester and Bedford along the way. I can’t wait to see this line in service, the first train between Oxford and Cambridge in over 50 years! What a day that will be when the line is complete.
Glad you enjoyed it! Do subscribe if you've not already done so and enjoy my other films in the series!
@@RediscoveringLostRailways oh I already have, your videos are well worth a subscription!
As someone from across the pond who knows nothing about England's rail history or current transportation policies, I found this an intriguing story--the final chapter of which is yet to be written. So glad this route was one of the "lost" lines covered in a previous video of yours, RLR, as the before-and-after footage provides wonderful contrasts in the rebuilding efforts. Highly professional work as always, worthy of broadcast on the History or Rediscovering, er, Discovery Channel. Thank you, RLR, for posting this quality presentation.
Really glad I had the old footage of the line in ruins to help compare with today. Thanks so much for your thoughts and kind words 🙏
It's good news the government said this line is to re open and have given them a budget to the line to Cambridge ,
All you need to know is that the British invented the railways and were the first to build them. The line between Oxford and Cambridge secured further funding today in the Chancellors autumn statement. The original budget of £5 billion will be over £6 billion due mainly to inflation, but the final figure will probably be higher. The story of Britain's railways can be summarised as foliows: Britain built the first railways and by the 1930s had the most comprehensive railway system in the world; in the 1950 and 60s the railways declined and the Beeching Report of 1965 led to the axing of over one third of the network, with more closures later on including this railway; and finally during this century a very slow reinvestment of the railways which has led to some notable achievements but still very much below what is needed.
@@ds1868 And to add to that, after the brutality of the B**ching Axe (remember this is a man who died wishing he'd closed MORE railways!) it's actually very hard to close a railway line in the UK now. As it should be, because they technically belong to us not private companies. Just like the railroad made America what it is the railways of the UK powered the industrial revolution (along with tea, obviously...). The US is only now waking up to what it calls High Speed Rail, which I believe is an average of around 71mph. Hmmm.
I think all disused railway lines should be turned into cycle tracks. Mainly as this would preserve the routes, which are usually the optimum way for rail to traverse the contours of the landscape. Once built upon or sold-off, bringing the trackbed back to use becomes far more complex.
Yes it would be a good idea in so many cases!
The problem is that the cycle-route operators are often then the leading objectors to re-opening...
@@nickbarber2080 still less of a hurdle to overcome than the route being totally lost to development and fragmented ownership. A route near me would be perfect for a cycle trail, but the local railway reinstatement group fiercely opposed it, for the same concern you raise. It's now been completely developed with housing and businesses. Any new rail link will now need to take a new alignment which will mean our town would not get a station.
@@shm5547 Yes,that is true.
Perhaps they should be converted to cycle routes on the understanding that this is a mothballing for possible eventual railway use...written into the contracts.
@@nickbarber2080 That would be a good option.
Thank you so much for showing this film, I like old railways and buildings, the trouble is that way always think of the present but never think about what it may be like in 60 or a hundred years' time, once again, thank you so much for making this program.
My pleasure, I'm so glad you enjoyed it 😊
It seems pretty daft to cut travel links between the two most-major universities in the UK.
BR definitely screwed up freight aspects of The Modernisation Plan but the idea to have traffic avoid bottlenecking round North London was a good one.
Plenty of brownfield sites (ex-brickworks) along the Marston Vale line just waiting for redevelopment!
A slight correction: the Bletchley Flyover was not demolished. It has been upgraded/replaced during EWR construction which reused the existing earthworks and bridge pilings. The section directly above the WCML is new-build and has Aerial conductor rail running under it rather than traditional catenary wires.
Ideally, EWR would be opening with OHLE but if that made the cost difference to get it open at all I will accept that. It can be put in later.
I’ll close by saying “Death to Guided Busways!” (Even the inventor doesn’t recommend them any more).
Many thanks for your thoughts, comment and correction! Do share far and wide if you can!
The maintenance cost of the misguided busway is ridiculous - as for cycling and running alongside the buses - you're often at the height of the bus exhaust. It's too frightening for horses to use those paths. There have been deaths due to the lack of protection of pedestrians. It's an awful idea it needs ripping out and replacing with a proper railway that can handle incoming freight from Felixstowe.
I think it’s a good idea to reopen the rails again, railroads and railways always play important roles!
Agreed 👍
What an excellent presentation. Thank you.
Thank you so much! Do share far and wide if you can!
Absolutely first rate. Thank you. And yes this is yet another line which most certainly should not have been closed . . .
My pleasure 🙏
When I played hooky I used to catch the train from Bletchley, the old station, to either Bow Brickhill or Woburn Sands so I could walk up into the woods that are part of the Duke of Bedford estate. The engine sheds and coach sheds in Bletchley were great playgrounds for us kids after they closed. Fenny Stratford station was always picturesque to me. I said before the house we lived in backed onto the line on its way to Oxford and I used to listen to the steam goods trains struggling with the slight incline. Happy days - Please list what music you use, your choice is perfect and warms my memories. Many thanks for these wonderful programmes.
Thanks ever so much for sharing your memories. As for the music, let me get that sorted and I'll put it in the description. Do share far and wide if you can!
The revised section from Sandy to Cambridge via the new town of Camborn built on the old airfield actually follows the route originally prposed in the 1840's.
I went on a special excursion in 1989 from Oxford to Bedford just b4 closure.
The section from Bedford to Cambridge I've explored on foot and by glider hired from nearby Gransden Lodge Airfield.
This section was extensively explored in 2021.
Good to see it reopening.
Yes, fingers crossed it works out!
Thank you for an expertly crafted documentary on the Varsity Line - its past and its reopening, in part, or - hopefully - in whole; albeit on a new route into Cambridge. Some wonderful archive footage, with an informative narrative and some thoughful considerations about its possible impact, not least on the environment. But then, what about the probably much greater impact of the projected E-W express road link? This has now been cancelled, but there is more than one way to get from A to B, e.g. by a series of major 'improvement' schemes.
My pleasure, thanks ever so much!
As someone who has driven from Peterborough to Oxford a few times (mainly because there isn't a rail route!) I can confirm that the road route isn't as bad as you might think. Once you are passed the roundabout nightmare of Milton Keynes (15 roundabouts in succession) the route is actually fairly quick.
In the early 1960s I lived at Potton and could catch a train about 7:50 (IIRC) to Sandy where there was a connection to a train to London arriving at 9:30ish(?). In about 1964 the timing was altered to a later time which just missed the connection at Sandy and, after a long wait, one could not arrive in London until after 11:00. The only alternative was an early morning bus to Biggleswade and thence to London.
We complained, but were ignored by British Rail.
My house was only a few yards from the station with the railway at the end of my back garden.
Thanks for this video, it brought back many memories some good, some bad.
Thank you for sharing these memories 🙏
Being brought up in Gamlingay, before, during and after the closure of the Varsity line, this brought back many memories for which I thank you. You mention the line crossing the road "on the level" as it leaves Gamlingay for Potton. It was in fact that the road crossed the rails via an overbridge which has long since been demolished - an occurence I can remember well.
Thanks for pointing this out! Just goes to show that one can put in hours and hours of research and let such things slip through the net! Really glad you enjoyed the film nevertheless!
It is absolutely vital, always thought it was mad how little connectivity there was between Oxford and Cambridge.
Fingers crossed it works out!
It's so nice to see the Oxford swing Bridge fully operational and restored 👍 great video
Many thanks indeed
Indeed, I believe it is a listed structure.
it is just checked. 👍
Yes. Another crazy closure by people whose vision didn't exceed 5-ish years.
An exceptionally well constructed, organised, filmed and narrated piece. Thank you.
I'm pessimistic about a future reopening due to cost and encroachment on now quiet lives.
Many thanks indeed 🙏
I used to live in Crossing Cottage at Sandy, now in Potton not to far from the old station house, it’s brilliant seeing this footage of how the railway used to run.
Great footage isn't it! Seems like you're making your way along the line...Gamlingay next?
Several thoughts spring to my mind. Undoing past closures are expensive and fraught with difficulty but essential to providing a choice of movement around the country. Only some aspire to own a car or board a coach. Reopened lines have the potential to breathe new life into areas bringing work opportunities close to the line. As for modern building techniques: well, let's say I still love the older stone and brick bridges but understand the cost-benefit of concrete, although, as the Glenfinnan viaduct shows, you can still create beauty with concrete. Today's engineers appear to lack imagination in their designs.
A tremendously informative and well crafted film. Thank you.
Really glad you enjoyed the film and thank you for your thoughtful comments
Your videos are highly professional and make for engaging viewing. East west rail is vital and needs reopening in full with electrification. Passive provision all well and good, and I'd rather have the railway route built in full than a curtailed stump which stalls because feeble politicians use rising costs as an excuse to kill it off. Get the rails down to Cambridge, when it proves its worth (it will) then the fizzy knitting can be deployed.
Thank you so much! Do share far and wide if you can!
Your documentaries are marvellous. Factual, without emotion and full of intriguing detail, I can watch them for hours. This one especially is interesting as, when I was a student at Oxford University, the only way to get to see a girlfriend at Cambridge was to travel by coach from city to city - a nightmare of a journey. (She sacked me soon afterwards anyway, so I didn’t do it for long!!!)
Thank you, very kind! And to do that journey by coach...that's dedication!
Superb video, a masterpiece and easily the best video on the Varsity Line by far!
As usual the research, filming, narration etc is way ahead of others.
I can only imagine the work and effort you put in over many hours, days and weeks.
So, thank you for all your efforts in producing this film.
A pleasure to watch.👏👍🙂
The many hours, days and weeks are all worthwhile when people such as yourself are so kind about my effort. Greatly appreciated - thank you - do share far and wide if you can!
Agree, wholeheartedly.
Excellent and well-informed commentary. It is a difficult planning problem to substantiate completion of this line, building a new railway where none existed. The suggestion of an alternative route approaching Cambridge from the North appears to have much in its favour - and much less opposition. So your commentary leaves me with much thought - we shall see how it evolves!
Really glad you enjoyed the film, thank you
This is an excellent production with a great voice over. Well done
Very kind of you to say so. Do subscribe if you've not already done so and enjoy my other films in the series.
I'm from Bedford & remember the operating old line as I lived right next to the st Leonards avenue station Bedford as a young kid. I also remember it went over Cardington Road via a bridge which has now been replaced by a level crossing ( now unused) which led to sandy. So I would love to see it restored. But the present climate in the UK makes me believe it could be after my life on this planet. (I'm 65 years old)
Many thanks for your memories and thoughts 🙏
Verney Junction was used for storing rolling stock, including sets for summer excursions and very old vehicles awaiting scrapping at Wolverton.
Thanks for the info!
It,s a no-brainer that the line should reopen!
Agreed 👍
Fantastic video. If only television could be as interesting and informative as this. Many thanks.
Very kind of you to say so, thank you 😊
Fantastic! Thank you. I really enjoyed this one but, I enjoy all your productions! It’s great to see these old lines coming back but there’s a long way to go to get back to where we were in 1904!!! Rather than waste money on expensive vanity projects like HS2 I would rather money go into reopening lost lines like this one.
I feel that this may be more useful than EWR but I have nothing to substantiate that other than my opinion. Really glad you enjoyed the film - do share far and wide if you can!
With the cost of road travel increasing it would make sense to open most of the lines closed by Dr. Beeching, it was Ernest Marples who caused all the closures and he was a major shareholder of the firm who had the contract to build the M1 motorway, and seen the railway as a major competitor to his road building plans and ordered Dr. Beeching to initiate the closures and not knowing anything about railways he obeyed. Now we are seeing the error of the vast majority of railway routes that were closed.
Many thanks for your thoughts
What a tremendously professional video, in terms of both delivery and content! It's completely engaging and I have learned much from it, thank you! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it! Do share far and wide if you can!
Undoubtedly one of your finest videos, I enjoyed every minute!! Thank You 👍
Very kind of you to say so, thank you 😊
This is really well done! I like the use of new/old/drone photos. Very professionally finished!
Very kind of you to say so. Do share far and wide if you can!
Superbly produced video, the best special interest content I’ve seen on RUclips
Wow, thanks! That really is very kind of you to say so - means a lot.
Many thanks for this excellent video, this line is of great interest as I used to live in Bicester in the early 1970s.
Fascinating railways round those parts!
I'm old enough to have travelled along this line in the distant past - via Bletchley and Bedford - it took ages! The concept is a good one, allowing London to be avoided if travelling from the West Country to the North East - and, upgraded, the line would have been of far more use than HS2.
By all accounts it took a long time! How wonderful to have experienced that!
@@RediscoveringLostRailways Born and brought up along the 'Gold Coast' - if you know where that was - my next door neighbour was the engine shed foreman at Didcot. My schoolteachers' husband was an engine driver. Guess where I spent all my spare time, how many footplates I rode upon, and just how many illicitic miles I rode without a ticket! I've fired (albeit badly) City of Truro, rather slower in those day than when going down the Somerset banks many years before. Coal? - we never bought any for our cottage, no-one minding if a little 'scrumping' took place at the local station - and the whole village (well, hamlet) was at it anyway.
Oh, with enough space, the tales I could tell you ....!
A great travel back in time. Enjoyable. Cheers mate!
Thank you so much! Do share far and wide if you can!
Winslow station was served by some of the Christmas Shopper trains which ran in the ‘80s.
Yes, I saw a couple of photos!
Another great video. Honestly I don’t see why people don’t want this to happen. Most of the route is literally not even built over and nearly all of the original station buildings survive and are restored. Most houses wouldn’t even be affected with the only ones being are mainly the old station building that have been turned into houses. Anyway keep up the great work!!
Glad you enjoyed it! Do share far and wide if you can!
I remember taking a Christmas Shopper service from Beaconsfield to Milton Keynes in December 1986. It was great travelling on some of the old GCR line from Aylesbury and then join the Oxford to Cambridge line north of Calvert. I remember stopping at Winslow. The journey took forever. Max speed was 30 on the bits not in regular use.
Fabulous memories, thanks for sharing 👍
Until their replacement by Networker Turbos in the early 1990s, the old Marylebone lines DMUs were maintained at Bletchley depot for a time and BR used to run a couple of empty sets per day each way Aylesbury-Bletchley.
Really enjoyed that, the Cambridge guided bus route was lobbied to re-open existing rail line but council was hell bent on guided bus route, I am led to believe in the end it would have been cheaper to upgrade the existing rail line
Glad you enjoyed it! Do share far and wide if you can! As for the guided busway, it is obviously well-used and many rely on it, but I just prefer trains!
@@RediscoveringLostRailways They tried to remove platform canopy at Histon station, wrong move as listed, council had to restore it
@@RediscoveringLostRailways Nothing like as well used as a railway line would be, and no option for freight traffic either.
An excellent video. In May 1986 two friends and I stopped off at Verney Junction, en route to Aylesbury for football. We had a few excellent pints of Everards Tiger ale in the Verney Arms hotel. The odd Freightliner rumbling by. 20 years or so later, I visited Verney Junction and the hotel was a restaurant.
Wonderful memories - thanks for sharing!
As always a excellent presentation, I remember a spur of track still heading east by the bus garage in Bedford in the early 70’s . I walked the section heading east at Cambridge before the mis guided bus was was put in as well, in fact I then walked the track bed to St Ives another lost opportunity,
Thank you so much! Do share far and wide if you can!
@@RediscoveringLostRailways Of course
@31-42....glorious aerial view of Winslow railway b station...and notice
the dropping off frontage point and car park with trees in the middle.
It is a fine photo to be sure!
Thank you for this excellent and thought-provoking update. Though I am very keen on seeing this Railway completed, it seems to me that the route from Bedford to Cambridge has not been properly thought through. The former alignment would seem to be more direct and less disruptive to communities and nature than the potential routes that you mention at the end of the video.
If the telescopes weren’t on the track bed, a case could be made for demolishing the busway to put the railway back (and I’d help swing the hammers).
Unfortunately the track bed has been built over at Sandy, and EWR doesn’t have legal power to compulsorily purchase the houses to demolish them.
Hence, a new route for Bedford-Cambs is required :(
My pleasure and thank you for your thoughts!
Agreed, the prospect of building over the old alignment is nil.
@@SportyMabamba Such a shame. Green field sites present a real obstacle in these environment driven days, mostly for good reason.
@@RediscoveringLostRailways never nil-the old alignment is better- in so mqany ways-and could yet prove more cost effective !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gosh, what a wonderful video! Keep up the great work.
Very kind of you to say so, thank you 🙏
Another quite splendid video! You raised the question of whether post-pandemic home working might negate some of the arguments for the line. I would like to suggest this may be a short-term "blip" and given the sheer quantity of new and proposed housing around Cambridge (and I assume Oxford) the timing of the line's reinstatement may be quite providential. I have noticed in recent months that the GN trains between Ely & Cambridge are back to a healthy capacity after a few years of near-empty carriages, and that's even after the doubling the units from 4 to 8!
I would hope that there is a trend away from working from home where possible. Really glad you enjoyed the film - Do share far and wide if you can!
Agree. I know many drifting back into the office as being at home alone, not having a laugh or chat with work colleagues does start to pale. Although I think that flexibility will remain to some extent, in my case we are expecting to come in for 2-3 days and can work the rest from home but I know many that do more than that. In my case it’s nice sitting at a proper desk with decent monitors at work than my desk at home with not the best setup. Training a new person remotely is also a pain.
Good evening.
Just to let you know, I did watch this the other day but forgot to comment.
Well done and another sterling job on the video.
The effort and work you put into your films are outstanding sir.
Many thanks and all the best.
😊🍻👍
I was beginning to worry that one of my long term subscribers had been missing! So glad you enjoyed this film. Many thanks indeed 🙏
Absolutely superb presentation, must have taken forever to put together, very well done. With our ever burgeoning population and consequent crowded roads I think there is a need for more railways though whether or not the new folk of Britain will put their hands in the pockets to pay to use railways is another matter.
Very kind of you to say so - Do share far and wide if you can! As for the railways and their use - they are so expensive to travel on that it is becoming prohibitive!
What a great video. I live near to the current works and for one can't wait until the link is ready between Oxford and Bletchley. I hope that it proceeds to Cambridge one day. Having spent more years can I care to remember driving to either Oxford and Cambridge....and the time it takes ...to me the benefits far out number the issues a new "Varsity" line will bring. But once again well done on such a great video.
Thank you - and fingers crossed the railway works out - a connection such as this seems so obvious!
I think this is video number 43. In my opinion, the very best so far. Absolutely brilliantly made. Full of history about the past. Superb information about the present and now the future of a fascinating railway line. This video is very professionaly made. Your camera work, drone footage and commentary make this video exceptional.
Your kind remarks make the effort worthwhile, they really mean a lot. Thank you indeed.
@@RediscoveringLostRailways Just brilliant - I think your relaxed style of commentary, added to the perfect choices of music, are a lesson in making a documentary that lives and breathes! Well Done again Sir!
I used the Varsity line in 1965 when travelling from Cambridge to Oxford to see which university I might prefer. Innocent as I was then of transportation politics, I had no notion that this most useful connection would be severed only three years later. But not, I trust, forever. A very well-produced documentary with excellent commentary, though I would echo the comment about pejorative language -- the HS2 project, whatever you may think of its merits, is demonstrating the great lengths to which environmental concerns about new railway construction are accepted and addressed these days.
Many thanks for your kind words about my film and your memories - which did you choose in the end? As for so-called pejorative language, I would say this is not fair - that this railway and HS2 will 'devastate' natural habitats is a matter of fact, whether or not they create alternatives in mitigation.
@@RediscoveringLostRailways Cambridge -- MA in Engineering
I hit the wrong button in error. i like this - I find this whole treatment of the East West Rail superbly thorough, and optimistic, but not fanciful. I'll try to follow the rail through
Really glad you enjoyed the film!
@@RediscoveringLostRailways so am I. I'm going to recommend it to others .
Amazing footage. Thank you for your dedication and all your hard work.
A true labour of love this one!
First class video, professionally produced. Hope that reopening can take place. As an adventurous young trainspotter I got the train from Cambridge to Sandy and back. That was in 1963.
Thank you so much! Do share far and wide if you can!
I thought your film about the lost Great Central Railway was pretty good ...... . but well, you have totally surpassed yourself with the Cambridge to Oxford "Varsity" line. The aerial / drone footage, ground shots, all added & combined to some historical cine film & clips is just of the upmost quality. Congratulations on a most enjoyable film.
I used to live a few miles north of this line, in Royston. Many a year we would drive along the then old A14 road, which became the A1198 and i always remembered the hump in the road as we entered Longstowe, aka, Old North Road. The owner has certainly done a fantastic job of keeping all the buildings in tip top condition. Even 2 stops along the line, at Potton, the owner of that station has done a superb job of maintaining a short section of platform complete with the canopy. I had the pleasure of meeting the owner and was invited to have a look around the remains of the platform.. I stood on the platform looking towards Sandy and then towards the Cambridge direction. Apart from the factory unit built across the trackbed in the Cambridge direction and the road overbridge in the Sandy direction being filled in it was a big, WOW moment i can assure you. These things have to be seen to be believed because along some other sections, if you were told that a line once ran through there, where now its just cultivated fields or dense woodland, you wouldn't be believed !!.
Thank you so much for your kind words about my film, for your thoughts and memories 🙏
Many many lines closed weren't recommended by Beeching, Marples had the pier to override anything Beeching said.
Marples wife held his shares in Marples construction, he was a villan who eventually did a midnight runner overseas as he was a tax fraudster.
Yes, so I've heard...
Coming from Wales which had 90% of its railway torn out I would say it was madness.
No Railway should be closed because apart from providing access it gives work in many rural areas both directly and indirectly from local suppliers, and access for those country areas to get a share of the expanding leisure market as a source of income for those communities.
I think many will agree with your remarks, thanks for your comment 👍
This was a lot of work. Well done Rediscovering Lost Railways
I didnt even realise 50 odd minutes had gomne by after watching this.
Brilliant work. keep it up.
So kind of you to say so - it was a labour of love -Do share far and wide if you can!
@@RediscoveringLostRailways already have 🙂
Amazing video my late father worked on the railways for years its sad to see all these closed lines
Glad you enjoyed it - do share far and wide if you can!
One of your best. Often in your presentations, abandoned plate layers huts feature. I wonder how those men felt when their day-to-day hard work and dedication in keeping the track maintained to such high standards was with a stroke of a pen closed, and the scrapers moved in and unceremoniously tore it up before their eyes. It must have been so devastating for them. At least you keep the memory alive of what once was and thank you. Peter, Melbourne, Australia
I've never thought of it that way. Thanks so much for your thoughts and kind words about my film.
Absolutely brilliant thoroughly enjoyed this presentation well done
Many thanks indeed, do subscribe if you've not already done so and enjoy my other films in the series!
Great video! I get the feeling this takes time but I feel the effort put into all those different shots, the voice-over describing what we see and the lovely music.
Glad you enjoyed it! Do share far and wide if you can! It takes a long time to put together, but it is a labour of love and I'm in no hurry!
Superb Video I visited the Swanage Railway in July it was superb journey and scenery especially as I travelled in the Observation Car.
The journeys were superb with steam (Manston) or vintage diesel. The trains were well filled many people waiting at the main stations and especially Swanage and Corfe and Wareham.
Wonderful journey to take!
Another excellent film from you, will be sharing on my local railway group via Facebook.
I’ve paid a lot of interest in the EWR over the last six months, and it’s looking like it’s coming on well between Bicester and Bletchley
Thanks so much Neil and I have enjoyed watching your videos on the subject - keep it up and thank you for sharing my film!
I used to occasionally travel to work on the Bicester Town to Oxford section many years ago.
The problem was the number of times the service didn't run, sometimes because the military needed the single line for its purposes. On those occasions I'd get to the station to be met by the conductor who'd tell passengers to wait for coaches, or on one occasion taxis, to take us either to or from Oxford.
Thanks for your comment - it must be a pretty unique occurrence for the military to demand exclusive railway rights!
@@RediscoveringLostRailways
That's what I was told it was at the time given the proximity to Bicester Town station and that single track to the Bicester Military Railway.
Excellent and very informative video. I think it should reopen, especially in view of the climate issues.
Thank you so much! Do share far and wide if you can!
This is so well done. Thanks for a great story. Perfect how you tie everything together.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Looks like Mr Hunt got one thing right yesterday when he committed to finishing this railway line. How it was ever considered for closure defies belief really. Sad thing is its not electrified the benefits that would bring to the country would have been enormous.
Agreed - not electrifying it is quite mad. I would like to think this railway might be completed, but I'm not going to hold my breath!
I used this line from Bletchley in 1954 to get to a (sadly unsuccessful) interview for Fitzwilliam House (as it was then).
To anyone with even a remote interest in the efficient transport of people and goods, it is hard to look at a map of the British railway sysytem in the early 1960s without crying.
Many thanks for your thoughts and memories 🙏
Superb ...your best yet 👏👌
High quality documentary ...could have been made by a major network ...it's that good...
Very interesting to me as Cambridge, Sandy, Bedford and Bletchley and Oxford were regular haunts for me as a young rail enthusiast..
So nice of you to say so - I'm glad it did justice to your memories of this line!
Thank you for an interesting video. When the line closed there seemed to be an element of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing? The building of a major new City along the route, Milton Keynes, was agreed in 1967, a year later the line was closed! Personally I think it a good thing that the line is reopening and have watched with interest the parts you can see on my journeys between MK and Oxford. Of course any major civil engineering project will cause disruption but once completed things settle down. Obviously the Bedford and Cambridge elements are going to be difficult to resolve but I hope they manage.
Many thanks for your comment and even-handed thoughts on the subject - yes, a shame that the construction of MK didn't offer the line a new lease of life!
Superbly presented video. I recall travelling from Winslow (and back later) on a grim November evening in 1967. There was a fire in the waiting room grate and the lighting was, I think, by gas. The train appeared out of the darkness like a glazed and festive version of the Albert Hall. (It was a Derby Lightweight dmu, I don’t know which class.) The worst part of the exercise was cycling back to Quainton in the freezing early hours. A couple of years ago I traveled the Oxford to Bicester section but it wasn’t particularly memorable. It should never have been closed.
Glad you enjoyed it - do share far and wide if you can! And thank you for your evocative memories of this line.
Such an excellent piece of work here! Top job! The same cannot be said for the British Rail management responsible for the lines closure in the first place. Hardly visionaries, more likely an arse covering bunch of flunkies eager to do the whims of their equally obtuse political masters.
Thankfully a new generation of visionaries is fixing the wrongs of the past and hopefully a completely new iteration of the Varsity Line will come into being. The logistical problems of this project are immense and home owners do have genuine grievances. I just hope all these issues can be overcome. Also, given the economic situation in the UK at present let us hope the East West rail is not left high and dry without funding or political will.
Thank you indeed! I hope that the line between Cambridge and Bedford gets built, but as you suggest, a lot of political, social and financial obstacles remain in its path...
A great interesting documentary once again, thoroughly enjoyed it finding out the history of this line, it’s great news that it is being resurrected, it’s puzzling why a line that connected two university cities should close, one would think this would be an advantage to retain such a line!
Equally puzzling is the certain amount of opposition to the reopening! But then historically there has always been and always will opposition and grumbling to things that will benefit the majority but displease the minority, you can’t please everybody!
Thanks for your research and hard work sir, I always enjoy your videos, looking forwards to the next one.
Thanks for your thoughts, comment and very kind remarks about my film - Do share far and wide if you can!
A thoroughly superb and enjoyable film. It is a shame that a number the surviving relics have been demolished, but, it is absolutely fantastic that the railway has been reinstated. Thank goodness you have documented the relics that have now been lost to progress.
I personally think that the guided busway should be ripped up, and the railway reinstated along its original alignment.
Glad you enjoyed it! As for the guided busway...well I've always thought railways had the edge!
Funny how the money and will can be found to start rebuilding this line yet the famous Morpeth curve with a speed limit of 50 mph on the east coast main line is still waiting for a diversion line skirting morpeth some 145 years after it was first suggested after the first train derailment that happened there followed by 3 more derailments since.
Many thanks for your thoughts
Another wonderful video.
Interesting that, previously, the GCML passed over the Varsity line, but with HS2 and EWR, that's reversed. A lot of groundworks must have been done at that point.
Also of note is the connection to/from the Chiltern Main Line just east of Bicester Village built in 2015-16, allowing services from London Marylebone to Oxford via High Wycombe. The upgrade of the line between Bicester and Oxford (including the rebuilding and renaming of Bicester Village) was completed by Chiltern Railways as part of that scheme.
Thank you and a very interesting point regarding those lines!
Super video, lovely archive photos and films, great to see some new rail connections being made. Thank you.
Many thanks!
Excellent film and commentary. Much research and hours of editing must have gone in to making such a fine piece of work. Well done. Regarding the reinstatement project, it is encouraging that the East/West railway is being rebuilt though clearly the Bedford-Cambridge element is very controversial and probably very expensive. That said, I wonder what the economics of the line would be without that being built.
Yes, it took a very long time to put this film together, but it was a real labour of love. Many thanks indeed for your kind remarks.
Very well done indeed. Progress would be seriously made by pushing for a complete route restoration to Cambridge despite the local opposition
I'd love to see the whole thing done - fingers crossed!
I lived in Sandy for a few months in 1976 and I think it was then that the bridge over the ECML was taken down. Sandy Upper school had been built on the trackbed and I picked blackberries on the embankment between there and the site of the bridge. As there was no cylceway I had to ride to Bedford by road, but did walk some way along the route.
Wonderful memories, thanks for sharing 👍
Excellent - thanks for making this, it must have taken a great deal of effort. My one minor criticism is not enough maps! I got a bit confused en route, especially at the end when I suddenly discovered the proposed line was taking an entirely different route - odd when you showed us how well preserved much of the old line is. I would love to have seen a map comparing the two routes - and some discussion on the reason for a new route, and the pros and cons of all three routes.
After a lifetime (I'm nearly 70) of seeing lines and stations closed, and mooching about trying to find what's left, it's quite amazing to see old lines being reopened and even new lines being built. But at what cost? I realise engineering standards have changed, but surely more of the old infrastructure could have been reused? If railway building is to cost this much, I can't see there being too much of it, especially at the moment.
As for the completion of the the line into Cambridge, i would love to see it happen, but I fear it will go the way of the Cambridge trams. Unless there is a freight justification for such an east-west link, or some other strategic railway reason, I can't see there being enough traffic to justify the expense of building an entirely new line into Cambridge. The 'Varsity' connection is a nice romantic idea, but will there really be a lot of students and academics needing to travel from one university to another?!
Thanks for your thoughts, comment and memories. As for maps, I initially included them, but they slowed the pace down adversely and elongated an already long film as a consequence, so they had to go. However, lots of maps are online showing the new routes that are planned so do check them out!