The name "varsity line"

[Nicholas43]

Discussion of the former LNWR lines (plural) from Bletchley to Cambridge, and Bletchley to Oxford, has for some years claimed that they were collectively known as "the Varsity line". I was at one of the universities in the 1960s, and unwisely had a girlfriend in the other. It was indeed possible to travel between Cambridge and Oxford via Bletchley. I recall grim waits at Bletchley, although I think there might have been one or two trains a day which ran through. I am certain that it was quicker (though more expensive) to travel via London. I never heard anyone call Cambridge - Bletchley - Oxford "the Varsity line" (or, for that matter, speak of any "Varsity"). Can any forum member produce a documented source for an early use of the supposed name "Varsity line" ?
I personally suspect that it began to be used only long after Bedford to Cambridge was closed, and Claydon to Bletchley became (mostly) disused. Indeed I think I only began to hear "Varsity line" around 2000, in the context of discussions about restoring the disused stretch between Claydon and Bletchley, and building a replacement line from Bedford to Cambridge. This is, of course, now inching to fruition under the absurd brand name "East West Rail", so reminiscent of the

... grand proposal for a South Central Pacific and Mexican railway, which was to run from the Salt Lake City, thus branching off from the San Francisco and Chicago line,—and pass down through the fertile lands of New Mexico and Arizona, into the territory of the Mexican Republic, run by the city of Mexico, and come out on the gulf at the port of Vera Cruz. Mr. Fisker admitted at once that it was a great undertaking, acknowledged that the distance might be perhaps something over 2,000 miles, acknowledged that no computation had or perhaps could be made as to the probable cost of the railway; but seemed to think that questions such as these were beside the mark and childish.

 

[Djgr]

This is not so unusual.

The Borderlands line was never so called in my youth, although the border between the two countries has always been there and the railway line has always followed and crossed it.

The Bittern line used to be the Poppy line.

It's not a Mandela effect but more a reflection on how identities can be packaged and repackaged in today's world.

 

[yorksrob]

I personally don't recall any mention of the "Varsity line" until its reopening prospects.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I suppose that 'Varsity Line' resonates with many people as 'connecting' Cambridge and Oxford in a loosely similar way to the long-standing Varsity Match in Rugby football since the 1870s. By definition it has to include both places.

Whereas East-West Rail could mean Transpennine, Edinburgh-Glasgow, Newcastle-Carlisle or 'Yarmouth-Barmouth' in a British context.

Like other posters, I have no recollection of the moniker being applied to the route historically.

 

[Bevan Price]

Historically, they were treated as two separate branch lines (ex-LNWR /LMSR) from Bletchley to Oxford & Cambridge, where they "connected" with West Coast Main Line services (some of which called at Bletchley before Milton Keynes Central was opened. )

 

[Ralph Ayres]

Interesting to hear how things really were at times back in the day, rather than the assumption that rail travel was always so much easier. Out of interest I tried to look up times in an old ABC Rail Guide, but that's so London-centric that it doesn't allow a journey to be planned by the direct route. I assume other timetables were available but perhaps most people just asked at their local station.

On a related note re academic words, "alumni" seems to get used a lot now to refer to former students or pupils. I don't ever remember it being used even at my fairly posh grammar school back in the 1970s.

 

[30907]

Interesting to hear how things really were at times back in the day, rather than the assumption that rail travel was always so much easier. Out of interest I tried to look up times in an old ABC Rail Guide, but that's so London-centric that it doesn't allow a journey to be planned by the direct route. I assume other timetables were available but perhaps most people just asked at their local station.

The default public timetable was Bradshaw or the company/regional timetable - ABC was quite niche, aimed I suspect at London PAs
There was a short period where BR(S) used it as the basis for their regional timetable, being a more manageable size than the BR corporate volume.

On a related note re academic words, "alumni" seems to get used a lot now to refer to former students or pupils. I don't ever remember it being used even at my fairly posh grammar school back in the 1970s.

Indeed - nor at my fairly posh Oxbridge college in the 70s or my less posh theological college in the 80s. I assume it is an Americanism, and its adoption probably coincides with the shift away from public funding.

 

[Magdalia]

Varsity originally related to the sporting contests between the 2 universities. The oldest are the cricket match and the boat race which have almost 200 years of history, but I haven't found when varsity was first used in the context of these contests.

Varsity is also the Cambridge University student newspaper, established in its current form in 1947, but with a history going back before World War 2.

So the word varsity goes back a long way, even if it wasn't applied to the railway linking Cambridge and Oxford.

I agree that alumni is a recent import from the USA. My university has started using it in recent years, usually in the context of asking me for money.

 

[jimm]

Discussion of the former LNWR lines from Bletchley to Cambridge, and Bletchley to Oxford, has for some years claimed that they were collectively known as "the Varsity line". I was at one of the universities in the 1960s, and unwisely had a girlfriend in the other. It was indeed possible to travel between Cambridge and Oxford via Bletchley. I recall grim waits at Bletchley, although I think there might have been one or two trains a day which ran through. I am certain that it was quicker (though more expensive) to travel via London. I never heard anyone call Cambridge - Bletchley - Oxford "the Varsity line" (or, for that matter, speak of any "Varsity"). Can any forum member produce a documented source for an early use of the supposed name "Varsity line" ?
I personally suspect that it began to be used only long after Bedford to Cambridge was closed, and Claydon to Bletchley became (mostly) disused. Indeed I think I only began to hear "Varsity line" around 2000, in the context of discussions about restoring the disused stretch between Claydon and Bletchley, and building a replacement line from Bedford to Cambridge. This is, of course, now inching to fruition under the absurd brand name "East West Rail", so reminiscent of the

Sorry, no idea on the origins of the name, though pretty sure it was around by the 1980s, perhaps when the Oxford-Bicester reopening to passenger services in 1987 was seen at the time as a first step to reinstating the route through to Cambridge. Freight was still running between Bletchley and Oxford regularly at this time and did so into the early 1990s.

Re the journey times in the 1960s, the timetableworld.com website has free access to the 1965 London Midland region timetable, where Table 55 shows the various services operating along the Oxford-Cambridge axis at that time.

There were four Oxford-Cambridge trains Monday to Saturday and four the other way (three on Saturday), with the fastest limited stop one taking just under two hours over the 77 miles end-to-end, while others took up to two hours 40 minutes, depending on the calling pattern. The rest of the day, the waits at Bletchley were indeed a bit random. There was no Sunday service.

The 1965 Western Region timetable and 1967 Eastern Region timetable are also available on the site. In 1965, the Cathedrals Express was non-stop between Oxford and Paddington both ways and took 1hr 7mins westbound and 1hr 13mins eastbound (padding out a timing is not a modern invention). The 1967 Eastern Region timetable shows King's Cross-Cambridge expresses took 1hr 21mins, while Liverpool Street-Cambridge fast trains were just two or three minutes faster, so the through Oxford-Cambridge trains, even the all stations ones, were quicker than going via London, once time for the Tube ride is added.

 

[Magdalia]

There were four Oxford-Cambridge trains Monday to Saturday and four the other way (three on Saturday), with the fastest limited stop one taking just under two hours over the 77 miles end-to-end, while others took up to two hours 40 minutes, depending on the calling pattern. The rest of the day, the waits at Bletchley were indeed a bit random.

Through running between Cambridge and Oxford on this scale only dates from the June 1962 timetable. Prior to that there was one through working from Oxford to Cambridge and none the other way. The 2 hour services were introduced at this time and had very few calls apart from Bedford, Bletchley and Bicester. Does June 1962 coincide with reduction in WCML services for electrification, freeing up paths across the flat junction?

There was no Sunday service.

The Sunday service was withdrawn in June 1964. Prior to that there were 2 round trips Cambridge-Bletchley operated from the Cambridge end with Eastern Region resources. These were sometimes loco hauled, especially at start and end of University terms.

 

[Taunton]

I agree that alumni is a recent import from the USA. My university has started using it in recent years, usually in the context of asking me for money.

Seconded

 

[Cantab26]

On a related note re academic words, "alumni" seems to get used a lot now to refer to former students or pupils. I don't ever remember it being used even at my fairly posh grammar school back in the 1970s.

Indeed - nor at my fairly posh Oxbridge college in the 70s or my less posh theological college in the 80s. I assume it is an Americanism, and its adoption probably coincides with the shift away from public funding.

I agree that alumni is a recent import from the USA. My university has started using it in recent years, usually in the context of asking me for money.

Seconded

The use of the word “alumni” to refer to past members who are no longer in statu pupillari goes back much further at Cambridge and is not a modern import. For example, the first Venn * directory was published in the 1920s and builds on established usage prior to that point.

As to the word “varsity”, the reason this is associated with Oxford and Cambridge is because it is an historic contraction of ‘university’ and (until the 1830s) these were the only two such institutions in England.


* The inventor of the Venn diagramme!

 

[Calthrop]

The use of the word “alumni” to refer to past members who are no longer in statu pupillari goes back much further at Cambridge and is not a modern import. For example, the first Venn * directory was published in the 1920s and builds on established usage prior to that point.

I was at Oxford University in the late 1960s: I, and friends there, knew and enthusiastically used the "alum-word"; but I suspect that it wasn't in official use there and then -- we were annoyingly "precious" kids who took delight in vocabulary-type showing-off.

Departing from thread's intended topic; but in quite recent discussion on these Forums, of the line from Kettering to Huntingdon, and continuation to points east (Midland Railway, and then LMS, running powers over other undertakings' trackage): I was intrigued to see a participant referring to this route, as the "Varsity Line" -- one "Varsity" only, involved !

 

[oldman]

The use of the word “alumni” to refer to past members who are no longer in statu pupillari goes back much further at Cambridge and is not a modern import.

But its use among the common people has grown enormously in the last 50 years - some British state schools boast about their alumni rather than their old boys/girls or former pupils (FPs). The Google Ngram viewer illustrates this growth, though its British English filter is a bit dodgy.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But its use among the common people has grown enormously in the last 50 years - some British state schools boast about their alumni rather than their old boys/girls or former pupils (FPs). The Google Ngram viewer illustrates this growth, though its British English filter is a bit dodgy.

Yes, the term wasn't really used in the 90s, say, other than very traditional universities like Oxford and Cambridge. "Former students" was the term you used to see, or "leavers" if on their way out or only just left. I suspect rather than spreading from those two universities it may have come in as a bit of an Americanism, as they like quite formal language around some educational topics, probably at the same time as those university hoodies that are now very popular but we (in the 1990s) used to think were somewhere between "a bit ridiculous" (a bit like wearing branded kit from your employer when not at work) and "something foreign students wear to show off at home that they study abroad".

OTOH the term "varsity" was (again other than Oxford and Cambridge) used in the 60s and thereabouts but not often for a chunk of time between then and nowish. For instance the Student Scout and Guide Organisation (quite a mouthful!) used to be called Intervarsity and Intercollegiate and was merged and renamed in the 80s I think.

 

[daodao]

Through running between Cambridge and Oxford on this scale only dates from the June 1962 timetable. Prior to that there was one through working from Oxford to Cambridge and none the other way. The 2 hour services were introduced at this time and had very few calls apart from Bedford, Bletchley and Bicester.

My April 1910 Bradshaw reprint shows the timetables for Bletchley-Cambridge and Bletchley-Banbury/Oxford separately, but indicates that there were 3 through trains each way Mon-Sat between Cambridge and Oxford. These trains stopped at only a few stations between Bletchley and Oxford, mostly just taking 45 minutes for this 31 mile section. However, overall they were fairly slow, stopping at all stations between Cambridge and Bedford (which had a sparse service) and at many/all stations between Bedford and Bletchley, with long waits at Bletchley. I do not expect train services from Cambridge to Bedford to be re-instated for many years, if ever.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I do not expect train services from Cambridge to Bedford to be re-instated for many years, if ever.

That's also my expectation. Oxford will open, Aylesbury might (and would be very useful), but the Marston Vale will just continue bimbling along with an hourly slow DMU to Bletchley, unless there is ever a Milton Keynes light rail project in which case it could become part of that if the EWR aspiration can be given up.

 

[Lucan]

I recall grim waits at Bletchley, although I think there might have been one or two trains a day which ran through.

In one of C S Lewis's writings (I cannot remember which) he mentions that he used the line a lot - he had connections with both universities. He did not mind it being slow because he said it gave him time to say his prayers

 

[30907]

The term "varsity" was (again other than Oxford and Cambridge) used in the 60s and thereabouts but not often for a chunk of time between then and nowish. For instance the Student Scout and Guide Organisation (quite a mouthful!) used to be called Intervarsity and Intercollegiate and was merged and renamed in the 80s I think.

The (evangelical Christian) Inter-Varsity Fellowship dates from the inter-war years and was renamed the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship in the 70s - varsity having definite Oxbridge associations.

 

[Gloster]

The story Murder at Pentecost in Dorothy L. Sayers’ short-story collection Hangman’s Holiday includes an undergraduate saying, “ ‘Varsity has somehow a flavour of the nineties.” As the book was published in 1933, although the story might be a bit older, this is the 1890s.

 

[Calthrop]

In one of C S Lewis's writings (I cannot remember which) he mentions that he used the line a lot - he had connections with both universities. He did not mind it being slow because he said it gave him time to say his prayers

I recall reading: in connection with this anecdote re Lewis, his prayer-life, and the rail route concerned; that at that time (the last dozen or so years of the Oxford -- Bletchley -- Cambridge line as a through passenger route), the line / its services were affectionately nicknamed at the Oxford end, the "Cantab Crawler" -- which I find rather nice.

 

[Nicholas43]

Many thanks to all contributors. So, the Story So Far is that (1) "Varsity" was, possibly, current undergraduate slang in the 1890s; (2) no-one has a pre-2000 citation for "Varsity Line", meaning the branch lines (plural) from Bletchley to Oxford and Bletchley to Cambridge.

I don't recall anyone saying "Varsity", in any context, railway or rugby, at my (admittedly, somewhat plebeian) college in the 1960s. The OED confirms that alumnus was originally US. Any further discussions of alumnus/-a/-i, or of the prospects for a new line from Bedford to Cambridge, are, I suggest, for other threads.

 

[ian1944]

I've never understood why the connection in question isn't referred to as the Oxbridge line.

"Varsity" certainly has a suggestion of exclusivity, most people seem to use the full noun or abbreviate to "uni". I first came across the usage in the 60s, when joining the local IVC branch was a quick way of meeting people who in theory would have similar interests and be compatible, nor was meeting future marriage partners unknown. Still going, Inter-Varsity Clubs are stated as being for "graduates, professionals and those who share similar interests", with the inevitable corollary regarding who they are not for. I can't help thinking of Basil Fawlty's Gourmet Night with no riff-raff.

 

[zwk500]

"Varsity" certainly has a suggestion of exclusivity, most people seem to use the full noun or abbreviate to "uni".

Nowadays, Varsity at universities almost always refers to sports unless otherwise qualified, likely influenced by the American usage. I went to York (which is semi-collegiate) and we had a 'college Varsity' games against Durham (played only between colleges, rather than the full university teams) as a warm up for the annual Roses tournament. I believe nearly all of the BUCS competitions are referred to as 'Varsity'.

Oxbridge retains exclusivity over the definite article though - there are now Varsity Games in Rugby Union, Rugby League and Football. However IIRC Cricket is still just 'The University Match'.

 

[Gloster]

I suspect that Oxbridge has only come into general use relatively recently, probably only the last fifty or so years, so a bit late for the line. It has seen occasional use since the mid-nineteenth century or earlier.

 

[Bevan Price]

I suspect that Oxbridge has only come into general use relatively recently, probably only the last fifty or so years, so a bit late for the line. It has seen occasional use since the mid-nineteenth century or earlier.

Attaching "fancy names" to any line is a relatively recent feature. Back in the 1960s, it was more common to refer to a line as the "(name of terminus)" branch, e.g. Wigan Central branch, etc.

 

[snowball]

I suspect that Oxbridge has only come into general use relatively recently, probably only the last fifty or so years, so a bit late for the line. It has seen occasional use since the mid-nineteenth century or earlier.

According to the OED and the quotations therein, until at least 1900 Oxbridge was used as the name for "a fictional university, esp. regarded as a composite of Oxford and Cambridge". Later, with the growth of other universities, "Oxbridge" was used (from at least the 1940s) as a generic term for Oxford and Cambridge, in contrast first to "redbrick" universities. From the 1960s, English universities were sometimes divided into "Oxbridge", "redbrick" and "plateglass".

 

[Gloster]

Attaching "fancy names" to any line is a relatively recent feature. Back in the 1960s, it was more common to refer to a line as the "(name of terminus)" branch, e.g. Wigan Central branch, etc.

But which one would you use in this case? Would the sons of Cambridge regard it as a branch to them or only to that small place on the Thames, as they are much too important to be at the end of a branch from The Other Place (and vice-versa).

I think Conan-Doyle used Camford, as did Thackeray (and probably others).

 

[zwk500]

But which one would you use in this case? Would the sons of Cambridge regard it as a branch to them or only to that small place on the Thames, as they are much too important to be at the end of a branch from The Other Place (and vice-versa).

It wasn't conceived as a through roroute both were considered branches from Bletchley.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It wasn't conceived as a through roroute both were considered branches from Bletchley.

And that is what it would be were it finished now - a regional route for intermediate journeys. This idea of mortarboarded, gowned professors sitting there reading dusty old books, drinking tea and eating cucumber sandwiches and cake from wicker picnic baskets is a lovely image but just isn't what it'll become.

Yes, there'll be some Oxford <-> Cambridge travel (e.g. students who go to one and their mate goes to the other), but more journeys will involve Milton Keynes than not, I expect.