Reference
PDR2
Title
Midland Railway
Admin/biog history
1845: The Leicester & Bedford Railway plan a line through Bedford to Hitchin while the South Midland Railway also survey a line. The Midland Railway step in to buy both companies’ assets after they fail to get a suitable Act passed in Parliament.
1845: William Henry Whitbread, owner of the Southill Estate, offers land at no more than £70 an acre to the Midland Railway to try and tempt them to build a route south to Hitchin.
1846: The Midland Railway plans its own extension to Hitchin. The line would have passed through Cotton End from Bedford, then tunnelled under Exeter Wood. An Act of Parliament was passed but the Midland drew back and in 1850 their powers to extend expired.
1852: The Midland Railway and the Great Northern Railway agree to allow Midland traffic at Hitchin. The route from Bedford to Hitchin is re-surveyed.
1853: The North London Railway was formed.
1855: Construction begins on the line.
1857: The line is completed. At first the station used in Bedford is what is now Bedford St John’s. It is reported that there is a steep climb from Cardington to the Old Warden tunnel, which would fill with smoke if the wind was from the north-west.
1858: The Midland is given permission to run trains over Great Northern tracks from Hitchin to Kings Cross, so passengers no longer needed to change train at Hitchin (they paid £60,000 annually for this concession).
1859: Station built in Bedford.
1862: The Bedford to Cambridge extension is opened on 7th July.
1862: Great Northern Railway formally evict Midland Railway from use of Kings Cross station. Midland Railway start to plan their own direct line from Bedford to London.
1864: Obelisk erected on Whitbread Estate in memory of William Henry Whitbread “for his Zeal and Energy in promoting Railways through the County of Bedford”.
1868: Direct Bedford to London line opens. Bedford to Hitchin line demoted to branch status.
1883: Electric traction appears on the Volks Electric Railway in Brighton.
1912: Double track from Bedford to Hitchin singled.
1914-1918 Whole railway network brought under government control until the end of the war revealing some advantages of amalgamation.
1923: Many of the individual railway companies reorganized to form 4 large joint-stock public companies (known as the big four).The Midland Railway becomes part of the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS)
1939-1945 The companies’ managements joined together, effectively operating as one company. After 1945, for practical and ideological reasons, the government decided to bring the rail service into the public sector.
1947: Publication of the Railways Act.
1948: British Railways came into being on 1st January.
1949: Halts at Husborne Crawley, Wootton Broadmead and Kempston and Elstow officially closed.
1960: Steam trains on the branch replaced by diesel multiple unit trains.
1962: Passenger trains cease from Bedford to Hitchin.
1963: Beeching Report published, withdrawal of passenger services and closure of some intermediate stations shown.
1964: Part of line used for filming of ‘Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines’
1964: Goods services cease from Bedford to Hitchin.
1969: Air Ministry traffic between Bedford and Cardington ends. Line officially out of use.
1974: The ‘Flying Scotsman’ locomotive is exhibited at Fenny Stratford station.
Level of description
series