East West Rail and Nobby Newport
We had a double header at our February Zoom meeting with the first half taking us along East West Rail as the section between Bletchley and Oxford near completion, whilst for the second half we visited the long-closed Newport Pagnell Branch. Local subjects always seem to attract a healthy audience, and this was no exception with 58 attendees recorded.
Clive Pepper commenced proceedings with his now annual review of East West Rail progress, focusing on the line between Bletchley and Bicester. It has been a busy year of works which Clive has been out to photograph and document. Notably at Winslow, where the station building has been constructed and track laying has been completed. A fascinating series of images showed the delicate job of lifting into place the station footbridge. The changes at Verney Junction were equally dramatic, the railway reinstated, although the only visual reference to the once junction station was the still standing station master’s house. At the site of the former Claydon station, new loops have been constructed and an access spur to serve the HS2 construction depot nearby. It will still be about a year before commencement of passenger services but pleasing to see how close the physical construction works are now to completion.
For the second half of our meeting, branch chairman Steve Dexter took us on a nostalgic journey down memory lane with the history of the Newport Pagnell branch, affectionately known as the Nobby Newport. Although too young to remember the line when it was open, Steve related childhood memories of playing at the former Newport station, and of cycling on the old line to Wolverton to watch trains on the West Coast Main Line.
The line to Newport was originally conceived as a through line linking with the railway from Bletchley to Bedford at Ridgmont. Subsequent powers were obtained to build the line to Olney, joining up with the Northampton to Peterborough line. In the end Newport Pagnell was to become the line’s permanent terminus, plans to go beyond coming to nought. We saw images and filmed footage of Ivatt 2-6-2 tanks working the line, these being the regular motive power in the latter years. Closure came in 1964 accompanied by a carnival atmosphere and significant crowds to join and see of the final train at 17:38 from Newport on 5th October. Freight continued until May 1967.
Many years after closure, buried deep in the undergrowth Steve discovered a gradient post and mile post, both of which (with some help) he was able to recover. The only other significant reminder of the branch was the semaphore signal post on the approach to Newport, and it was sad to hear that this had been felled by high winds in recent weeks.
A fascinating evening with two compelling presentations about local railways past and present that were much enjoyed by our Zoom audience.