Route from Calvert to A41 Abutment.

[route:oxford]

Had a look on Multimap earlier today after travelling down the A41 from Bicester to Aylesbury...

I'd noticed travelling past what would have been a bridge on a route between Calvert and the main Marylebone-Birmingham line and wondered what it had been for.

http://www.multimap.com/s/DxWkATeC

Whilst it's difficult to tell when the aerial photos were taken, it appears that there is a line running all the way from the calvert junction down to the bridge abutment with a spur into a depot.

Is this line still in regular use? It seems a bit of an awkward route - from memory it's not an ideal location for a distribution depot considering the many low bridges on the A41 in that area.

 

[Mojo]

I used to live in Aylesbury and used to pass this quite often.

This abutment is part of the line which connected the GCR and the GW/GC Joint (now often known as Chiltern Main Line) between Grendon Underwood Junction and Ashendon Junction. There were two intermediate stations at Akeman Street and Wotton.

The tracks are still in place, albeit mothballed, as far as Grendon Underwood.

 

[16CSVT2700]

Quail book 3 (updated Nov '05) lists the area concerned but does not have any track listed for Grendon Underwood Jcn to Ashendon Jcn.
Great Central metals are in place between Aylesbury and Former Calvert Junction for use by the Calvert binliner trains to traverse up the chord to the Oxford-Bedford cross country line, run round and head back towards Oxford or vice/versa.

 

[87015]

a depot.

Akeman Street UFK depot. Trains finished around 1990, was served by a Saturday morning portion from Bletchley which was generally 31 hauled by then, 25s before the nasty goyles arrived.

 

[Mojo]

Quail book 3 (updated Nov '05) lists the area concerned but does not have any track listed for Grendon Underwood Jcn to Ashendon Jcn.

It was definitely there in 2006: http://disused-rlys.fotopic.net/c885252.html

 

[The Planner]

Its plain lined at Grendon Underwood and has no connection anymore to the Claydon - Calvert section.

 

[Mojo]

Its plain lined at Grendon Underwood and has no connection anymore to the Claydon - Calvert section.

Yep I knew they did that and saw they've removed about 200mtr of the branch, but it's odd that they've left the rest.

Heard a story from a good few years back where the crew of an empty binliner back to Northolt were informed they'd be delayed at Aylesbury for a few hours so they uncoupled the Class 56 and changed the points and took a trip down to Akeman Street!

 

[route:oxford]

Cheers for the replies.

After 20 years disused, it can only be good fortune that the "track fairies" haven't helped themselves.

 

[16CSVT2700]

It was definitely there in 2006: http://disused-rlys.fotopic.net/c885252.html

Might be because they disconnected it and not planning to reinstate, so they didn't include it I spose