Trains Through Bletchley and Milton Keynes

The stations at Bletchley and Milton Keynes are 2 miles apart on the busy West Coast Main Line (WCML), approximately 50 miles north of London Euston. In many ways, that is all they have in common.

The railway first came to Bletchley almost 200 years ago, in the 1830s. By complete contrast the City of Milton Keynes was not conceived until the 1960s and its Central station, an integral part of the new conurbation, did not open until 1982.

Before then, the area’s rail focus was centred on the old town of Bletchley on the southern fringe of what was to become Milton Keynes. As well as the town enjoying north to south rail services on the WCML, the town was well served by services to Oxford, Buckingham and Banbury to the west and also Bedford and Cambridge to the east. Much of the east to west route has gone with just the 16-mile branch to Bedford in use today. Nevertheless, Bletchley has continued to host both a depot and stabling sidings, chiefly for passenger units nowadays.

Any visitor viewing the area’s rail lines cannot fail to notice just how busy the WCML is in this area, with trains passing almost every minute of the day. Despite the inevitable downturn associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, around 5 million passengers still use Milton Keynes Central station each year.

This book examines this traffic in detail. With both local and express passenger trains regularly passing on this four-track rail highway, it is a remarkable timetable achievement to accommodate any slower moving freight trains at all. A look through these pages demonstrates the fascinating variety of locos and freight traffic on offer.