What would have happened if St Pancras station had been closed?

In 1980 the were serious proposals, and not for the first time, to close both Marylebone and St Pancras stations in London.

Jago Hazzard takes us through the plans and why they came to nothing. Before I go any further, let my suggest you like this video, follow him on YouTube and have a look at his Patreon page.

One thing he does not explain is how trains from the Midland Main Line would have reached Euston. There was no existing connection they could have used nor any obvious new one that could have been built.

I don't know what the London Amenity & Transport Association had in mind in 1980, but a post on RailUKforums tells us what British Rail had in mind when there were serious plans to close St Pancras in the 1960s:

The broad outline plan was that the Bedford Suburban services would be diverted from St. Pancras into Moorgate, much as it happened later with Thameslink. Main Line services were proposed to be diverted from Market Harborough over the now closed line to Northampton, and into Euston, with the lines involved electrified. It was also proposed at one point that the line between Market Harborough and Bedford would close, with Wellingborough and Kettering losing their rail services. 

For about four years the St. Pancras to Nottingham Newspaper traffic, and the remaining St. Pancras to Glasgow overnight service were diverted to run out of Euston over the Northampton to Market Harborough route, before reverting to St. Pancras around 1970 after the station at St. Pancras had been reprieved.

Several floors of the old station Hotel at St. Pancras, which had been in use as offices, were relocated elsewhere during the period when closure seemed certain. Even after it was reprieved there was a lot of vacant office space left empty, and walking about up there could be very spooky at times.

It's worth reading the whole thread there. Other contributors say Bedford to Market Harborough would have remained open or that only the line between Kettering (Glendon North Junction be be precise) and Market Harborough would have closed.

I like the idea, possible if the latter closure had taken place, of a regular semi-fast service from St Pancras to Leicester via Corby and Melton Mowbray.

A walk across the fields to the new Braybrooke Beer Co. taproom

A few years ago the Braybrooke Beer Co. set up a brewery at a farm outside the Northamptonshire village of that name to produce lager. The company was formed with the London market in mind, but you can buy their beers at the Beerhouse in Market Harborough and no doubt it has other outlets beyond the capital.

They have just opened a taproom at the brewery, and there is a surfaced path leading to it from the Brampton Valley Way - the old Market Harborough to Northampton railway. On Friday, I set out to walk that path.

I was surprised there was no signpost at the turn off from the Brampton Valley Way, and I wasn't convinced at first that I was going the right way. But if you leave the Way by a few muddy steps and set off diagonally across a field - see the photo above - you're doing fine.

Cross the bridge, and you will find a surfaced path - suitable for wheels as well as boots - and a pleasant landscape.

When you cross the River Jordan, on its way to flood Little Bowden and then join the Welland by Market Harborough railway station, then you are almost there.

And at the business end of the path, there is a sign.

There are also signs along the way for horses, which are very intelligent in this part of Northamptonshire and value politeness.

Finally, though I didn't manage to photograph the start of the new path or the taproom itself, I did capture this disturbing image.

My theory is that these are the ghosts of Iron Age warriors, disturbed by an archaeological dig that all the locals advised against.

The rediscovery of a lost industrial railway engine shed at Lamport

This is a wonderful discovery, and a reminder that even a chocolate-box estate village like Lamport - which I know so well it has its own label on this blog - has an industrial history.

Many more videos like this from Steve at LeiceExplore on YouTube.

Merry Tom Crossing to Spratton: The Northampton & Lamport Railway's proposed northern extension

On 30 March the Northampton & Lamport Railway will open its half-mile southern extension from Pitsford and Brampton to a new station at Boughton.

After that, eyes will turn northwards to the line's proposed mile-and-a-half extension from Merry Tom Crossing to Spratton.

This enthusiastic video shows us the route, starting from Spratton and walking south towards Merry Tom Crossing, which is currently the northern end of the line.