South_Bedfordshire_Railway
 

South_Bedfordshire_Railway

There is a scheme for a short length of the old Dunstable to Luton railway line to be kept as a heritage railway as part of the Luton to Dunstable busway.

Luton Borough Council responsible for promoting the bus way along the old railway indicated that the potential heritage value of the Luton to Dunstable railway line had been realised and if practicable a short length of line could be retained.

There would be a compound providing a road access and depot on the pallet store site (formerly oil depot sidings) to North of Dunstable town centre which has been earmarked for redevelopment, and a short length of line along the old line towards Dunstable Park operated with a Diesel Multiple Unit, with steam following later on. The land surrounding the old line is designated as open space in the bus way proposal so the railway would have a nice setting to operate within.

The proposed heritage railway places great emphasis on assisting economic regeneration of the surrounding area and the conurbation in general.

There would be a lot of opportunities for volunteers to work on the proposed heritage railway which would take on trainees from the local colleges and job centre which should help people get jobs. People vsiiting the proposed heritage railway would be encouraged to use local shops and fast food takeaways.

The face book group aims to help to start the scheme for short length of heritage railway along the old Dunstable to Luton railway line as part of the Luton to Dunstable busway by telling local people about it to enable their participation. The group aims to educate about history of the old railway line, about the subsequent re - use of the land after closure and the controversy over the re - opening the part of the line from Luton to Dunstable to passengers after heavy freight trains ended in 1989, vs the Luton to Dunstable busway. The group has pictures, maps, written material and timetables on the group and links to external websites.

For more information:

Face book group for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101535814486

Face book page for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?ai...y/114408429930

Yahoo! group for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/grou...ailway_Centre/

Windows Live! group for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
http://southbedfordshirerailway.groups.live.com/

Bebo group for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
www.bebo.com/South_Beds_Railway

The web site for the South Bedfordshire Railway scheme
http://www.freewebs.com/south_bedfordshire_railway/

would have made more sense to keep all the old line as a railway .They did this in Cambridge and 90% of locals wanted the railway back.

When you compare the maintainance costs of a bus-way versus a light railway their is no other option these days. A heritage railway would not pay for itself if volunteers didnt offer their services for free!!