The Railway Line That Had No Trains?

Today, I take a ride on the Marston Vale line, running from Bedford to Bletchley, which until very recently, had no train service.
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[@KwangoTron]

That train is giving me flashbacks to when I was in South Wales earlier this year and there were services being run with 150s that still had Northern liveries on them. That was a weird experience.

[@pokemonsuper9]

Those two (150269 and 150270) made their way back to Northern last Sunday.

[@dylthomas715]

they where just on loan to tfw for a short term period and are now back with northen

[@danielhanley-thurkettle8904]

How far you been to on a train in a day

[@mattevans4377]

There's also the Class 484 which is basically the third rail version of the Class 230, operating under SWR on the Isle of Wight.

[@ADAMEDWARDS17]

Won't be long until you have a new bit of Bletchley station to look at when the East West rail opens. Also, I hope you get a chance to go to the Bletchley Park musesum which is opposite the station entrance. Turing, computers and bombes. Fascintating stuff.

[@jackthetrainspotter9727]

I made it along the marston vale a couple weeks back while I had my boat docked in Milton Keynes. From what I’ve seen the 230s are on the cards for Greenford branch as GWR have acquired the former LNR ones

[@Sim0nTrains]

Think it something that I would like to do in 2024 as well as I would like to spend a whole day to explore this line and Railway Stations. Brilliant Video Nick and hope you enjoyed the Class 150 ride

[@dr_dr]

Wait until late January/early February as a full service will be in place then. It's only being run as a limited service until then.

[@Sim0nTrains]

@@dr_dr This idea won't be till Summer 2024 as it would be nice to see much daylight on this line, Am aware of the limited service as I rode on the Marston Vale when it first came back in service, only went to Stewartby and back (Random wheel spin)

[@SamsVlogstrainsmore]

Great vlog Nick, it’s great to see the Marston Vale line back open again. Hopefully next year when the line is fully back open I will visit every station on it as I’ve wanted to do that for awhile.

[@thomasburke2683]

For forty years we have hated the ubiquitous 150; we will miss them when they are gone.

[@michaelward2082]

I once did a ride from Bedford to Bletchley, only to find there was no trains back the rest of the day, luckily there was a rail replacement bus...

[@johnm2012]

Bletchley to Watford Junction, the Abbey line to St Albans, then back to Bedford by Thameslink.

[@adrianbromfild8624]

The railway line that had no trains is where I live and is called the South West Trains service to Exeter when you live west of Salisbury!

[@beds139]

Back in the day I used to take the train daily from Woburn Sands to Bedford. Service could be busy but never rammed. Lovely scenery to view on the journey to work.😊

[@SlowLineTrainspotting]

I went to Bedford not too long ago to see (among other things) the LNR 150s. Little did past me know, they don't run on Saturdays

[@Thornaby37]

If you are planning to visit this line in the future, I would recommend spending a bit of time at Ridgmont station which has a heritage centre. Some of the stations on this line are in the middle of nowhere

[@Cross_Trainspotting]

I actually have a few pictures of 150141 before it was transferred to LNWR, it was funny seeing you ride it

[@stewartdorrell2506]

Thanks for the video Nick. I travelled on g this line in about 2015 on a non misty day. Also next time you travel have a look out for the lovely half timbered station buildings a Duke of Bedford required many years ago. Also the massive Amazon warehouse next to the line, plus the remains of the London Brick Company works and quarry.

[@jacobporrett]

Thank you for sharing Nick. I enjoyed watching.

[@IBLRG]

Up there with the Brigg Line 54 weeks without a passenger service, but no replacement bus service.

[@prankyprankster9]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure this line is being used for the 'East West Rail' line from Oxford to Cambridge so it might be rarely used for electrification purposes.

[@sr6424]

It was originally the middle section of the Oxford - Cambridge line. Closed completely east of Bedford in 1970. Closed for passengers west of Bletchley at the same time. Since then the line reopened Oxford to Bicester. It will eventually be part of East - West rail. The first section is due to reopen in a few years.

[@bobsrailrelics]

Great fun. You missed the two Northern 150's which were running round Wales in full Northern livery. Don't forget the 484's on the IOW. As you say 230's on Borderlands, the trial is on the Ealing branch and the old LNWR 230's are outside Reading shed. Do a return to Tilehusrt and you can see them. That's a few days out for you 😁

[@jlelliotton]

The class 230 are also running on the Island Line as class 484

[@tdlovestrains]

Its very simple I see a nick badley video, i click.

[@roderickmain9697]

Bletchley Park. Worth a visit.

[@AndrewG1989]

But now London Northwestern Railway have brought back the Class 150 Sprinters that were used on Northern which are currently operating on the Marston Vale Line. Nice to see them back in service.

[@watsonwatt7984]

I had a visit to the Vivarail Test Track at Long Marston to ride a Class 230 before they entered service & also when they entered service on the Marston Vale Line

[@pizzapoop]

Very happy you made this video

[@TransportVloggerIan]

Those 360s on the "Corby Connector" are just so bad at keeping time for some reason

[@Simon-ui6db]

Strange you say about northern interior being weird down south, when I moved from Sutton (south london) up north to Burnley and took the train to manchester, I was weired out by seeing an ex-thameslink 319, even more weired out when I saw another "319" in Oxford (home town) on the sidings, didn't realise they converted some for diesel use too.

[@PamelaBane]

Another great video Nick. Hopefully when you do another video on this line the trains is a different class run more frequently 😊

[@tommarshall1660]

Well done Nick another wonderful report. You make the whole thing very interesting. A natural reporter we will see you on television pretty soon I am sure. PS, where is your sidekick today, was 5.00 am too early for her. lol

[@77smp]

Not relevant but I was born in Kempston :). Home of the Joystick!😳

[@bobbythomas200420032]

Hi Nick an excellent and very enjoyable video and thank you for making it.

[@ModernHistory4U]

Hi Nick, great video as always. If you are ever down in Sussex let me know and im happy to give you some tips, history and advice on how to navigate Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick express. I seriously recommend a trip to Lewes but maybe save it for the summer

[@AllensTrains]

Good nerdish video. Thanks for uploading.

[@Vanmanyo]

New Nick Bradley video dropped honey

[@itsyeboicraig3207]

Yay a vid on my hometown 😊

[@stephenclark9917]

"Nice scenery" looks outside to see a blanket of fog.

[@DanBen07]

Good video👍 One of the trains lines you should journey on one day is the line from Bromley North (london)

[@bensguitarcovers2849]

The 150 slander is unreal 😂😂😂😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@AymanTravelTransport]

Cos you like the station so much, here's an idea for a point-to-point: Millbrook (Marston Vale) to Millbrook (Southampton).

[@georgerutherford24]

Is there catering at Kettering?😮

[@AFCManUk]

Ah, my (sort of!) neck of the woods. Did you get to have a look at the progress of the Oxford to Milton Keynes part of East-West Rail while you were at Bletchley? I think Bletchley station itself has undergone a few changes in preparation in recent years.

[@mrandmrsliamrussell]

i live next to bletchley station and ive still not managed to ride this service because 4 tpd is just too infrequent for there to be one around when you need it

[@xxrockraiderxx]

This will all get folded into East-West Rail won't it once the section from Blethcly to Bicester is complete, so another year or so and trains from Oxford through to Bedford should be possible. Which will be nice and a large improvement. Though I don't know what trains will be running on it once done. Sadly not electric ones though.

[@LemoncloudGT]

its like seeing old east midlands trains interior seating on a few northern 156s

[@marc21091]

It appears that he was the only passenger on the train. Not surprising when no trains ran at all for a year and only a few are running now each day. Worth making this film to show that so well....

[@ReubenAshwell]

Brilliant video Nick, it's not very good when the midland main line goes haywire lol. The marston vale line is one I'd like to do sometime. :)

[@paultidd9332]

Northern sharing the ‘love’ of their 150’s 😂

[@Rexal_The_Saltiest_Brit]

This is literally my neck of the woods, I live in bletchley and walk through fenny stratford station every day to and from work (I could go around, but my love of trains means i just take a shortcut through the station). I use to time my journey home so that i could wave at the drivers at the level crossing in fenny stratford. Not looking forward to it being upgraded for the EW raillink coming soon, but i know the benefits outweigh the negatives for the local population here (Having a direct to Oxford/Cambridge will be huge for MK)

[@R1c0382]

Great video Nick keep it up maybe you should try and ride the abbey line from St albans Abbey to Watford Junction walk the alban way from St albans to Hatfield

[@liftsiniceland5727]

Very nice

[@lewis72]

The Marston Vale line will form part of the East West Rail Oxford to Cambridge route when they've finished digging it.

[@jagman84]

The tracklaying is pretty much finished. Signalling and other associated work will probably drag on for a year or so. Then testing, etc....😴😴

[@kevinellis8869]

Great to see trains back on the line, it's on my 'to do' list. Thinking about the interiors you must be used to the EMR 170s with their mix of ScotRail, TfW, West Midlands and Greater Anglia. The de-commissioned first class bits can be comfortable, but most of the seat reclines don't work. They're about to put them into regular service on Liverpool-Norwich, hopefully a minimum of 2+3 coaches.

[@kevinellis8869]

Forgot the Southern sets as well!

[@Asdomdroid]

My closest line thank you for doing this

[@Matthewsbuses1997]

some of the EMR Intercity Meridian’s call at Bedford during peak times only

[@JustTrainsuk]

I love how much of the video was on EMR

[@don1estelle]

We have two northern 150s running on what will eventually be the South wales metro and they still have Northen livery

[@thomasedwards5700]

There are also still 230s on Isle of Wight

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

Not really

[@jagman84]

Class 484s. EMUs not DEMUs.

[@Nooticus]

Excellent video! You put a lot of effort into these!! I believe the reason there is a bench and memorial to Tom Moore at Millbrook is because that’s near where he lived

[@philroberts7238]

Does it also have a spa and a sauna?

[@Nooticus]

@@philroberts7238 🤣🤣🤣

[@Anonymoususer_2023]

You should do East Linton as it opened few days after Brent Cross West.

[@matthewalbery8827]

Just adding that I do really like the 150s even though they fail the Marshall elbow test. I like the interior esp. the lighting just find them spacious. The USB sockets are a plus too. Noisy though. Very noisy, but we'de complain if there was no noise?

[@dcstanda]

That is a very Northern train and have been on a few and I would say it reminds me of a train I used to catch at a station called Paddock Wood (where I used to live but now Manchester) and this was going back to 2005 and they were awful glad they scrapped those

[@AliceConsortium]

A railway line with no trains? That's just any line operated by Northern in December

[@craighobbs3708]

The normal service bus from Milton Keynes to Bedford is MUCH quicker than the train ever was . The Bletchley to Bedford service is only used by school kids in the morning and rail enthusiasts. It isn’t viable. The line is kept open for when the Oxford services start and I guess the immediate stations will close .

[@QALibrary]

Nick did you film the line they are reinstating between Oxford and Cambridge universities?

[@timbounds7190]

Only in the UK....a rolling stock provider fails and the train service stops FOR A YEAR! Sod the passengers as usual! I only travelled on that line once (sometime in the 1980s) - its not very scenic - I wonder if all the brickworks that used to line the route are still there? Conversely the stations are very picturesque - all built in a pretty 'country cottage' style. There again, in those days it didn't even run into Bedford main station - you had to walk to St Johns!

[@CrazyEditorEll]

I wanted to take it, but as you said it stopped running. Edit: Yes, it will be used on the Greenford branch for GWR

[@PaulGodfrey]

Thanks for the video. I am curious though, why was the service shut down for a year when the electric version of the trains kept running on the Island Line?

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

I think its because SWR owned and maintained the class 484s used on the Island Line themselves whilst Vivarail maintained the class 230s

[@QALibrary]

This line originally had class 150s but due to passenger growth they increased the length of the train and then replaced the 150s and now they gone back to the 150s

[@jaymarlon7460]

That was an ex great Anglia class 360

[@NameReveal-yy7qb]

3:06 you can get delay repay

[@jos4669]

something of note about the 230s, part of the reason LNWR ditched them was apparently due to unreliability. I can easily believe that as, no word of a lie, they use the same engines as a ford transit.

[@PinguNSE]

It's nice to see this line start to have trains again after the 230s went

[@JayJourneys_1]

You went on a school day 😂

[@NickBadley]

Good job I've already graduated from school then, eh? 😆

[@JayJourneys_1]

@@NickBadley have you been to Weymouth and is it nice there?

[@christopherbentley5216]

Not using the new platforms on the flyover. ?? When you're a grandfather, you'll be able to travel to Oxford,assuming that section ever opens !!!

[@draconicruns]

what do you think on 165s and 168s? i don't think i've been on any other class of train

[@telemachus53]

That's so nerdy: "Strange too see a Thameslink train next to Northern liveried interior". I understand what you mean though.

[@jazzygeofferz]

It could be worse, at least they didn't dredge some Pacers out of retirement for this.

[@davidjohnson3890]

Now that it is extremely unlikely that the East-West line connecting Cambridge to Oxford will now be built (see recent government announcements) isn't this route pointless as the passenger traffic cannot support the operational costs. Interested to hear your views.

[@bartsimho1192]

I see Northern decided to rid themselves of 3+2 seating 150's. Although the real question is have the springs in the seats collapsed still?

[@AK-xd5oo]

New subscriber here! Great little video, Nick 👍 hope you checked out Bletchley Park WWII museum whilst in Bletchley👌

[@HesterClapp]

See you at Brent Cross West?

[@fbiopenup6534]

W video

[@johnrafferty8087]

Are you doing Brent Cross West Sunday??

[@paulharvey9149]

A Class 150 is indeed preferable to bustitution, Nick. The things you do for your subscribers, eh? All I can say is, don't be disheartened - at least that four trains a day service runs in both directions, and has some bustitution to support it during the day... Go back to 1968 if you will, and to the North Berwick branch in East Lothian: it also had four trains a day, alas, two ran into Edinburgh during the morning peak, and two returned there in the evening, the return journeys being ECS... The remaining station platform at NB, built for the steam-hauled expresses of yesteryear, absolutely dwarved the 2-car dmus that operated that residual service, that at length would out-live it, being reduced to a short part of its outer end and thereby allowing the construction of a car park where the buildings and concourse once stood. Advance ten years, and there were about five or six trains a day, in each direction. By 1988, your much favoured Class 150s had arrived, and replaced the ancient first-generation units - and the slightly accelerated service was now every 2 hours, on Mondays to Saturdays; and by 1998 it was hourly - with a 2-hourly Sunday service; and there was an additional call at another Park and Ride station, at Wallyford. By 2008 the service had doubled again with a new university station, right on the edge of Musselburgh - and was even augmented by five or six additional services that terminated at Dunbar, to fill in those long gaps between the occasional InterCity service that stopped there. Although more than 20 years had now passed since the abandonment of the very residual Edinburgh - Newcastle locals that in the end comprised of little more than the overnight (stopping) sleeper calling at the likes of Prestonpans and Longniddry, Drem and, the Chathill parliamentary trains; and the reversion to hourly trains on the branch post-Covid, with the half-hourly Saturday service still to be restored; the second of two more station reopenings occurs at East Linton this coming Wednesday! Perhaps, had it not been for Covid, there would have been a sufficient customer base for that long-mooted Edinburgh - Berwick-upon-Tweed EMU service by now, but even as it is, the opening service will be the same 7-trains-a-day offering of mostly TPE trains that also call at Reston - slightly enhanced by a couple of Scotrail operated Dunbar reversers - all of which will call at Wallyford and Musselburgh only, on their ways to and from Edinburgh. There's still a way to go, but it's a far cry from that two trains in each peak in one direction only, from NB, Drem, Longniddry & Prestonpans, isn't it? My guess is that on the basis of economies of scale, Bedford-Bletchley will end up electrified - in one way or another...

[@michaeldraper2323]

As of Monday full service has been reinstated. So come back

[@laurenceskinnerton73]

Interesting.

[@berkhofduvedec]

What about the acton northolt line?

[@christiangraham9347]

Nick badley pls do a pointless journey from Paddington (GWR to Paddington (London Underground and Elizabeth Line

[@KaiDiesAgain]

Mate as someone who lives in bletchley I feel sorry you went here

[@Irishtransportspotter]

Class 150s with USB ports at Seats?

[@tomtoon2014]

What’s the hatred of 150s? Never ridden them so just curious 😂

[@Weinviertel]

What is the program called at 2:57?

[@NickBadley]

www.realtimetrains.co.uk :)

[@officialmcdeath]

RIP Adrian \m/

[@robbiemorrison7085]

So the 150s have returned to the line. Aren’t there 230s on the Isle of Wight?

[@Cactus732]

Yes and no. The Isle of Wight ones are class 484s which are essentially the same as 230s just powered by 3rd rail instead of diesel generators.

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

The 230s used on the Marston Vale line were maintained by Vivarail whilst I think the 484s are maintained by SWR

[@crosshair4313]

I live in bletchley

[@thomas-xj1hs]

Interesting. Some Polish rail would be good...

[@nigelkthomas9501]

Surprised this line hasn’t been electrified yet seeing as bother ends are. The current situation is absolutely ludicrous.

[@jagman84]

With very short platforms, there's not any OHLE stock that would fit, TBH.

[@nigelkthomas9501]

@@jagman84 That has a very simple answer. Lengthen the platforms! With an improved service and, as I’ve heard on the grapevine, extending trains to Milton Keynes Central would surly be a winner.

[@user-xh3lz9xt4l]

That's not south east England it's in South Midlands

[@robinhayhurst5943]

230's? Are those the trains used by Chinese dentists?

[@teecefamilykent]

Its not Chile its Kettering:-p

[@jamesedwards7241]

There are Anoracks and then there are ANORACKS. can see this guy being able to spend a whole day explaining in livid detail exactly how many screws there are in each window frame, who drilled them using what drill and who his ancestors were going back ten centuries.