You can find this ventilation shaft in a field just to the edge of Great Oxendon village. It served the twin Oxendon tunnels on the Market Harborough to Northampton railway line.
That line closed in 1981 (I was on the last train), and today you can walk and cycle through one of the tunnels on the Brampton Valley Way.
I was also taken with an old metal gate post that stands by the shaft.
This photo was taken looking north from the up tunnel at Great Oxendon on the old line from Market Harborough to Northampton.
The shiny rails show that I took it before the line closed in August 1981. (I was on the last train.)
OK so the line was only open at certain times of day by then and I am facing any possible traffic: I still have to add a firm: Don't Try This At Home, Kids.
But then, for better or worse, there was much more tolerance of trespass by railway enthusiasts in those far off days.
Those nice people from Trekking & Towpaths have returned to the old Market Harborough to Northampton line to explore the railway tunnels at Great Oxendon.
They have already covered the tunnels at Kelmarsh, which lie three miles to the south.
Like Kelmarsh, Oxendon has two parallel single-line tunnels. The up tunnel carries the Brampton Valley Way, but Trekking & Towpaths first explore the abandon down bore. There are some striking mineral colours on the walls and the accompanying music is suitably dramatic.
Incidentally, the line from Market Harborough to Great Oxendon climbed a steep gradient - you could hear the diesel locomotives slogging up it all across the town. On the first night back from university the sound would keep me awake.
Today I went for a walk along the Brampton Valley Way. Following the route of the old railway line to Northampton, this runs for 14 miles south from Market Harborough, but I made it just to the Waterloo Tearoom at Great Oxendon and back.
The route was busy with bank holiday cyclists, dog walkers, joggers and foragers - autumn is already arriving in the hedgerows.
The last train ran along here in 1981 and over the years the nature of the Way has changed. It used to feel much more like an old double-track railway: it was wide and there was ballast everywhere.
Over the years the route has narrowed, as bushes and trees have established themselves. Yet the fauna has diminished: you used to scatter rabbits every time you walked along here and there were muntjac deer too. Today I saw a couple of the former only when I wandered into a neighbouring field.
Because it was busy, today the Way was more for cyclists. But on a quieter day it makes a great walk - follow the full 14 miles and you will go through tunnels at Great Oxendon and Kelmarsh.
Thirty-eight years ago I travelled on the last train from Market Harborough to Northampton. Now comes news from Harborough FM that there is talk of reopening the line.
process of reviewing its entire bus network across the Midlands. Over this period detailed analysis has taken place to review passenger numbers on each route and ways of tackling services which are not commercially viable.
On Mondays to Saturdays service X7 will run hourly between Leicester - Market Harborough - Brixworth - Northampton - Milton Keynes.
Additional journeys will run between Leicester and Market Harborough & between Brixworth and Northampton to provide two buses an hour on these sections of route during most of the day.
The X6 & X7 combine to provide two buses an hour between Northampton, Grange Park and Milton Keynes.
One bright April morning the 11:15 for Northampton Castle left Nottingham London Road Lower Level as usual, but it never reached its destination. It was seen to call at Melton Mowbray North, and there were unconfirmed reports of it reaching Clipston and Oxendon, but one thing is sure: it never arrived in Northampton.
Extensive searches were undertaken and reports of sightings from as far afield as Bodmin Road and Leeming Bar were followed up, but not a trace of the train or its passengers was ever found.What I didn't know then was that this is strangely reminiscent of a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle called The Lost Special.
