"Along the Rails" - Claydon Stn - Verney Jct 11/5/10 Report

Done this some time ago! It was one of those days where something local was in order:thumb What better than a Mothballed(like 20years) abandoned railway line:thumb

Known as the "Varsity Line" because it originally connected up the University towns of Cambridge and Oxford via Bletchley it originally had important connections all along its original route (see map).
It was one reason why the WW2 Bletchley Park Code Breaking School was located where it is, because of the Intelligency from both Universitys had direct access:thumb

Unfortunately the line suffered under the "Beeching" cuts of the 1960's and the stations were closed vast sections of the line were severed. The branch through to Aylesbury survived into the 1980's with waste trains using it from London. This section closed in the mid 1980's The only surviving section today is between Bletchley and Bedford.

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Old map showing the connections along the line.

I started my sojourn at Claydon station:thumb

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Claydon station, circa 1921.

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Only the overgrown Platform survives of Claydon today, the station buildings having been demolished:(

There are however some old bits of the railway still remaining if you ferret around in the overgrown areas.

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The remains of an old buffer stop in the goods yard, it can just be made out in the old photo above:thumb

Claydon station had a nice country level crossing and this remains in a nice abandoned state.

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Level crossing signal is being reclaimed by nature!

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Phone the signalman if there are any problems:lol:

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Further down the line at Verney Jct, once a very busy station, the peace & quite returned a long time ago:thumb All that remains is the platforms, the station house is now a nice private residence along with the Goods shed.

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The remains of Verney Jct Level Crossing:)

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Do what is says on the sign! and you will be waiting a long time for the sound of a train:lol:


Thanks for looking:thumb
Further pics of the Line here:
http://s260.photobucket.com/albums/i...rne/?start=all

Well! I had to continue to find the end of the abandoned line:thumb
With a sweltering sun baking down on mine and BK's head we headed off from Claydon station. along the trackbed to find the End of the Line!
Much undergrowth has taken over and at times we nearly gave up:wflag As nature had swallowed the
trackbed up! In sections it was clear and others dense forest:)

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As we broke out of the undergrowth from Claydon cutting, we came across this fixed Semaphore Distant signal. From here for about half a mile the track was pretty clear of foilage:thumb

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But soon we were heading back into overgrown territory:)

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it was at this point that we nearly gave up as nature was starting to attack us, with stinging nettles:lol: BK was starting to falter under the hot sun, and was moaning that he wants to get back to see the footie! (Dead loss that turned out to be):thumbd

After penetrating the jungle, for about half a mile, I could make out a Red Light through the trees
We had reached the End of the Line:smclap

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Beyond the gates were Live rails and Calvert sidings in the distance:thumb



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Signal CN1 controls Calvert headshunt, and passing loop the sidings are used by rubbish trains from London, which use Calvert Landfill site.

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Looking back towards the abandoned section of line that runs through to Bletchley.

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Remains of Train Consist laying by the trackbed:thumb

Thanks for looking:coffee