Cambridge and St Ives branch line

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Cambridge and
St Ives branch line
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St Ives
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Swavesey
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Long Stanton
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Oakington
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Histon
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Chesterton
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Cambridge

The Cambridge and St Ives branch (as it is named on New Popular Editions Ordnance Survey maps) was a railway built by the Wisbech, St Ives & Cambridge Junction Railway in the late 1840s. The railway ran from Cambridge in the south, through Fenland countryside to the market town of St Ives; more specifically, the line ran from Chesterton Junction, where it met the present-day Fen line north of the River Cam.

Passenger services along the line managed to survive the Beeching Axe, but with British Rail citing heavy losses the final passenger service ran between St Ives and Cambridge on 5 October 1970. Despite campaigns to reopen the service during the 1970s, the only subsequent rail traffic on the line was a freight service to Chivers in Histon which ran until 1983 and a contract to ferry sand from ARC at Fen Drayton which continued until May 1992. [1]

The railway now forms the alignment of the northern section of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, a bus rapid transit scheme.

Stations

Stations listed northwest to south, in the 'up' direction

What remains

On its 2011 opening, the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway route absorbed the majority of the old railway between St Ives and the point at which the bus joined public roads at Milton Road. The remaining section between the former level crossing over Milton Road and the Fen line was converted to an extension to the Guided Busway in 2015 to join it to the planned Cambridge North railway station.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Histon railway station</span> Former railway station in Cambridgeshire, England

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambridge North railway station</span> Railway station in Chesterton, Cambridgeshire

Cambridge North railway station is a railway station located in northern Cambridge, immediately adjacent to the suburb of Chesterton, close to Cambridge Science Park. The station is on the Fen Line, which runs from Cambridge to King's Lynn. It connects to the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, and provides an interchange with Park & Ride and local bus services.

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Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about 50 miles (80 km) north of London. Its main transport links are the M11 road to London, the A14 east–west road and the West Anglia Main Line railway to London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chesterton railway station</span> Former railway station in England

Chesterton railway station was located on the line between Cambridge and Histon. It opened in 1850 and closed the same year.

References

  1. "Cambridge-St Ives-March". East Anglian Railway Archive.
  2. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 60. ISBN   1-85260-508-1. R508.
  3. Dewick, Tony (2002). Complete Atlas of Railway Station Names. Ian Allan. ISBN   0-7110-2798-6.

Further reading