Follow the light at the end of the tunnel!
29th September 2021
Brampton Valley Way by Bicycle!
Cycling a lovely rural route through Northamptonshire - 5th April 1996.
Lamport station
Back in the 1990s my friend Spencer and I would visit as many railway installations as we could, whether they were in use, or disused. For Spencer anything industrial-related was of special interest, and I was always happy to explore somewhere new wherever a railway was concerned. Following old railway lines was a particular pleasure. One line that caught our attention was the former route between Market Harborough in Leicestershire and Northampton to the south. This was a relatively recent closure, seeing its final train in 1981.
A excerpt from the Ian Allan "BR Pre-Grouping Rail Atlas" showing the route and its stations. The line continued a short distance further north and curved to the east into Market Harborough station.
Spencer and I drove the long distance from Devon to Northampton early one spring morning in April 1996, taking our bikes with us, and then cycling the 14 miles between there and Market Harborough and back, before returning to Devon! Quite a marathon, but back then we did stupid things like that! The route had been opened up as the Brampton Valley Way by Northamptonshire County Council just 3 years previously and included being able to go through one of the bores of each tunnel, an interesting experience as they were unlit and we did not have any lights on our bikes! Talk about cycling by touch! I seem to remember just focussing on the light at the end of the tunnel (to quote an overused cliché quite literally!) and hoping that there would be no obstructions in the way! We obviously made it through unscathed. It was a lovely day for a cycle and there were some gorgeous views of the surrounding countryside, with a few attractive villages to draw our attention away from the railway now and again. I’m pretty sure we stopped at a pub at one of the villages.
This lovely ornate former L&NWR footbridge near Draughton caught my attention!
The railway
Attracted by the prospect of plenty of traffic from the newly-discovered deposits of ironstone, the London & North Western Railway proposed a new railway connecting Northampton and Market Harborough. Most of the route was in Northamptonshire, with the last mile or so in the north being in Leicestershire. Jointly designed by George R. Stephenson, who was the nephew of railway pioneer George Stephenson, and George Parker Bidder, the line was opened as a single track route in 1859. There were two tunnels on the line, Kelmarsh and Oxenden, so when the route was later doubled the original single line tunnels were paired up with duplicate parallel single line tunnels. A number of stations were provided on the route and for 100 years or so it settled down to serve the local community with a passenger service as well as being used extensively by freight.
Approaching the southern portal of Kelmarsh Tunnel - no lights but it's a straight tunnel so just keep peddling!
Come 1960 and the passenger service was withdrawn (although one or two stations had already closed in the 1940s and 50s), and the line became freight-only. However, the line was brought back into passenger use in 1969 for a short while as it was needed for the diverted St. Pancras sleeper train but that arrangement only lasted a few months, after which the line became freight-only again. However, moving on to 1972 and advertised passengers trains started using the line again, but for only a year and by 1973 they had ceased! It had proved to be a useful diversionary route so continued to see occasional passenger trains when necessary but it was mainly in use for freight, especially coal trains to and from the Nottinghamshire coalfield to London. However, as the 1970s progressed it was being used less and less as coal traffic dwindled.
Deep inside Oxenden Tunnel I gaze up into the ventilation shaft!
By the end of the seventies British Rail were looking to close the line for good as they could not satisfy the government of the day that the costs of keeping it open could be justified. It didn't help that there were several manually-operated level crossings along the line. Mind you, for a short while it had been considered for modernisation and electrification but those plans were soon curtailed. Final closure came on 16th August 1981, the day after a final farewell DMU rail tour traversed the route.
The route just north of Oxenden Tunnel - the two single lines from each tunnel bore will meet just beyond this point.
After closure the Welland Valley Railway Revival Group were set up with the aim of opening a heritage operation on the route, and centred their operations on the site of Pitsford & Brampton station. Initially operated as the Northampton Steam Railway today the railway is known by the name of Northmapton & Lamport Railway. For more details of this railway visit their website at: https://www.nlr.org.uk/
There are some lovely photographs of the line taken during the 1960s and 70s on this Flikr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/the-evanses/albums/72157644050318009/
Click on here for some of my pictures taken on the Northampton & Lamport Railway
At the time of writing the line has been proposed for reopening as part of the government's drive to encourage rail reopenings. Whether this ever comes about remains to be seen. Back in 1996 there were no such thoughts and it was just great to be able to enjoy the English countryside on a lovely sunny spring day without a care in the world!
Cycling a lovely rural route through Northamptonshire - 5th April 1996.
Lamport station
Back in the 1990s my friend Spencer and I would visit as many railway installations as we could, whether they were in use, or disused. For Spencer anything industrial-related was of special interest, and I was always happy to explore somewhere new wherever a railway was concerned. Following old railway lines was a particular pleasure. One line that caught our attention was the former route between Market Harborough in Leicestershire and Northampton to the south. This was a relatively recent closure, seeing its final train in 1981.
A excerpt from the Ian Allan "BR Pre-Grouping Rail Atlas" showing the route and its stations. The line continued a short distance further north and curved to the east into Market Harborough station.
Spencer and I drove the long distance from Devon to Northampton early one spring morning in April 1996, taking our bikes with us, and then cycling the 14 miles between there and Market Harborough and back, before returning to Devon! Quite a marathon, but back then we did stupid things like that! The route had been opened up as the Brampton Valley Way by Northamptonshire County Council just 3 years previously and included being able to go through one of the bores of each tunnel, an interesting experience as they were unlit and we did not have any lights on our bikes! Talk about cycling by touch! I seem to remember just focussing on the light at the end of the tunnel (to quote an overused cliché quite literally!) and hoping that there would be no obstructions in the way! We obviously made it through unscathed. It was a lovely day for a cycle and there were some gorgeous views of the surrounding countryside, with a few attractive villages to draw our attention away from the railway now and again. I’m pretty sure we stopped at a pub at one of the villages.
This lovely ornate former L&NWR footbridge near Draughton caught my attention!
The railway
Attracted by the prospect of plenty of traffic from the newly-discovered deposits of ironstone, the London & North Western Railway proposed a new railway connecting Northampton and Market Harborough. Most of the route was in Northamptonshire, with the last mile or so in the north being in Leicestershire. Jointly designed by George R. Stephenson, who was the nephew of railway pioneer George Stephenson, and George Parker Bidder, the line was opened as a single track route in 1859. There were two tunnels on the line, Kelmarsh and Oxenden, so when the route was later doubled the original single line tunnels were paired up with duplicate parallel single line tunnels. A number of stations were provided on the route and for 100 years or so it settled down to serve the local community with a passenger service as well as being used extensively by freight.
Approaching the southern portal of Kelmarsh Tunnel - no lights but it's a straight tunnel so just keep peddling!
Come 1960 and the passenger service was withdrawn (although one or two stations had already closed in the 1940s and 50s), and the line became freight-only. However, the line was brought back into passenger use in 1969 for a short while as it was needed for the diverted St. Pancras sleeper train but that arrangement only lasted a few months, after which the line became freight-only again. However, moving on to 1972 and advertised passengers trains started using the line again, but for only a year and by 1973 they had ceased! It had proved to be a useful diversionary route so continued to see occasional passenger trains when necessary but it was mainly in use for freight, especially coal trains to and from the Nottinghamshire coalfield to London. However, as the 1970s progressed it was being used less and less as coal traffic dwindled.
Deep inside Oxenden Tunnel I gaze up into the ventilation shaft!
By the end of the seventies British Rail were looking to close the line for good as they could not satisfy the government of the day that the costs of keeping it open could be justified. It didn't help that there were several manually-operated level crossings along the line. Mind you, for a short while it had been considered for modernisation and electrification but those plans were soon curtailed. Final closure came on 16th August 1981, the day after a final farewell DMU rail tour traversed the route.
The route just north of Oxenden Tunnel - the two single lines from each tunnel bore will meet just beyond this point.
After closure the Welland Valley Railway Revival Group were set up with the aim of opening a heritage operation on the route, and centred their operations on the site of Pitsford & Brampton station. Initially operated as the Northampton Steam Railway today the railway is known by the name of Northmapton & Lamport Railway. For more details of this railway visit their website at: https://www.nlr.org.uk/
There are some lovely photographs of the line taken during the 1960s and 70s on this Flikr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/the-evanses/albums/72157644050318009/
Click on here for some of my pictures taken on the Northampton & Lamport Railway
At the time of writing the line has been proposed for reopening as part of the government's drive to encourage rail reopenings. Whether this ever comes about remains to be seen. Back in 1996 there were no such thoughts and it was just great to be able to enjoy the English countryside on a lovely sunny spring day without a care in the world!