The name "varsity line"

[zwk500]

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.

I agree. Oxford and Cambridge professors are far more likely to meet in London than in either of their own cities.
It will be commuter flows by and large, and MK will be the largest draw for that

 

[Magdalia]

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.

Oxford and Cambridge professors are far more likely to meet in London than in either of their own cities.

This is a very cliched and outdated view which bears little resemblance to what Cambridge and Oxford are like in the 21st century.

The Cambridge Biomedical Campus is an example of what the 21st century is like. University research laboratories, teaching hospitals, private sector companies (notably big pharma) and charities all located near to each other and working in close collaboration. Making maximum use of those synergies requires people to meet together, and often that will involve people from both Oxford and Cambridge. Those people will be meeting in Oxford or Cambridge, not London, and EWR will make that much easier.

It will be commuter flows by and large

If the Eastern leg gets built, commuting into Cambridge from Cambourne and St Neots will be huge.

 

[Nicholas43]

Ahem, please could we stick to my original question about claims of early appearance in print of the supposed name "Varsity Line"? There are other threads for discussion of progress in reinstating the tracks from Bletchley to Bicester, and the plans / dreams for upgrading the railway from Bletchley to Bedford, and building a new railway from Bedford to Cambridge, and whether trains might, one day, really run "East West" from Felixstowe to Bristol.

 

[swt_passenger]

Ahem, please could we stick to my original question about claims of early appearance in print of the supposed name "Varsity Line"? There are other threads for discussion of progress in reinstating the tracks from Bletchley to Bicester, and the plans / dreams for upgrading the railway from Bletchley to Bedford, and building a new railway from Bedford to Cambridge, and whether trains might, one day, really run "East West" from Felixstowe to Bristol.

I have no evidence but would tend to the view that it’s a comparatively recent terminology. All the timetable discussions in this and earlier threads suggest it was never a regular all day service, so I doubt it would ever have needed a nickname…

 

[contrex]

I have no evidence but would tend to the view that it’s a comparatively recent terminology. …

The Oxford English Dictionary gives

1846 in Brasenose Ale 84 To victory we steered, And o'er the vanquished Varsity Our flag triumphant reared.

Brasenose is an Oxford University college. Each Shrove Tuesday the tradition is that a poem by an undergraduate is read and special college ale drunk. The poems are published.

1872 H. Kingsley Hornby Mills, etc. II. 66, I have such faith in the old University (never use that horrid word 'varsity, my lad; don't vulgarise the old place).

Henry was the brother of the more famous Charles Kingsley, and attended Worcester College, Oxford, leaving without a degree.

 

[zwk500]

The Oxford English Dictionary gives

1846 in Brasenose Ale 84 To victory we steered, And o'er the vanquished Varsity Our flag triumphant reared.

Brasenose is an Oxford University college. Each Shrove Tuesday the tradition is that a poem by an undergraduate is read and special college ale drunk. The poems are published.

1872 H. Kingsley Hornby Mills, etc. II. 66, I have such faith in the old University (never use that horrid word 'varsity, my lad; don't vulgarise the old place).

Henry was the brother of the more famous Charles Kingsley, and attended Worcester College, Oxford, leaving without a degree.

The word Varsity was clearly in established use, but OP is specifically asking if it was applied to the railway line. Your sources appear to be using Varsity to apply to one institution or the other, not to the places or their mutual connections.

 

[swt_passenger]

The Oxford English Dictionary gives

1846 in Brasenose Ale 84 To victory we steered, And o'er the vanquished Varsity Our flag triumphant reared.

Brasenose is an Oxford University college. Each Shrove Tuesday the tradition is that a poem by an undergraduate is read and special college ale drunk. The poems are published.

1872 H. Kingsley Hornby Mills, etc. II. 66, I have such faith in the old University (never use that horrid word 'varsity, my lad; don't vulgarise the old place).

Henry was the brother of the more famous Charles Kingsley, and attended Worcester College, Oxford, leaving without a degree.

I’m referring to “varsity line” in terms of the previous rail connection only, as was the OP.