Stewartby railway station

• Bletchley - Bedford
  Marston Vale line
• Mondays to Saturdays only

Stewartby
Looking north-east with three of the four surviving and listed brickworks chimneys in view
General information
Location	Stewartby, Bedford England
Coordinates	52°04′08″N0°31′16″W / 52.069°N 0.521°W / 52.069; -0.521
Grid reference	TL014422
Managed by	London Northwestern Railway
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	SWR
Classification	DfT category F2
Key dates
1905	Opened as Wootton Pillinge Halt
1 January 1917	Temporarily closed
5 May 1919	Reopened
1 January 1928	Renamed Wootton Pillinge
8 July 1935	Renamed Stewartby [1]
15 July 1968	Became unstaffed [2]
Passengers
2019/20	72,748		Kempston Hardwick
	Proposed future services
Ridgmont		East West Rail Oxford to Cambridge		Bedford St Johns

History

When first opened in 1905 by the London and North Western Railway, the station was a halt serving the small village of Wootton Pillinge, a largely rural community that, in 1897, had become the site of B.J.H. Forder's brickworks. The plant was served by sidings close to and alongside the halt which were controlled by a signal box; ^[6] the halt was simply constructed with a platform at ground level constructed out of sleepers. ^[7] By 1910, the Wootton Pillinge Brick Company was selling 48 million bricks per year and in 1923, it merged with the London Brick Company (LBC). The brickworks developed virtually across the railway line and as the wagon capacity of the old sidings was exceeded, they became an extension for a larger group of sidings developing at Wootton Broadmead. The Wootton Pillinge signal box was closed and a new box was opened called "Forder's Sidings" which controlled heavy movements from the works. ^[8]

In 1926 the LBC began to build a "garden village" for its employees at Wootton Pillinge; the village was to be named "Stewartby" after Sir Halley Stewart, the former Liberal Parliamentary candidate for Peterborough and first chairman of the Wootton Pillinge Brick Company. Following the building of the village, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway renamed the station (which ceased to be a halt in 1928) to Stewartby. ^[9] The Stewartby brickworks was connected to the Marston Vale Line via a 2 ft 11 in (889 mm) narrow gauge railway operating on overhead electrification. This is believed to have been installed in the 1930s and lasted until 1960. ^[10] After reaching a peak production level of 738 million bricks in 1973, demand for bricks declined and the LBC (trading as Easidispose) signed an agreement the following year to re-use its empty clay pits as landfill transported from London. One or two daily container trains began transporting 1,000 tons of waste from Hendon to handling facilities at Stewartby. ^[11]

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Millbrook		British Railways Varsity Line		Wootton Broadmead Halt

References

1. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 255. ISBN   1-85260-508-1.
2. Clinker, C.R. (1978). Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830-1977. Bristol: Avon-AngliA Publications & Services. p. 164. ISBN   0-905466-19-5.
3. "Bletchley to Bedford | Timetable from Monday 19 February 2024". London Northwestern Railway. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
4. "Train timetables and schedules | Stewartby". London Northwestern Railway.
5. "Marston Vale Line: Hourly timetable has now resumed". London Northwestern Railway. 20 February 2024.
6. Simpson 1981, p. 65.
7. Simpson 2000, p. 77.
8. Simpson 2000, p. 74.
9. Simpson 1981, p. 69.
10. Simpson 1981, p. 62.
11. Simpson 1981, p. 66.

Sources

• Simpson, Bill (1981). Oxford to Cambridge Railway. Vol. 2. Poole: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN   0-86093-121-8.
• Simpson, Bill (2000). The Oxford to Cambridge Railway: Forty Years On 1960-2000 . Witney: Lamplight Publications. ISBN   1-899246-05-3.

External links

• Train times and station information for Stewartby railway station from National Rail