Cheddington Station

[DarloRich]

A question: How has Cheddington Station survived and how does it continue to survive? How did it not close under Beeching? It is in the middle on nowhere despite being only 35 ish miles from Euston, never seems to have any passengers ( under 100k every year) , yet has a decent train service, has inaccessible platforms and seems a bit unloved.

I don't want any station to close but this one always seems a strange one. It is something of an enigma!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I too have wondered this. It's in the way somewhat and hardly anyone uses it, with an almost nonexistent hinterland within walking/cycling distance and almost everyone driving there (and as a result they could drive to Cheddington or Leighton Buzzard easily enough, and many do* because the service is superior).

* I wonder if the increase back from 1 to 2tph during the day last timetable change will have changed this much? Though there are faster services from both LBZ and Tring.

 

[zwk500]

The decision on closure or not would presumably have been made in the 60s, as that was the last major modernisation before modern station closure proposal came in. Presumably as it was on the 4-track section it was considered pretty marginal in terms of blocking fast trains (unlike Roade, further north, which was beyond the Weedon/Northampton split). Also, the actual village is less than a mile away and even if it's tiny by modern standards at 1,750 in the 60s that may have been considered big enough to keep open, especially if there was farm/horse traffic from Mentmore, Horton and Slapton to supplement it.
Another concern may have been that the branch from Aylesbury had closed completely in '63, and it may have been considered that closing the station as well with it would have been too harsh a blow at the time. Presumably the modern road network reflects largely what was there in the 60s, so buses may have been seen as unworkable and therefore the station survived by the skin of it's teeth.

Modern day it's awkward because slow trains terminate at Tring but Ledburn junction is north of the station so the Leighton Buzzard Semi-fasts didn't serve it, leaving it just for the GTR service that didn't get to Euston. Not sure post-covid what the service pattern is, but really there should be a crossover allowing the Tring terminator to terminate at Cheddington instead (if it can't find a gap at Ledburn Jn).

 

[Bletchleyite]

Modern day it's awkward because slow trains terminate at Tring but Ledburn junction is north of the station so the Leighton Buzzard Semi-fasts didn't serve it, leaving it just for the GTR service that didn't get to Euston. Not sure post-covid what the service pattern is, but really there should be a crossover allowing the Tring terminator to terminate at Cheddington instead (if it can't find a gap at Ledburn Jn).

This isn't correct. I can't remember the early-2000s timetable, but since Virgin VHF (mid-2000s) it has been served by an hourly MKC semifast plus peak extras*, and now post "Takt" is served twice an hour by the MKC stopper. (The Southern may have stopped as well, I can't remember).

* Several Tring services start back from Bletchley in service as you might as well, you have unit, driver and guard coming off Bletchley CS.

(The pattern now overall is 1 Crewe, 2 Brum fast, 2 Tring semifast, 2 MKC stopping, Southern mostly only to Watford)

 

[30907]

My guess is that
(1) no-one thought about closing a single station when there were no significant savings to be made.
But if they had then they would have hesitated as
(2) electrification was imminent and traffic might have increased, houses might have been built (as indeed has happened), etc.
And
(3) driving to a railhead for a daily commute was less of a thing then, and Tring had the same 1tph offpeak service as Cheddington into the 80s anyway.

 

[Bletchleyite]

(3) driving to a railhead for a daily commute was less of a thing then, and Tring had the same 1tph offpeak service as Cheddington into the 80s anyway.

Plus it wasn't really in the way back then even if it is now. Milton Keynes didn't exist (well, there was a village of that name, but it was tiny), so the south WCML commuter demand from north of Watford Jn into London was tiny - it looked a lot more like the Trent Valley local stations (all a bit rural and not that heavily used) than the busy commuter operation it does now. And going back to Turing's days, Bletchley station was as much in the middle of a field as Cheddington is now - Bletchley's present town centre is post-war, the old centre was up the Buckingham Road by the Three Trees pub.

I did wonder if the recent "platform sliding down the embankment" issue would have resulted in a stealth closure, but instead it seems it has been repaired.

 

[NickBucks]

Wasn't the station needed as part of the Great Train Robbery plans? There has of course long been speculation that the robbery was an inside job.

 

[nlt]

A little bit of history. Search Aylesbury if you don't want to read it all. https://newwoodlesford.xyz/woodlesford-station/john-ratcliffe-chapman/

 

[D6130]

When I lived and worked at Aylesbury (1988-1991) my then girlfriend and I often used to walk along the canal on a sunny Sunday to Marsworth for lunch and a couple of pints at the Red Lion....and we would sometimes return via Cheddington station if the field paths were not too muddy. Of course on a Sunday the station was deserted - in fact in those days it may not even have had a Sunday service - but I was aware that there were a number of Aylesbury commuters who preferred to drive to either Cheddington, where parking was free and readily available, or Tring (where there was much more - but more heavily-used and charged - parking), as they preferred the fast, quiet and reliable class 310/321 EMUs to/from Euston over the slow, noisy, smelly by then unreliable class 108/115 DMUs to/from Marylebone.

 

[Bletchleyite]

When I lived and worked at Aylesbury (1988-1991) my then girlfriend and I often used to walk along the canal on a sunny Sunday to Marsworth for lunch and a couple of pints at the Red Lion....and we would sometimes return via Cheddington station if the field paths were not too muddy. Of course on a Sunday the station was deserted - in fact in those days it may not even have had a Sunday service - but I was aware that there were a number of Aylesbury commuters who preferred to drive to either Cheddington, where parking was free and readily available, or Tring (where there was much more - but more heavily-used and charged - parking), as they preferred the fast, quiet and reliable class 310/321 EMUs to/from Euston over the slow, noisy, smelly by then unreliable class 108/115 DMUs to/from Marylebone.

Old habits die hard and so plenty still do do that!

I'm slightly surprised there hasn't been housing development at Cheddington, but maybe it's green belt?

 

[zwk500]

I'm slightly surprised there hasn't been housing development at Cheddington, but maybe it's green belt?

Local road network is hardly suitable for a major additional development, especially when Tring and Leighton Buzzard are about the same distance either side and have much better amenities and connectivity.

 

[DarloRich]

Bletchley station was as much in the middle of a field as Cheddington is now

I don't think that is quite true. The area off what is now Queensway is 1920/30's housing ( semi detached houses, large "villas" ) running up to Fenny Stratford.

I would say that until the 1960's Belthcley was a small quiet market town. Then someone plonked that horrible shopping centre in the town and built a dual carriage way!

I'm slightly surprised there hasn't been housing development at Cheddington, but maybe it's green belt?

The village ( which is some way form the station - although not far enougth to be a "road" station) has seen development but nothing around the station.

Wasn't the station needed as part of the Great Train Robbery plans? There has of course long been speculation that the robbery was an inside job.

The train was stopped at a doctored signal between Leighton Buzzard and Cheddington and then moved from the tampered signal about half a mile to Bridgeo Bridge ( just north of the station) while the villains unloaded the loot into road vehicles and fled to a farm near Brill.

One of the staff on the train flagged down a passing goods train and travelled to Cheddington to raise the alarm and subsequently the train was moved to Cheddington for the police to start the investigation.

It is often seen as some kind of raffles the gentleman thief/ robin hood caper - it wasn't. These were serious and nasty villains (although not armed) who coshed the train driver so badly he never really recovered & died relatively shortly after. They also coshed the mail train staff and tied them up.

BTW : The inside man was said to be an unidentified royalmail man ( "The Ulsterman") and the replacement retired train driver the gang brought with them was never identified.

(3) driving to a railhead for a daily commute was less of a thing then, and Tring had the same 1tph offpeak service as Cheddington into the 80s anyway.

that was the only reason i could think of for survival. I also mused on who might have been MP at the time!

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't think that is quite true. The area off what is now Queensway is 1920/30's housing ( semi detached houses, large "villas" ) running up to Fenny Stratford.

Some of those were there but it wasn't the main shopping area (in so much as there was one). Most of it is post-war. Almost all of the buildings now present in the actual shopping area are 1950s/60s. There were houses there as an extension of Fenny though.

Fenny High Street was a separate centre to the classic Three Trees crossroads.

As an aside there's some great if very dated-styled local history on these two sites (the history of the Lakes Estate on the first of these is fascinating):

Welcome to the Millennium CLUTCH Project

CLUTCH: an adult computer literacy project based on community histry research funded by the Millennium Commission

clutch.open.ac.uk

Talk About Bletchley

A community forum for Bletchley - past, present and future

talkaboutbletchley.wordpress.com

 

[12LDA28C]

as they preferred the fast, quiet and reliable class 310/321 EMUs to/from Euston over the slow, noisy, smelly by then unreliable class 108/115 DMUs to/from Marylebone.

Don't forget the 317s replaced the 310s before the 'Dusty Bins' came along.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Don't forget the 317s replaced the 310s before the 'Dusty Bins' came along.

Still better than rattly first generation DMUs!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

When franchising was in vogue - the then OPRAF specified the minimum service requirement as 2 station calls at Cheddington , per hour - so that drove the timetable pretty much to the recast for some years. It was pointed out that there was around one passenger per off peak station call , but they refused to budge.

Booking office staff loved it - very quiet , a minor rush then time to read, cook a lavish breakfast , contemplate life .....

 

[Bletchleyite]

When franchising was in vogue - the then OPRAF specified the minimum service requirement as 2 station calls at Cheddington , per hour - so that drove the timetable pretty much to the recast for some years. It was pointed out that there was around one passenger per off peak station call , but they refused to budge.

Booking office staff loved it - very quiet , a minor rush then time to read, cook a lavish breakfast , contemplate life .....

Interestingly it's gone back to 2 so the MKC stoppers are perfect clockface.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Interestingly it's gone back to 2 so the MKC stoppers are perfect clockface.

Yes - well in the big picture of things - the cost savings are really not worth arguing about.

(Remember in 1996 , the planned "vision" for the PUG2 timetable was to say the least - "embryonic" , so it made sense to try and concentrate on the semi-fast suburban service. The impact of everyone but Virgin on the slow lines promised a blood bath for the slow lines then....)

 

[yorksrob]

When franchising was in vogue - the then OPRAF specified the minimum service requirement as 2 station calls at Cheddington , per hour - so that drove the timetable pretty much to the recast for some years. It was pointed out that there was around one passenger per off peak station call , but they refused to budge.

Booking office staff loved it - very quiet , a minor rush then time to read, cook a lavish breakfast , contemplate life .....

They'd have gotten a lot more passengers if they'd specified 2 trains per hour at Normanton !

 

[Gloster]

The decision on closure or not would presumably have been made in the 60s, as that was the last major modernisation before modern station closure proposal came in. Presumably as it was on the 4-track section it was considered pretty marginal in terms of blocking fast trains (unlike Roade, further north, which was beyond the Weedon/Northampton split). Also, the actual village is less than a mile away and even if it's tiny by modern standards at 1,750 in the 60s that may have been considered big enough to keep open, especially if there was farm/horse traffic from Mentmore, Horton and Slapton to supplement it.
Another concern may have been that the branch from Aylesbury had closed completely in '63, and it may have been considered that closing the station as well with it would have been too harsh a blow at the time. Presumably the modern road network reflects largely what was there in the 60s, so buses may have been seen as unworkable and therefore the station survived by the skin of it's teeth.

Modern day it's awkward because slow trains terminate at Tring but Ledburn junction is north of the station so the Leighton Buzzard Semi-fasts didn't serve it, leaving it just for the GTR service that didn't get to Euston. Not sure post-covid what the service pattern is, but really there should be a crossover allowing the Tring terminator to terminate at Cheddington instead (if it can't find a gap at Ledburn Jn).

The branch from Cheddington to Aylesbury had closed to passengers in February 1953, so it is unlikely that that had any influence on the decision to keep the station. The branch closed to goods in December 1963, but that is not likely to affect the closure of a passenger station.

 

[londiscape]

This isn't correct. I can't remember the early-2000s timetable, but since Virgin VHF (mid-2000s) it has been served by an hourly MKC semifast plus peak extras*, and now post "Takt" is served twice an hour by the MKC stopper. (The Southern may have stopped as well, I can't remember).

* Several Tring services start back from Bletchley in service as you might as well, you have unit, driver and guard coming off Bletchley CS.

(The pattern now overall is 1 Crewe, 2 Brum fast, 2 Tring semifast, 2 MKC stopping, Southern mostly only to Watford)

Not 100% sure but back in 2012-14 when I used the Southern from Clapham Junc to Bletchley rather a lot, I seem to recall it skipped Apsley, Kings Langley and Cheddington.

Always used to wonder what Cheddington was for, when passing it looked like it was in the middle of a field with nothing around it.

 

[telstarbox]

Old habits die hard and so plenty still do do that!

I'm slightly surprised there hasn't been housing development at Cheddington, but maybe it's green belt?

Not in the Metropolitan Green Belt or the Chilterns AONB. I think Aylesbury is the focus for development round there so smaller settlements probably don't get a look in.

 

[cle]

We all talk about MKC and the growth there, for obvious reasons - but from a rail point of view, Leighton Buzzard has also boomed in terms of service, important (fasts) and ensuing usage. If you lived in that area, it's a much better pick.

Tring to a lesser degree, has better service than it did, and serves as an alt from the Chiltern line, as does Berkhamsted (also a success story and nascent town).

 

[BucksBones]

The new 2tph service does seem to have increased passenger numbers although not as much as I expected - I suspect just a lack of knowledge of the improved service. Other than that, I've no idea why people would persist in driving to Tring or Leighton Buzzard as by the time you've got there and parked up, any time saving is negated.

In addition to the 2 direct trains per hour from Cheddington, there is also the possibility to get a northbound train and then change at Leighton Buzzard so in effect 4tph spaced out rather nicely! I must say it's great for me...!

As well as Cheddington itself there is a large potential market in the surrounding villages but people have got so used to the previous poor service from Cheddington that it doesn't occur to them to change their habits.
(If LNR decided to push Cheddington by advertising and reducing the car park charges it would take the pressure off Tring station!)

Regarding the platform 4 repairs, it hasn't been done properly - it's just a load of shonky-looking temporary scaffolding. They'll have to revisit it before long.

 

[DarloRich]

If LNR decided to push Cheddington by advertising and reducing the car park charges it would take the pressure off Tring station

hence the parking on the verges approaching the station? The parking does seem to be excessively priced for a station that must surely rely on people driving and parking.

Regarding the platform 4 repairs, it hasn't been done properly - it's just a load of shonky-looking temporary scaffolding. They'll have to revisit it before long.

at some point it becomes a risk that the cost of the work outweighs the value of the station.

 

[BucksBones]

Not in the Metropolitan Green Belt or the Chilterns AONB. I think Aylesbury is the focus for development round there so smaller settlements probably don't get a look in.

As DarloRich says, there's been quite a lot of recent development which has substantially expanded the village itself and there's plenty more in the pipeline, including building on the disused orchards (which is being fought but I'm sure it will happen eventually ) and building a whole new village on the old airfield.

hence the parking on the verges approaching the station? The parking does seem to be excessively priced for a station that must surely rely on people driving and parking.

Yes, exactly

at some point it becomes a risk that the cost of the work outweighs the value of the station.

I see what you're saying but I do think there is a lot of potential growth there and if the development in the area continues as it looks as though it will Tring will quickly be overwhelmed

 

[Bletchleyite]

The new 2tph service does seem to have increased passenger numbers although not as much as I expected - I suspect just a lack of knowledge of the improved service. Other than that, I've no idea why people would persist in driving to Tring or Leighton Buzzard as by the time you've got there and parked up, any time saving is negated.

Because there are about 5 houses within walking distance. If you're going to get in the car you might as well do so to a place with a better service. I'd choose Tring as services start there so the boarding process is less fraught and a good choice of seats is available, though admittedly the stopper that serves Cheddington is quiet north of Tring.

In addition to the 2 direct trains per hour from Cheddington, there is also the possibility to get a northbound train and then change at Leighton Buzzard so in effect 4tph spaced out rather nicely! I must say it's great for me...!

I don't think that's Permitted, is it? Though you'll probably get away with it given the lack of revenue checks on LNR.

Of course what a season ticket holder can do to achieve that is to buy a season from Leighton Buzzard instead of Cheddington, though that has the downside of messing with the stats.

 

[zwk500]

Because there are about 5 houses within walking distance. If you're going to get in the car you might as well do so to a place with a better service. I'd choose Tring as services start there so the boarding process is less fraught and a good choice of seats is available, though admittedly the stopper that serves Cheddington is quiet north of Tring.

Also Tring station is not far off the A41, Cheddington involves a lot more country lane-type roads and going through villages. Not good for people in a bit of a hurry.

I don't think that's Permitted, is it? Though you'll probably get away with it given the lack of revenue checks on LNR.

There's no specific easement for it, unless it comes under the general rules about being less than 3 miles out of the way.

Of course what a season ticket holder can do to achieve that is to buy a season from Leighton Buzzard instead of Cheddington, though that has the downside of messing with the stats.

Season ticket holders have famously never worried about messing with the stats to get a Gold Card. The bigger concern would be the price increase against the relative utility of the extra validity.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's way more than 3 miles. To Leighton and back is nearer 10.

 

[westcoaster]

I was told years ago by an instructor whilst working on the WCML.

The land on which the railway and station was built belonged to the Tavistock Family.
They agreed to the railway crossing their land, as long as a station (Cheddington) was built, and a minimum service called at the station.