please empty your brain below
Bedford to Bletchley is a wonderful train ride. It always surprises me that this line survived Beeching - I guess without the brickworks it would not have done.

Steve Barker | Homepage | 01.12.13 - 8:17 a.m. | #

Many years did I stand on the platform at Bow Brickhill waiting for a single carriage DMU to take me to Bedford

Simon G | 01.12.13 - 9:24 a.m. | #

I remember making journeys up the M1 with our young children who used to point at the four chimneys and say 'it's a giant's table, upside down' as the perspective from the motorway really did make them look like an upturned basic table!

PeteC | 01.12.13 - 9:37 a.m. | #

Thanks DG, went to school for two years at Stewartby aged 11-13. Bedfordshire was in the change from selective to non-selective education. We were able to use the swimming pool at the brickworks (not that it was ever very warm, despite all the kilns). Stewartby was notable for never having any people walking around. The brickworks were big local employers with a lot of our village working there, and people had come over from Italy in the mid-1960s to work there. I wonder how many of DG'S readers have been there?

Frank | 01.12.13 - 9:44 a.m. | #

I grew up in Bedfordshire and can still remember the smell of the brickworks

Sarah | 01.12.13 - 12:06 p.m. | #

Ah! My neck of the woods. It's all set to change on the Marston Vale line. It's projected to be electrified as part of the east - west link joining the East Coast main line, Midland Main Line and the West Coast main line then on to Oxford.
It was once part of the Varsity Line from Oxford to Cambridge and most of it still exists but some parts built on between Bedford and Cambridge.
Heaven knows what they intend to do with all the level crossings on the Bedford - Bletchley bit.
They were going to build an Eco Town the next station along from Millbrook but that seems to have faded away.

allan | 01.12.13 - 2:54 p.m. | #

Fantastic post. Great job. Thank you.

Richard M | 01.12.13 - 8:07 p.m. | #

I enjoyed looking at the map too. Although it says "Stewartby" in the url it is more over Lidlington where there were also brickworks (now gone I think) and I spent many happy times cycling there. The hill through Lidlington (down from the Ampthill Road) is extremely steep and although as a lad I considered it cowardly to use brakes going down a hill, I did make an exception there.

Fred | 01.12.13 - 10:06 p.m. | #

Ah, my neck of the woods. :-) It's almost like you're stalking me...

Allan, the EcoTown is still going ahead, it's called Wixams ( http://www.wixams.co.uk ) - I go past it every day!

Lyle | Homepage | 01.12.13 - 10:14 p.m. | #

Ah, Cambridge to Oxford, via Bedford, Bletchley, Buckingham, and Bicester.

Andrew | 01.12.13 - 11:08 p.m. | #

Planned canal link between MK and Bedford will use the areas lakes http://www.b-mkwaterway.org.uk

Roger | 01.12.13 - 11:11 p.m. | #

An immense number of Italians came to work in the brickworks and are the reason why Bedford still has a substantial Italian community and several Italian street names.

Another historic nugget: when a Masonic lodge for graduates of Oxford and Cambridge was founded, its inaugural meeting was held on Bletchley railway station - the approximate half-way point on the old Oxford to Cambridge line.

AndrewWS | 02.12.13 - 11:33 a.m. | #

The ecotown planned for Marston Vale would have been fantastic, but is not going forward. Wixams is separate.

I can't see the canal link ever being built.

When I lived in MK, if the wind was in the wrong direction the brickworks would give me asthma!

Finally, in the mid 1980s I saw a yellow Cortina in Stewartby with the registration number LBC 1!

Ian | 02.12.13 - 12:57 p.m. | #

I _seem_ to remember LBC 1 on a black car used for ferrying Important Visitors to the brickworks in the 1970s. But my memory might be confusing the car with somewhere else. Perhaps an alumnus of Stewartby Middle School can shed some light?

Frank | 02.12.13 - 4:38 p.m. | #

You get top marks for putting 'model' in quote marks.

Tim Dunn | Homepage | 03.12.13 - 9:51 a.m. | #

Ah OK then Ian, my apologies. I thought Wixams was the eco-town, as it's so focused on green guff, transport etc.

Lyle | Homepage | 03.12.13 - 11:46 a.m. | #

We're glad you enjoyed your visit to the Forest Centre and thank you for spreading the word to your followers! It's great to hear about people's experiences of the brickworks pre and post the arrival of the Millennium Country Park.
- The Forest Team

Sam Hayden | Homepage | 14.01.14 - 4:32 p.m. | #











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