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v t e Dunstable Branch Lines
Legend
Leighton Buzzard West Coast Main Line Grand Union Canal River Ouzel Stanbridgeford Totternhoe sidings Sewell Cutting Dunstable North A5 road Cement works A505 road Dunstable Town M1 motorway Chaul End Midland Main Line River Lea Luton Midland Road Luton Bute Street Chiltern Green Luton Hoo Nickey line Midland Main Line Harpenden East River Lea Wheathampstead Blackbridge sidings Ayot A1 road Welwyn Garden City East Coast Main Line to Hertford Cowbridge

The Dunstable Branch Lines were railway branch lines that joined the English town of Dunstable to the main lines at Leighton Buzzard and Welwyn. The two lines were under separate ownership and joined just east of the Dunstable North station.

Dunstable and London and Birmingham Railway Act 1845
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for making a Railway from the Town of Dunstable to join the London and Birmingham Railway near Leighton Buzzard in the County of Bedford.
Citation	8 & 9 Vict. c. xxxvii
Dates
Royal assent	30 June 1845

The line from Leighton Buzzard to Dunstable North was authorised by the Dunstable and London and Birmingham Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. xxxvii), and built by the London and North Western Railway. This opened in 1848.

The Luton, Dunstable and Welwyn Junction Railway planned a connecting line from the Great Northern Railway at Welwyn. The line between Dunstable and Luton opened in 1858. The company then amalgamated with the Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway to form the Hertford, Luton and Dunstable Railway. The track to Welwyn was completed in 1860 and the line was taken over by the Great Northern in the following year. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway from 1923 until British Railways was formed in 1948.

Passenger services were withdrawn in 1965 under the Beeching Axe, and the track between Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard was removed. The line between Dunstable and the Midland Main Line at Luton remained open for freight until 1990. Dunstable is now one of the largest towns in the East of England without a railway connection.^[1]

Stations

Passenger services

The last passenger train, packed with enthusiasts, was hauled by Brush Type 2 D5589 on 24 April 1965.

Freight services

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A goods service serving the Bedford Trucks factory in Dunstable continued until well into the 1980s.

Subsequent use of the line

Within Leighton Buzzard, the line is now used as a footpath and cycleway which crosses the Grand Union Canal and River Ouzel. Between Leighton Buzzard and Stanbridgeford, it was used to build part of the A505 Leighton-Linslade Southern Bypass. National Cycle Route 6 follows the line between Stanbridgeford and Dunstable, including Sewell Cutting, which is managed as a nature reserve by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.^[5]

The line between Dunstable and Luton has never been legally decommissioned. The track has been removed and a guided busway was constructed on the old trackbed, the Luton to Dunstable Busway, which opened in 2013. Buses run on this route as far as Dunstable Town and then divert via the old cement works.

The Lea Valley Walk follows the line between Luton Hoo and Harpenden. East of Wheathampstead, heading towards Welwyn Garden City, the trackbed was converted to a path called the Ayot Greenway.^[4]

See also

• List of closed railway stations in Britain

References

Further reading

• B. Simpson, The Dunstable Branch: Leighton Buzzard – Dunstable – Luton, Lamplight, 1998, ISBN 1-899246-03-7.
• G. S. Woodward, The Hatfield, Luton & Dunstable Railway (and on to Leighton Buzzard), Oakwood Library of Railway History, 1977, ISBN 0-85361-218-8. Second edition authored by S. Woodward and G. Woodward, 1994, ISBN 0-85361-458-X.
• S. Woodward and G. Woodward, Branch Lines to Dunstable, Middleton, 2008, ISBN 978-1-906008-27-7.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dunstable Branch Line.

• Greenleas Rail History CLUTCH Club, Dunstable Branch
• Lost Lines, Hatfield–Dunstable–Leighton Buzzard^{[permanent dead link]} (photos taken between 1989 and 2007)
• J. F. Williams, Memories of Dunstable North Station 1942–1965
• Dunstable Gazette, Picture the Past, Dunstable Bygones^{[permanent dead link]} (photos of Church Street Station and the bridge over High Street North)
• Disused Stations, Luton Bute Street
• Disused Stations, Luton Hoo
• Disused Stations, Harpenden East
• Disused Stations, Wheathampstead
• Luton Council, Luton Dunstable Busway
• Cinefilm of Luton Bute Street station to Welwyn Garden City station Bute Street to Welwyn Garden City Railway on YouTube