In 1838, when the London to Birmingham railway was completed, The County town of Bedford had no railway. As early as 1836 businessmen of Bedford were discussing the possibility of a branch line linking Bedford to the London to Birmingham Railway at Bletchley. The Bedford Railway Company was formed with T.J. Green, later Mayor of Bedford, as Chairman. Green was a coal merchant who needed a railway to extend his business. He persuaded George Stevenson to meet Bedford businessmen. As a result of this meeting the route was surveyed by Robert Stevenson. The Duke of Bedford wanted the railway to pass as close to Woburn Abbey as possible. Stevenson decided that the line would pass Woburn at a place known as Hogsty End about one and a half miles from Woburn. Rather than give the new station the unattractive name Hogsty End, it was decided that the station should be called Woburn Sands, Woburn after The Duke of Bedford’s estate and Sands after the greensand on which it stood.

The turf cutting ceremony took place one Saturday afternoon in December 1845 at Brogborough Hill, near Ridgemont, half way between Bletchley and Bedford. A large crowd of people from Bedford, Bletchley and the villages lined the route, which was marked with flags and ribbons. The Duchess arrived by coach and was greeted by a band and a cannon salute. She used an ornate silver spade to cut the first turf.

It is not difficult to imagine the eager anticipation and excitement with which the people of Bedford, Bletchley and the villages awaited the opening of the New Branch Line that had been delayed for one month due to landslides. The opening finally took place on 17th November, 1846.

In his book “Town of Trains” A.E. Grigg describes how the shops in Bedford closed and the town’s people were given a day off work to celebrate the opening of the new railway line. He describes how at 12 o’clock two Bury engines pulled 33 carriages containing 600 people from Bedford to Bletchley. The journey took one and a half hours. Three carriages were derailed on a sharp bend, one hour from Bletchley station. No one was hurt. Once at Bletchley, the train was turned on the 32 feet diameter turntable and returned to Bedford to a peel of church bells and a champagne reception, hosted by the Duchess of Bedfordshire. An evening reception for 22 guests was held in the Assembly Room.”

John Morris was born in Westminster in London in 1910. He moved to Bow Brickhill when he was 3 years old. John can remember travelling on the train when he was about 6 years old.

We got on the train at the crossing, which in those days was called The Halt. The train had one or two carriages and the engine pulled one way and pushed the other because it could not turn round at Bedford. There wasn’t a proper platform at Bow Brickhill and when the train arrived the guard pulled a lever and some steps came down from underneath the carriage for passengers to get in and out of the train.

It was quite a long walk to the station for the villagers who lived at the top of the hill and many continued to use the paths through the woods to Woburn Sands rather than walk a mile to the station and then half a mile from Woburn Sands station to the town. However, business men and the Bedford Modern schoolboys used the train regularly. The guard knew the regular passengers and would look along the road for late-comers hurrying to catch the train. At this time a Mrs. O’Dell used to visit an aunt at Bedford and she used to take her youngest daughter with her, but she (the daughter) always felt sick on the train so the guard used to let her sit on his knee by the door.

At Fenny Stratford there was what was called a booking office where people could get tickets to go to Bletchley or Bedford, but if anyone got on the train at the village halts the guard had to issue them with a ticket. There were raised platforms at Fenny for the passengers to get on the train so the steps were not needed.

My father was a farmer and he had fields on both sides of the railway at Bow Brickhill. To get the cattle across there were gates which farmers were allowed to open, but only when the signals were at danger. When the cattle were going across the line the two gates, one on either side, met in the middle and stopped the cattle going along the line towards Bletchley, while someone had to stay on the other side to stop them going along the line towards Bedford.

I left Bow Brickhill when I got married at the age of 23 (to the girl who was sick on the train and sat on the guard’s knee) but came back to the village when I retired about 30 years ago.