please empty your brain below

When I travelled from Bletchley to Bedford daily in the 80s the train used to get full of posh kids going to the private schools, it was a longer train then,
Round about 1989 you could ride on very bizarre trains on this line, comprising two ancient coaches with a diesel loco on each end.
I thought it was a myth that Beeching contributed to the closure of the Oxford to Cambridge line.
He didn't list it for closure, which happened in 1967 due to reduced passenger numbers.
The Marston vale line was also scheduled for passenger closure, but in the nick of time, Milton Keynes was designated. Very little of the line is actually in Milton Keynes, but it was thought that the general buzz might affect the numbers (it probably has, but maybe not enough).

Even without passengers, the line (or at least part of it) would have stayed open for a while for the brick factories.
Although not included in the Beeching Report, there had been a closure proposal for the whole Oxford-Cambridge route pre-Beeching. (Although only a few years previous to that a huge flyover was built at Bletchley to separate expected heavy freight flows on the line from the West Coast Main Line which it crossed there - it remains to this day as a multilegged white elephant (well, decidedly off-white these days). Hardly a thing of beauty, but almost an ancient monument compared to most of its surroundings - well we are talking about Milton Keynes.

Improved services via London connecting the principal destinations on the route (Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford, Cambridge) were cited as the justification for the line's closure.
It was probably the brickworks which saved that section (and only that section) of the Oxford- Cambridge route. The connection between Milton Keynes and Oxford was lost.

There were routes recommended for closure by Beeching which survived, whilst others were closed instead - for example, of the two connections from my home town to the main line that existed pre-Beeching, he only recommended one for closure - but in the event it remained open and the other one was closed instead.

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/bedford_railway/
Improved services via London. Although there is obviously no timetable yet for the full EastWest line (it's not even known exactly where some of it will be built), it will probably never be the quickest way from Oxford to Cambridge. A tube (bus) to Baker Street, a tube (tube) to St Pancras, then a train to Cambridge will probably beat it. But there are plenty of other benefits which it will provide.
There are rumours of a station being built on the Midland Main Line near the Chimney Corner pub you mention in which case Thameslink would stop near Kempston Hardwick. This would serve the huge Wixams housing development on the old armaments depot site between the line and the A6. Commuters to London from there have to drive into Bedford or south to the next station at Flitwick.
I fear, tho', that it's a case of "don't hold your breath".
I used to travel on this line in 93-94. You used to be able to sit at the front and see where you were going. The line is so straight at Kempston Hardwick that there used to be a flashing light so bright you could see it from miles down the track to warn drivers that a station was coming up
@Malcolm.

Oxford to Cambridge via Bedford may never be as quick as the two and a half hours National Rail's website says it can be done ( with a generous 45 minutes to travel the five stops on the Circle Line), let alone the Oxford Tube, which could not match the best trains even if it did 70mph all the way. Whether changing from coach to the Underground at Hillingdon or Shepherds Bush (both have direct services to Kings Cross) gives the best time I can't say.

But the East West line will give quicker journeys to, or between, intermediate points such as Bedford to Cambridge or Oxford to Milton Keynes.
The X5 bus route runs from Oxford to Cambridge via Bedford. Maybe not the fastes method, but if you're not in too much of a hurry...
@Malcolm

The Oxford Tube does not call at Baker Street, although the Oxford Bus Company's competing X90 service does
Simon:
The bright flashing light would, I believe, have been related to a level crossing (NOT a station), to confirm to train drivers that the crossing has operated correctly. Similar lights are still in use at many crossings around the country.

There were proposals for closure both before and after Beeching, but not in the Beeching Report. As with all closure proposals, alternative bus services were listed. At the time of the last closure proposal, the local bus company was falling so far short of the published timetable that the local people successfully argued that the "alternative bus services" were not a reliable practical alternative for the train passengers.
The two-car train only appears at peak times (catering to a lot of schoolchildren). I believe at the too-short platforms passengers have to get on and off via the guard's door as the train doesn't have selective door operation.
I visited the station mid-week in August 2015 (to visit an `unused` station) and was surprised. I and two others got off from the train and I duly waited for the train to depart from the opposite platform back to Bletchley - I think about half an hour later.. To my surprise, there were already two people waiting, and when the train arrived I had about 8 or 9 disparate persons on the platform. So I chose the wrong day the day for solitude, as the station was quite well used.










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