Old North Road railway station explained

Old North Road
Status:Disused
Borough:Longstowe, South Cambridgeshire
Country:England
Grid Name:Grid reference
Platforms:2
Original:Bedford & Cambridge Railway
Pregroup:London and North Western Railway
Postgroup:London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London Midland Region of British Railways (1948-1958)
Eastern Region of British Railways (1958-1968)
Years:1 August 1862
Events:Opened
Years1:19 April 1965[1]
Events1:Closed to goods
Years2:1 January 1968
Events2:Closed to passengers[2]

Old North Road was a railway station on the Varsity Line which served the small village of Longstowe near Bourn in Cambridgeshire. As its name suggests, the station was located on the eastern side of the Old North Road, the A1198 road - a major Roman road which linked London with Lincoln. Opened in 1862, the station was located in a rural area and saw little passenger traffic; it closed together with the line in 1968.

History

Old North Road station was opened by the Bedford & Cambridge Railway as part of its line from Bedford, the construction of which began in April 1861.[3] The line was worked by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) from its opening in 1862, which acquired the Bedford & Cambridge in 1865.[4]

Simply laid out on the eastern side of the Old North Road which was crossed on the level, the station had two concrete facing platforms. The majority of the station buildings were situated on the northern Up side, including a goods shed and a type 5 LNWR signal box. A coal siding and cattle pens were located on the Down side.[5]

Present day

The station buildings, signal box and goods shed have survived in private ownership, but 3/4 of the platforms have been filled in.[6]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Clinker, C.R. . Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830-1977 . October 1978 . Avon-AngliA Publications & Services . Bristol . 0-905466-19-5 . 104.
  2. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Sparkford,, p. 177.
  3. Book: Simpson, Bill . Oxford to Cambridge Railway (Vol. 2) . Oxford Publishing Co. . Poole, Dorset . 1981 . 16 . 0-86093-121-8 .
  4. Book: Davies, R. . Grant, M.D. . Forgotten Railways: Chilterns and Cotswolds . 1984 . David St John Thomas . Newton Abbot, Devon . 0-946537-07-0 . 118.
  5. Simpson, B., p. 123-125.
  6. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ms.draper/assets/2/No26.pdf The Friends of the National Railway Museum, Briefing 26, June 2002.