South_Bedfordshire_Railway

[alfred roberts]

South_Bedfordshire_Railway

There is a scheme for a short length of the old Dunstable to Luton railway line to be kept as a heritage railway as part of the Luton to Dunstable busway.

Luton Borough Council responsible for promoting the bus way along the old railway indicated that the potential heritage value of the Luton to Dunstable railway line had been realised and if practicable a short length of line could be retained.

There would be a compound providing a road access and depot on the pallet store site (formerly oil depot sidings) to North of Dunstable town centre which has been earmarked for redevelopment, and a short length of line along the old line towards Dunstable Park operated with a Diesel Multiple Unit, with steam following later on. The land surrounding the old line is designated as open space in the bus way proposal so the railway would have a nice setting to operate within.

The proposed heritage railway places great emphasis on assisting economic regeneration of the surrounding area and the conurbation in general.

There would be a lot of opportunities for volunteers to work on the proposed heritage railway which would take on trainees from the local colleges and job centre which should help people get jobs. People vsiiting the proposed heritage railway would be encouraged to use local shops and fast food takeaways.

The face book group aims to help to start the scheme for short length of heritage railway along the old Dunstable to Luton railway line as part of the Luton to Dunstable busway by telling local people about it to enable their participation. The group aims to educate about history of the old railway line, about the subsequent re - use of the land after closure and the controversy over the re - opening the part of the line from Luton to Dunstable to passengers after heavy freight trains ended in 1989, vs the Luton to Dunstable busway. The group has pictures, maps, written material and timetables on the group and links to external websites.

For more information:

Face book group for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101535814486

Face book page for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?a...ngdom/South_Bedfordshire_Railway/114408429930

Yahoo! group for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/Dunstable_Railway_Centre/

Windows Live! group for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
http://southbedfordshirerailway.groups.live.com/

Bebo group for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
www.bebo.com/South_Beds_Railway

The web site for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
http://www.freewebs.com/south_bedfordshire_railway/

 

[A0]

Am I the only one experiencing a strange sense of deja vu?...........

 

[asylumxl]

Being local myself, you may find you have less support than you hoped.

Personally I'd like to see the entire thing kept as a railway, and put into service, but Luton Borough Council has their own ideas.

 

[ViscountFan]

Being local myself, you may find you have less support than you hoped.

Personally I'd like to see the entire thing kept as a railway, and put into service, but Luton Borough Council has their own ideas.

As another local, I couldn't agree more!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

As a former local I also concur, there are far to many NIMBY's in Luton though, especially in the area around the L&D.

I seem to remember South Beds Council initially agreed to the bus route, but when Government gave the project funding, they admitted only agreeing because they didn't really believe they would get funding for it!

I did a topic on the options open to the councils back when I was at school in geography, 1994/5? They had tram, bus and two rail options, one of which included the possibility of a direct service to London!

There must have been some 4 or 5 bus routes that very nearly follow the route of the line plus others that follow most of it when I lived there, why they still want another road to run more down I don't know!

 

[asylumxl]

Especially since the bus will miss the L&D hospital which provides the vast majority of their traffic.

 

[A0]

Yep - definately deja vu.

This is what I posted last time this was discussed, almost 12 months ago to the day...

"Also knowing the area, I have to say I couldn't support something like this.

Already the preservation / heritage movement has lines which are struggling - and likely to get worse during the forthcoming recession.

A "short" line would in all probablility be less than 1.5 miles - what traction could / would be run on it ?

The attraction to families / tourists is nearly always steam, unless there is a compelling other reason to travel on the line e.g. scenery, tourist destination at one end etc - A run through urban Dunstable, with little or no tourist interest seems pointless.

Perhaps a better solution would be for people to get involved in the one established heritage line already in existance nearby - Leighton Buzzard. It's got it's challenges, particularly if proposed developments occur, rather than trying to start another scheme which in most aspects has limited appeal."

I still stand by what I said then. Nothing has changed.

 

[asylumxl]

I still stand by what I said then. Nothing has changed.

I couldn't agree more. Central Dunstable would be SO interesting for tourists.

I think trains from Luton to Luton Hoo would pull tourists. Just like back in the day .

 

[A0]

I couldn't agree more. Central Dunstable would be SO interesting for tourists.

I think trains from Luton to Luton Hoo would pull tourists. Just like back in the day .

That would certainly be more attractive, but I suspect a bit too much of the formation has disappeared now to do that.

The one point I'd add to my previous comment is not only is there the LBR which would doubtless welcome additional volunteers, there's also the Whipsnade railway (though I suspect that employs rather than uses volunteers), the Bucks Railway Centre at Quainton Road or the Northampton & Lamport less than an hour away. Given the resources which all of these operations need to survive and prosper, do we really need another unviable "project" in the heritage sector.

I think the "South Midland Railway" killed any opportunity of resurrecting the Dunstable line by their behaviour at the time. Time to move on now.

 

[."ooo!.]

Central Dunstable would be SO interesting for tourists.

If it wasn't for the smog they could see long traffic jams, empty shop units and loitering youths.

 

[asylumxl]

If it wasn't for the smog they could see long traffic jams, empty shop units and loitering youths.

Truly a great sight for tourists.