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

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

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.



Old map showing the connections along the line.

I started my sojourn at Claydon station



Claydon station, circa 1921.



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.



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

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





Level crossing signal is being reclaimed by nature!



Phone the signalman if there are any problems



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



The remains of Verney Jct Level Crossing



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


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