Unidentified halt station

[lazonbytunnel]

Can any of our resident experts identify this location? Many thanks in advance.

 

[Gloster]

The track looks reasonably good, so this might be a main or secondary-main line. Possibly recently closed as there are no name boards visible, although given the angle, that isn’t definitive. The design of the shelter on the left is probably the best possibility for a clue to the general area.

 

[lazonbytunnel]

The track looks reasonably good, so this might be a main or secondary-main line. Possibly recently closed as there are no name boards visible, although given the angle, that isn’t definitive. The design of the shelter on the left is probably the best possibility for a clue to the general area

Thanks Gloster. I also have this image which is possibly looking in the other direction at the same location.

 

[Gloster]

I think it is Swanbourne near Bletchley. The only problem is that I can’t find a signal box at the right location: could that be from another location.

 

[Big Jumby 74]

could that be from another location.

I'd agree. Different style of fencing in pic 2 and telegraph pole line on opposite side of tracks.

 

[Gloster]

The second photo is of a LNWR box and the DMU would fit the Oxford-Cambridge line. I have looked through most of its stations but can’t find it: I will work through the 25” maps tomorrow.

 

[MadMac]

Thanks Gloster. I also have this image which is possibly looking in the other direction at the same location.

View attachment 183138

That’s a 105 (Cravens) DMU - those worked in a lot of places. The box nameboard looks to have been removed, which used to be the first thing done at closure to signify that it was no longer in use.

 

[eastwestdivide]

If the two views are 180° apart from the same spot, the telegraph poles have switched sides!

 

[LYradial]

File:Swanbourne railway station (1967).JPG - Wikimedia Commons

commons.wikimedia.org

this shows another photo of Swanbourne fron a bit further away, the name board is visible but it also shows that the telegraph poles do actually swap sides at the end of the platform

 

[Gloster]

The problem is that Swanbourne is on a curve and the second photo looks straight, so I think that the second is somewhere else. I have had a look at all the stations on the Oxford-Cambridge line and can’t get one to fit.

 

[30907]

No obvious signals - flat landscape - Cravens unit. My instinct is that it's East Anglia/Lincs somewhere.

 

[John Webb]

I'd confirm the first photo is of Swanbourne from the photos at http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/swanbourne/index.shtml
None of these show a signal box and do show the sharp bend, so the second photo is somewhere else.
I wonder if in the first photo the building at the far end was a platform-mounted signal box? And presumably taken after closure as the signals have been removed?

 

[Gloster]

I am pretty certain that the box in the second photo is an LNWR design and that there used to be signals and connections in the foreground, but all has been removed. I suspect one of the former LNWR lines in the southern part of the East Midlands.

Is there any indication whether the second photo came from the same source as the first, which might suggest that it came from the same photo trip?

 

[AlterEgo]

The first photo is certainly Swanbourne, even down to the sloping approach road from the bridge. A good spot.

The second isn’t Swanbourne and I believe the landscape is too flat and featureless to be the old Varsity Line - it does look possibly like Cambridgeshire though. In the distance there appears to be a bridge which is flat and not humped, indicating a high quality principal road crossing it.

 

[norbitonflyer]

The Midland & Great Northern Joint ran across the Fen country and used class 106 Cravens units. Could it be on that line?

I don't think they can be the same location - in the furst picture the platform ramps are not opposite the other - the photgrapher is at the bottom of the near ramp but the other one extend further back. In the second picture, facing the other way, the ramps are directly opposite each other.

 

[Magdalia]

I'd confirm the first photo is of Swanbourne from the photos at http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/swanbourne/index.shtml
None of these show a signal box and do show the sharp bend, so the second photo is somewhere else.

I agree the first photo is Swanbourne and I think that the second is Verney Junction, where the signal box was off the end of the platform.

Did the Verney Junction signal box close before the station, when it ceased to be a junction because of the closure of the line to Buckingham and Banbury?

I suspect that the pictures were taken on the same cold day in December 1967 just before the line closed.

The Midland & Great Northern Joint ran across the Fen country and used class 106 Cravens units. Could it be on that line?

The Midland and Great Northern Joint Line was almost entirely single track. It did not use Cravens, most of it closing in February 1959.

 

[Rescars]

Surely the keys to the second location are the design of the box and the class of dmu. If the box is LNWR pattern, then somewhere on that company's patch seems the most likely. Where did any LNW lines run through such open country?

 

[Gloster]

You have to zero in on the one detail that limits the possibilities, otherwise you could be anywhere. DMUs move about, but signal box design style is one of those thinh]gs that cab be tied to a specific railway company. As @ John Webb can probably confirm, the box appears to be a LNWR Type 4, so the search need only be restricted to that company’s lines.

I agree the first photo is Swanbourne and I think that the second is Verney Junction, where the signal box was off the end of the platform.

I suspect that the pictures were taken on the same cold day in December 1967 just before the line closed.

I thought about Verney Junction, but the box in the photo looks too short, although Verney’s was a Type 4, and I would have thought that the remains of the Buckingham branch would be visible just beyond it. There also appears to be a location or telephone cabinet between the box and platform in other photos, although this could be put in just afterwards.

 

[AndrewE]

Surely the keys to the second location are the design of the box and the class of dmu. If the box is LNWR pattern, then somewhere on that company's patch seems the most likely. Where did any LNW lines run through such open country?

Around Ormskirk? - but I guess it was all L&Y around there

 

[Magdalia]

I would have thought that the remains of the Buckingham branch would be visible just beyond it. There also appears to be a location or telephone cabinet between the box and platform in other photos, although this could be put in just afterwards.

The Buckingham branch had closed to passengers in 1964 and to freight in 1966. If the Verney Junction signal box closed when the branch closed, then the remains of the branch, signals, and auxiliary equipment, such as telephone cabinets, could be removed too.

 

[John Webb]

You have to zero in on the one detail that limits the possibilities, otherwise you could be anywhere. DMUs move about, but signal box design style is one of those thinh]gs that cab be tied to a specific railway company. As @ John Webb can probably confirm, the box appears to be a LNWR Type 4, so the search need only be restricted to that company’s lines.



I thought about Verney Junction, but the box in the photo looks too short, although Verney’s was a Type 4, and I would have thought that the remains of the Buckingham branch would be visible just beyond it. There also appears to be a location or telephone cabinet between the box and platform in other photos, although this could be put in just afterwards.

The detail, with the box some distance away, is not clear but it seems to have the characteristics of an LNWR box, but for obvious reasons I am better acquainted with Midland Rlwy box details.
The line of hedge to the right of the box seems to curve - could that be where the Buckingham branch went off?
I have found a couple of (copyrighted) photos of trains at the other end of the station; these do have a telegraph pole which matches the one in the second photo in terms of the number of arms and number of insulator pots.

 

[StoneRoad]

Note of information --- as I'm sure you are all aware !

Although I can't tell from these particular images if the changed side of the pole route is caused by this - or being two different places is more likely, beware of reversed negatives when an image has been printed "back to front" if there is no direct clue such as reversed lettering.

 

[Gloster]

The Buckingham branch had closed to passengers in 1964 and to freight in 1966. If the Verney Junction signal box closed when the branch closed, then the remains of the branch, signals, and auxiliary equipment, such as telephone cabinets, could be removed too.

I am coming round to that this may be Verney Junction in the short period between lifting of the Buckingham branch and, thereafter, closure of the box and complete closure. The cabinet is to be seen in photos taken soon after, so possibly a substitute ’phone for the loss of all the station and box ones.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Jul 2025 ==

Note of information --- as I'm sure you are all aware !

Although I can't tell from these particular images if the changed side of the pole route is caused by this - or being two different places is more likely, beware of reversed negatives when an image has been printed "back to front" if there is no direct clue such as reversed lettering.

I had considered that and it was possible: the only way to be sure would be if there was a tail lamp visible on the DMU, but it is too blurred to be sure, or signal arms. One has to presume it is correct when identifying photos, but keep it in mind.

 

[Clarence Yard]

I think the second is Verney Junction.

The distinctive fencing matches, the box is a match and there appears to be a disused formation going off behind the box.

Presumably, as others have said, taken on the same day as the Swanbourne pic.

 

[lazonbytunnel]

Many thanks everyone.

 

[midland1]

On the Disused Stations webb site see John Webb's link above a pic. of Verney Jn. in 1974 shows the cabinet etc still there between the platforms and the box so can it be Verney Jn.

 

[cadder toad]

Verney Junction station looking east

Verney Junction station looking east. The former Metropolitan Railway line is on the right. The tracks in the foreground diverging to the left are those of the former LNWR line to Banbury via Buckingham. 30/06/1963 [GB 1043].

www.flickr.com

This is a link to a photo on Flickr of Verney Jn box but from the west. The platform fence matches as does the Barrow crossing. But I can't see the brackets for the veranda. The pots on the lowest crossbar of the telegraph pole are in different positions.

 

[Bevan Price]

Verney Junction Box closed in July 1967 (according to Jon Swift's book of LMS track plans publidhed by Signalling Recod Society.)

Swift's track layout corresponds to that shown in the photos, except in the photo above, this was taken after removal of the track through the former Metropolitan Railway platform, which joined the LMSR tracks adjacent to the signal box.
The photo must have been taken in the final years of the Oxford / Cambridge passenger services; until at least 1964, Derby Lightweiight / Yellow Diamond dmus predominated on this line, with the single car versions used on the Buckingham branch. .

 

[edwin_m]

Verney Junction station looking east

Verney Junction station looking east. The former Metropolitan Railway line is on the right. The tracks in the foreground diverging to the left are those of the former LNWR line to Banbury via Buckingham. 30/06/1963 [GB 1043].

www.flickr.com

This is a link to a photo on Flickr of Verney Jn box but from the west. The platform fence matches as does the Barrow crossing. But I can't see the brackets for the veranda. The pots on the lowest crossbar of the telegraph pole are in different positions.

Closing the box would be followed by disconnecting its connections to the pole route and probably adding some extra wires to bypass it so the boxes either side could communicate with each other after it was demolished. And removing the veranda and brackets might have been an early stage of demolition.

 

[Magdalia]

The photo must have been taken in the final years of the Oxford / Cambridge passenger services

I think that the two photos are only a few days/weeks before closure.

The LMR had 5 Cravens power car/trailer twins M50390-4 and M56145-9. They arrived at Bletchley some time in 1967, and became the regular traction on the Bletchley-Bedford remnant after Bletchley-Oxford and Bedford-Cambridge closed to passengers.