Olney Model Railway Club_Olney Station History

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Olney Model Railway Club - Olney Station History

Background

This is a history of the railways at Olney incorporating what is currently published and understood and making points about what remains to be discovered. It attempts to show what kinds of trains and locomotives worked over the line at particular times, but does not deal in detail with the station building or other structures.

Olney station was opened on 10 June 1872. It stood on the 20-mile long Bedford & Northampton Railway, linking Oakley Junction on the Midland Railway main line north of Bedford with St John's station in Northampton, which Bedford trains shared with Midland Railway services from Wellingborough operated under running powers that the MR enjoyed from 1866 over the L&NWR route from Blisworth and Northampton to Peterborough. The B&NR was always closely linked to the MR, and was formally amalgamated with that company with effect from 1 January 1886. At first sight its route of 71¼ miles from Northampton to St Pancras might appear competitive with the 65½ miles of the London & North Western route to Euston via Roade, but high speeds were impossible on the B&NR which was cheaply laid with gradients that were severe for lowland England. Trains leaving Olney for Northampton had to climb 1¼ miles at 1 in 70 and then 2 miles at 1 in 75.

The passenger service in 1887 consisted of five trains in each direction. It appears that push-and-pull trains (known as Motor Trains) were introduced by the Midland Railway on the lines from Bedford to Hitchin and Northampton from about 1908. Each train consisted of an 0-4-4T locomotive coupled behind a driving trailer and in front of an ordinary coach and another driving trailer. Push-and-pull operations were suspended in 1917. There were six trains in each direction on the eve of the Grouping in 1922, and six, plus late night trains in each direction on Saturdays, when the line was in the charge of the LMSR in 1938. After 1917 it is likely that trains between Northampton and Bedford were hauled by tender engines until they ceased to use St John's station in 1939. One surviving photograph portrays a tender engine with a train of six-wheeled carriages crossing the Ouse bridge at Olney and another shows Bedford-based MR 2-4-0 No.256 waiting to leave St John's in the early 1930s. In 1939 St John's station was closed, and Bedford and Wellingborough trains were diverted to Castle station, calling at Bridge Street station en route. It was probably at this time that two-coach push-and-pull sets comprised of new steel-bodied non-corridor coaches were introduced, similar to those deployed in the late 1930s on branch trains and suburban services from Bletchley.

The passenger service was busiest under British Railways, possibly because it was operated by push-and-pull trains. In the summer of 1961 there were nine trains in each direction on weekdays and ten on Saturdays. A photograph taken on 23 July 1951 shows ex-MR 0-4-4T 58071 heading a Bedford train out of Northampton, and push-and-pull fitted Fowler 2-6-2Ts based at Bedford probably worked some trains. From the early 1950s most push-and-pull trains were worked by Ivatt 2MT 2-6-2Ts from Bedford shed, including No 41272, which carried a plaque recording that it was the 5,000th locomotive built at Crewe. In the early 1960s the Ivatt engines were supplemented by the similar standard class 2MT 2-6-2Ts, of which 84005/6 were photographed working Northampton-Bedford trains on 15 February 1962. Three Park Royal four-wheel railbuses, Nos 79971-93 were tried on the lines from Bedford to Hitchin and Northampton in 1958, and some trains were worked with diesel multiple units, but until closure most trains were steam-operated. Trains on 3 March 1962, the last day of passenger train working, were handled by Ivatt 2MT 41225. What kinds of people used the passenger trains from Olney in their last years of operation is a matter for further research. As far as is known trains were never timetabled to work to destinations beyond Northampton and Bedford.

The Midland Railway had a large freight depot in Bridge Street, Northampton, from which trains could have accessed the Bedford line at Hardingstone Junction, but how many trains used this connection remains to be investigated. A regular freight working from Somers Town depot, adjacent to St Pancras to Northampton used the branch in the early 1950s. The MR established a modest freight depot at Olney, with cattle docks and a goods shed.

Olney would have remained merely a wayside station on a not particularly important branch line were it not for the opening of the Stratford-upon-Avon, Towcester & Midland Junction Railway (formerly the Easton Neston Mineral & Towcester, Roade & Olney Junction Railway) from Towcester to Ravenstone Wood Junction on the B&NR on 13 April 1891. At Towcester the line joined the East & West Junction Railway which ran past Woodford (where from 1899 it was linked with the London Extension of the Great Central Railway), Fenny Compton (where it crossed the Great Western main line running north from Banbury, to which it was linked by a reverse crossing) and through Stratford-upon-Avon to Broom Junction where there was a north-facing junction with the Evesham loop of the Midland Railway, which was made into a triangular junction during the Second World War. The ST&MJR also connected with the Northampton & Banbury Junction Railway which ran from Blisworth, on the L&NWR main line from Euston, through Towcester to Cockley Brake Junction on the L&NWR's route from Bletchley through Buckingham and Brackley to Merton Street station in Banbury. From 1908 the E&WJR enjoyed the charismatic leadership of Harry Willmott (1851-1931), as chairman, and his son Russell Willmott (1879-1920), as traffic manager. When the former left to manage the Isle of Wight Central Railway in 1912, it was remarked that he and his father had raised the SMJR from a poverty-stricken company to one with a 2½ per cent dividend, and that 'no day was too long for him'. In 1910 the Willmotts brought about the merger of the ST&MJR with the E&WJR and the N&BJR to form the Stratford & Midland Junction Railway, which became part of the LMSR in 1923, and part of British Railways after nationalisation in 1948.

The E&WJR and the ST&MJR both had links with the Midland Railway, which enjoyed running powers over the 3½ miles from Ravenstone Wood Junction to Olney. As soon as the line opened the Midland began to work freight trains from Bristol through Broom Junction, where until the Second World War they had to reverse, to Olney and thence through Bedford to Somers Town depot in London. Initially they were powered by Midland locomotives but when they proved too heavy for the track E&WJR locomotives were used from 8 December 1891. It appears that most trains heading towards Ravenstone Wood and Broom junctions were banked out of Olney.

The ST&MJR and SMJR were able to use the station and other facilities at Olney, and the Midland Railway built a small running shed, opened in 1892, with a water tank on its roof, and a 50 ft turntable. The shed was formally closed by the LMSR in 1928, which probably meant that it no longer had an allocation of locomotives or permanent staff, but it continued in use until the late 1950s, facilitating engine changes on through trains between the SMJR line and the south.

A passenger service between Towcester and Olney over the ST&MJR operated from 1 December 1892, but it took only £5 in revenue in some weeks, and ceased on 30 March 1893. From 1893 the only passenger trains between Olney and Towcester were special workings, particularly excursions to the Easter Monday race meetings at Towcester. In the 1930s there were also special trains to Stratford from places on the Midland Division of the LMSR, and occasional excursions from Stratford to Southend. The ST&MR was linked at Roade to the main line of the L&NWR by a spur opened on 13 April 1891 which remained in use only until 24 May 1917 although the bay platform on the down side of Roade station was not filled in until 1936.

The Midland Railway supposedly ceased using the SMJ line for through freight workings in 1913, but overnight goods trains from Broom Junction were still scheduled in the working timetable of October that year, with eastbound workings arriving at Olney at 00.47 and 02.53. A freight train from Woodford was due at Olney at 00.03. In 1924 the Railway Magazine remarked that the MR's banana trains from Avonmouth to London over the SMJR had run 'for many years past'. The LMSR made considerable investments in relaying track around 1928. During the 1930s the line was kept open through the night for through freight trains, particularly for the banana workings. SMJ freight workings in the 1930s appear to have been handled by ex-Midland Railway 2F and 3F 0-6-0s from the shed at Stratford-upon-Avon (3256, 3551, 3615, 3677, 3695, 3726 were identified in 1931), together with some ex-Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway 0-6-0s, of which 12105/07/09 were shedded at Northampton in 1930.

Much remains to be discovered about workings on the line through Olney during the Second World War. Evacuees from London were probably brought to the area by train, although no details are currently known. The ordnance depot at Yardley Chase, accessed from sidings near Piddington station, certainly brought traffic to the line. Tony Foster recalls a NAAFI depot at Turvey and the passage of trains loaded with tanks. Military traffic might have come from the Royal Ordnance Factory at Elstow, south of Bedford, the depot that remains near Kineton (known in wartime as Marlborough Farm Camp or Burton Dassett), and the depot at Ashchurch on the ex-MR Birmingham - Gloucester line south of Broom Junction. It is probable that some troop trains and ambulance trains passed through Olney, and local people recall numerous wartime special workings, including heavy trains from the RAF camp at Henlow en route for other RAF depots at Bridgnorth on the Severn Valley Line or West Kirby in the Wirral.

Nationalisation of the railway system in 1948 initially made little difference to workings in the Olney area. Through freight workings across the SMJR continued, and Tony Foster suggests that banana traffic from Avonmouth travelled this way after the resumption of imports after the war. A notable event, recorded in several photographs was a tour of the SMJR lines by officials in an ex-LMSR inspection saloon in June 1950 headed by the 4-4-0 40672 'Engineer Watford'. Photographs taken at Stoke Bruerne and Salcey Forest stations have been published in several collections.

The line from Ravenstone Wood to Towcester remained open to through traffic until 22 June 1958 shortly before it was cut during the construction of the M1 Motorway, after which freight traffic at Olney was confined to local workings, which continued after the cessation of passenger traffic but came to an end on 6 January 1964. Traffic to the Yardley Chase depot was subsequently worked from Northampton. Maurice Jeyes, who worked on the line as a footplate man, recalled that traffic was busy until the SMJR link was closed. Nevertheless the singling of the track in 1952 suggests a decline in freight working. From 1952 trains in the Turvey direction used the up line while the down line was used for carriage storage. A photograph of 1962 shows non-corridor coaches stored in the sidings at Olney.

Local pick-up goods trains served Olney and other intermediate stations in the post-nationalisation period, although what kinds of traffic were handled remains to be discovered. . Maurice Jeyes worked on 3Fs 3474 and 3729 and 4F 3967 in 1947-49. A photograph of 25 July 1959 shows 3F 0-6-0 43665 on a short goods train near Newton Blossomville bound for Bedford that included some Presflo wagons. Some traffic to Yardley Wood continued, although Tony Foster who worked at Olney station suggests that it was modest in scale, and usually consisted of a few ordinary vans each containing a small amount of cordite. There were still local freight workings over the line from Ravenstone Wood to Towcester until 31 May 1952 when the sidings at Stoke Bruerne were closed. The working timetable in September 1951 showed three daily freight workings that crossed the SMJR line to Olney, arriving at 09.03, 13.20 and 14.57, the latter nominally a load of empties (of what kind is not specified) destined for Turvey. There were four workings in the opposite direction. Little is known about the kinds of traffic carried on these freight workings. A photograph taken on 6 February 1951 shows a 4F 0-6-0 working a train of more than 17 wagons towards Bedford through flooded meadows near Olney. Another taken on 17 July 1957 shows a long eastbound train of four-wheel vans headed by 43873 crossing the West Coast Main Line at Roade. Maurice Jeyes recalled that most trains were worked by crews from Bedford, but that men from Stratford-upon-Avon would work freight trains to Olney, and then take on water and turn their locos, before working home. Tony Foster remembered that trains from the SMJR changed engines at Olney, usually a 4F 0-6-0 from Gloucester shed (22B) or Bristol (22A) giving way to a similar locomotive from Cricklewood (14A), but sometimes larger locomotives were used. Maurice Jeyes fired 8F 8006 from Bedford to Stratford-upon-Avon and back on 16 May 1946. Locomotives noted crossing the bridge over the West Coast Main Line at Roade on 11 August 1954 were Bristol-based 4Fs 44317 and 44355, and 8F 2-8-0 48699 from Wellingborough. 'Black Five' 4-6-0 44691 was photographed with a brake van at Turvey heading towards Oakley Junction in March 1962.

In the late 1950s and early 60s trains of prefabricated track with concrete sleepers loaded on to 60 ft flat wagons were regularly worked from the 'ballast pit' at Bedford to Northampton and beyond, usually hauled by 8F 2-8-0s. It was one of these trains, headed by 48616, that crashed into stored passenger coaches near Turvey on 31 July 1960.

Excursion trains continued to use the line through Olney in the post-war years, although it is currently unclear whether the Easter Monday trains from St Pancras for Towcester races operated in this period. A notable event was the passage of a Northampton-Luton football special of at least eight coaches double-headed by 45533 Lord Rathmore and 4F 44219 on 7 January 1961. Several railtours visited the line, including one organised by the Birmingham Locomotive Club on 14 July 1951, which was photographed at Salcey Forest with Class 4F 0-6-0 44057 hauling four or five LMS coaches. There were other specials with exotic motive power in the last years of steam operation but details are currently not available.

Sources:

Coleman, R, & Rajczonek, J, Steaming into Northamptonshire (Northamptonshire Libraries, 1988);
Coleman, R, & Rajczonek, Steam Nostalgia around Northampton (2nd edn, Wellingborough: Wharton, 1999);
Dunn, J M, The Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction Railway (2nd edn, Lingfield: Oakwood Press, 1968);
Eatwell, D, Railway Nostalgia around Bedfordshire(Wellingborough: Wharton, 1995);
Goslin, G, Bedford - Wellingborough including Hitchin, Northampton & Higham Ferrers (Midhurst: Middleton Press, 2004);
Griffiths, R, & Smith, P, The Directory of British Engine Sheds, 1: Southern England &c (Hinckley: Oxford Publishing Co, 1999);
Jeyes, M, 'Northampton Branch - Oakley Junction to Northampton St Johns', Midland Railway Society Journal No 45 (2010);
R Leleux, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain, IX: the East Midlands (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1976);
Maggs, C G, Branch Lines of Buckinghamshire (Stroud: Sutton, 2000);
Riley, R C, & Simpson, Bill, A History of the Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction Railway (Witney: Lamplight, 1999).

Barry 17th February 2012.

Map showing routes West of Olney pre the grouping of 1923. Click for a larger view.

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