1.
Bedford
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Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, England. It had a population of 166,252 in 2015 together with Kempston, Bedford was founded at a ford on the River Great Ouse, and is thought to have been the burial place of Offa of Mercia. Bedford Castle was built by Henry I, although it was destroyed in 1224, Bedford was granted borough status in 1165 and has been represented in Parliament since 1265. It is well known for its population of Italian descent. Bedford is on the Midland Main Line, with stopping services to London and Brighton operated by Thameslink, and express services to London and the East Midlands operated by East Midlands Trains. The name of the town is thought to derive from the name of a Saxon chief called Beda, and a ford crossing the River Great Ouse. Bedford was a town for the surrounding agricultural region from the early Middle Ages The Anglo-Saxon King Offa of Mercia was buried in the town in 796. In 886 it became a boundary town separating Wessex and Danelaw and it was the seat of the Barony of Bedford. In 919 Edward the Elder built the towns first known fortress, on the side of the River Great Ouse. This fortress was destroyed by the Danes, William II gave the barony of Bedford to Paine de Beauchamp who built a new, strong castle. Bedford traces its borough charter in 1166 by Henry II and elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons and it remained a small agricultural town, with wool being an important industry in the area for much of the Middle Ages. The new Bedford Castle was razed in 1224 and today only a mound remains, in 1660 John Bunyan was imprisoned for 12 years in Bedford Gaol. It was here that he wrote The Pilgrims Progress, the River Great Ouse became navigable as far as Bedford in 1689. Wool declined in importance with brewing becoming an industry in the town. The 19th century saw Bedford transform into an important engineering hub, in 1832 gas lighting was introduced, and the railway reached Bedford in 1846. The first corn exchange was built 1849, and the first drains, Bedford is the largest settlement in Borough of Bedford. The borough council is led by an elected mayor who holds the title Mayor of Bedford. The current Mayor of Bedford is Dave Hodgson from the Liberal Democrat Party, Bedford itself is divided into 10 wards, Brickhill, Castle, Cauldwell, De Parys, Goldington, Harpur, Kingsbrook, Newnham, Putnoe and Queens Park
2.
Thameslink and Great Northern
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Thameslink and Great Northern services were merged into one franchise in 2006 due to the Thameslink Programme. In 2012, it was announced that services of First Capital Connect, Southern, the Invitation to Tender was to have been issued in October 2012, with the successful bidder announced in Spring 2013 and TSGN originally due to start in September 2013. However, due to the collapse of the InterCity West Coast re-franchising process, in September 2013 a revised invitation to tender was issued. Govia Thameslink Railway was awarded the franchise on 23 May 2014, on 14 September 2014, Thameslink and Great Northern took over from First Capital Connect, serving 122 stations and operating a fleet of 226 trains. In December 2014, full control was taken of the Sevenoaks Thameslink service, on 21 January 2016 Transport for London announced that it intends to take over the London suburban parts of the franchise in 2021, to form a new suburban metro service. 1, ^ The Northern City Line between Moorgate and Drayton Park is also electrified at 750V DC using third rail, in 2011 the consortium Cross London Trains Ltd. This was a controversial decision as the competing bidder Bombardier Transportation had a train factory in the UK. Both the procurement process and final close of contract were significantly delayed, the trains are known as Class 700s and the £1.6 billion contract to manufacture and provide service depots for the trains was finalised in mid 2013. A fleet of 115 8- and 12-car trains are expected to service between 2016 and 2018. Associated rolling stock depots are being built at Hornsey and Three Bridges, because of the delay in procuring the Class 700 trains,29 Class 387 trains were ordered for the Thameslink route, facilitating the release of existing Class 319 trains to newly electrified routes. Delivery was completed in 2014 and the trains entered service later that year, the order includes provision for an extra 140 vehicles. It was originally planned that once the Class 700s begin entering service, however a change of plans saw GWR order an entirely new fleet of Class 387s with the ex-Thameslink examples expected to be cascaded to the Great Northern routes upon delivery of the Class 700s. This will allow Great Northern to operate fast services at up to 110 mph, something which the old fleet was incapable of. › London Moorgate, in December 2015 it was announced that Siemens would be providing these new trains as a follow-on to the Class 700 order. Former units operated by Thameslink and Great Northern include, This franchise is different from other franchises let since privatisation in 1996, now the operator, in this case Govia, gives all revenue to the government, rather than paying set premiums. The Department for Transport will pay Govia, totalling around £8. 9bn over the period of seven years. With this Govia expects to make a 3% profit, and the risks on costs will be Govias, Govia plans to invest £50m in all 239 stations it will manage. It plans to, Enhance all 239 stations including improving access, replace electronic information screens and working with authorities on the redevelopment of St Albans. Increase staffing hours at many stations, with the 100 busiest stations staffed from first to last train, extension of the key smartcard which Southern has been introducing
3.
Midland Railway
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The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. It had a network of lines managed from its headquarters in Derby. It became the third-largest railway undertaking in the British Isles, the Midland Railway Consolidation Act was passed in 1844 authorising the merger of the Midland Counties Railway, the North Midland Railway, and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway. These met at the Tri-Junct station at Derby, where the MR established its locomotive and later its carriage, leading it were George Hudson from the North Midland, dynamic but unscrupulous, and John Ellis from the Midland Counties, a careful businessman of impeccable integrity. James Allport from the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway found a place elsewhere in Hudsons empire with the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, though he later returned. Almost immediately it took over the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway and the Erewash Valley Line in 1845, passengers from Sheffield continued to use Rotherham Masborough until a direct route was completed in 1870. Meanwhile, it extended its influence in the Leicestershire coalfields, by buying the Leicester and Swannington Railway in 1846, after the merger, London trains were carried on the shorter Midland Counties route. The former Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway was left with the traffic to Birmingham and Bristol, the line south was the Birmingham and Bristol Railway, which reached Curzon Street via Camp Hill. These two lines had been formed by the merger of the standard gauge Birmingham and Gloucester Railway and they met at Gloucester via a short loop of the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway. In the event all that was necessary was for the later LNWR to share Birmingham New Street with the Midland when it was opened in 1854, the MR controlled all the traffic to the North East and Scotland from London. The LNWR was progressing slowly through the Lake District, and there was pressure for a line from London to York. Permission had been gained for the Northern and Eastern Railway to run through Peterborough and Lincoln, two obvious extensions of the Midland Counties line were from Nottingham to Lincoln and from Leicester to Peterborough. They were approved while the bill for the line was still before Parliament, forming the present day Lincoln Branch. The Leeds and Bradford Railway had been approved in 1844, by 1850 it was losing money but a number of railways offered to buy it. In spite of the objections of Hudson, for the MR and others, the London and York Railway led by Edmund Denison persisted, after Hudsons departure, the MR was in financial difficulties. Opposition to the Great Northern bill had cost a fortune, a deal of maintenance was overdue. Added to this, the Great Northern was taking much of the traffic from the North East, in 1851 the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway completed its line from Grantham as far as Colwick, from where a branch led to the MR Nottingham station. The Great Northern Railway by then passed through Grantham and both railway companies paid court to the fledgling line, meanwhile, Nottingham had woken up to its branch line status and was keen to expand
4.
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
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The London, Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, the resulting company was an unwieldy construction, with numerous interests other than railway operation. Besides being the worlds largest transport organisation, it was also the largest commercial enterprise in the British Empire, the LMS also claimed to be the largest joint stock organisation in the world. In 1938, the LMS operated 6,870 miles of railway, under the Transport Act 1947, along with the other members of the Big Four British railway companies, the LMS was nationalised on 1 January 1948, becoming part of the state-owned British Railways. The LMS was the largest of the Big Four railway companies serving routes in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the LMS operated services in and around London, the Midlands, the North West of England, Mid/North Wales and Scotland. The company also operated a network of lines in Northern Ireland. The LMS operated a number of lines jointly with the main railway companies. Most of these were situated at or near the boundaries between two or more of the companies, but there were notable examples which extended beyond this hinterland zone. Together with the London and North Eastern Railway, the LMS ran the former Midland, exceeding 183 miles, this was the largest jointly-operated network in Great Britain in terms of route mileage, and extended from Peterborough to the East Anglian coast. The M&GN was wholly incorporated into the LNER in 1936, the LMS also operated a significant joint network with the Southern Railway, in the shape of the former Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway. This network connected Bath and Bournemouth, and wound its way through territory nominally allocated to a railway company. Through the former Midland Railway holdings, the LMS, together with the Great Northern Railway, the SR and the LMS were mainly overlapping on the West London Line. The London to Birmingham corridor was fiercely contested with the LMS running expresses over its West Coast Main Line via Rugby, the LMS was also the only one of the Big Four companies to operate rail services in Northern Ireland, serving most major settlements in the region. On 1 July 1903, the Midland Railway took over the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway, in 1912, the Midland Railway purchased the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway which operated between London Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness, with a loop serving Tilbury. This part of the later came under the control of the LNER, although this particular route. This arrangement did however provide a choice for residents of Southend, the LMS was the minority partner in the Cheshire Lines Committee. In Ireland there were three railways, Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway 26.5 miles Northern Counties Committee 265, for all railways see List of constituents of the LMS. Generally, the Midland prevailed, with the adoption of many Midland practices such as the livery of Crimson Lake for passenger locomotives, notable was the continuation of the Midland Railways small-engine policy
5.
Midland Main Line
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The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Sheffield in the North of England. The line is under the Network Rail description of Route 19, it comprises the lines from Londons St. Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham, Express passenger services on the line are operated by East Midlands Trains. The section between St Pancras and Bedford is electrified and forms the northern half of Thameslink, with a fast service to Brighton, a northern part of the route, between Derby and Chesterfield, also forms part of the Cross Country Route operated by CrossCountry. Tracks from Nottingham to Leeds via Barnsley and Sheffield are shared with Northern, East Midlands Local also operates regional and local services using parts of the line. The Midland Main Line was built in stages between the 1830s and the 1870s, the earliest section was opened by the Midland Counties Railway between Nottingham and Derby on 4 June 1839. On 5 May 1840 the section of the route from Trent Junction to Leicester was opened, the line at Derby was joined on 1 July 1840 by the North Midland Railway to Leeds Hunslet Lane via Chesterfield, Rotherham Masborough, Swinton and Normanton. On 10 May 1844 the North Midland Railway, the Midland Counties Railway, without its own route to London, the Midland Railway relied upon a junction at Rugby with the London and Birmingham Railway line for access to the capital at London Euston. By the 1850s the junction at Rugby had become severely congested, the Midland Railway employed Thomas Brassey to construct a new route from Leicester to Hitchin via Kettering, Wellingborough and Bedford. Giving access to London via the Great Northern Railway from Hitchin, the Crimean War resulted in a shortage of labour and finance, and only £900,000 was available for the construction, approximately £15,000 for each mile. To reduce construction costs the railway followed natural contours, resulting in many curves, seven bridges and one tunnel were required, with 60ft cuttings at Desborough and Sharnbrook. There are also major summits at Kibworth, Desbrough and at Sharnbrook where a 1 in 119 gradient from the south over 3 miles takes the line to 340 feet above sea level. This route opened for traffic on 15 April 1857, goods on 4 May and passengers on 8 May. James Allport arranged a deal with the GN to run into Kings Cross for a guaranteed £20,000 a year. Through services to London were introduced in February 1858 and this line met with similar capacity problems at Hitchin as the former route via Rugby, so a new line was constructed from Bedford via Luton to St Pancras which opened on 1 October 1868. The construction of the London extension cost £9,000,000, as traffic built up, the Midland opened a new deviation just north of Market Harborough railway station on 26 June 1885 to remove the flat crossing of the Rugby and Stamford Railway. Plans by the Midland Railway to build a line from Derby to Manchester were thwarted in 1863 by the builders of the Buxton Line who sought to monopolise on the West Coast Main Line. In 1870 the Midland Railway opened a new route from Chesterfield to Rotherham which went through Sheffield, the mid-1870s saw the Midland line extended northwards through the Yorkshire Dales and Eden Valley on what is now called the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Express trains to Leeds and Scotland such as the Thames-Clyde Express mainly used the Midlands corollary Erewash Valley Line, expresses to Edinburgh Waverley, such as The Waverley travelled through Corby and Nottingham
6.
Leicester railway station
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Leicester railway station, is a railway station serving the city of Leicester in Leicestershire, England. It was originally opened in 1840 by the Midland Counties Railway, today it is operated by East Midlands Trains, and it is on the main line from London St Pancras to Sheffield and Nottingham. The first station on the site opened on 5 May 1840 and it was originally known simply as Leicester, becoming Leicester Campbell Street on 1 June 1867, and Leicester London Road from 12 June 1892. This was replaced in 1894 by a new station, also called Leicester London Road, following the closure of Central on 5 May 1969, this station was renamed Leicester. Besides London Road and Central, the city of Leicester was served by Belgrave Road, Humberstone Road and West Bridge railway stations. Leicester was one of the first cities to be served by a railway, the Leicester and Swannington Railway was later absorbed by the Midland Railway. In total Leicester had seven railway stations, in addition to the current Leicester station three other main railway stations existed. The original station at West Bridge closed to passengers in 1928, Leicester Belgrave Road closed to passengers in 1962 and Leicester Central closed in May 1969. Up until this time the current Leicester station was known as Leicester London Road, at this halt passengers were allowed to leave the trains but not to board them. The station was designed by William Parsons in the Grecian Revival style and this was flanked by short single-storey wings. It was the headquarters of the Midland Counties Railway until that railway was amalgamated into the Midland Railway in 1844, upstairs were the company offices and boardroom, while downstairs was the booking hall, waiting and refreshment rooms. Further expansion was contemplated for some time, but it was not until 1890 that the go ahead was given for Campbell Street station to be replaced by the present Leicester railway station. All that remains of the first station is a pair of gateposts in an Egyptian style at the end of Station Street, the offices for Royal Mail now occupy some of the site of the old station buildings on Campbell Street. The Midland Railway completely rebuilt the station between 1892 and 1894 to a design by the architect Charles Trubshaw, the new booking office was opened by the mayor in June 1892 when it was renamed Leicester London Road. The station was completed in 1894, the frontage on London Road featured four entrance archways. Above each of the pair the word Departure was inscribed. These signs were to assist cab drivers when dropping passengers who intended to catch departing trains, the station clock is the only hand-wound station clock in the UK. A commemorative statue of Thomas Cook was placed on the pavement outside the present station in 1991 to mark the first excursions arranged by the travel agency magnate and it was sculpted by James Butler
7.
Peterborough railway station
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Peterborough railway station serves the city of Peterborough, within Cambridgeshire, England. It is located approximately 76.5 miles north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line, the station is a major interchange serving both the north-south ECML, as well as long-distance and local east-west services. The station is managed by Virgin Trains East Coast, ticket gates came into use at the station in 2012. The station has a concourse and ticket office area which was redesigned and reopened in mid-2012. The concourse features both a newsagents and a cafe, for general assistance there is a customer information point located on platform 1 by the concourse, as well as customer service offices on platform 5 and near the toilets on platform 2. All platforms are accessible by means of a footbridge with lifts. There is on site car parking, within a few minutes walk is Peterborough city centre, and the Queensgate shopping centre. As of March 2013, there is a cycle hire scheme outside the south end of the station building. There are regular services to and from London Kings Cross, operated by Virgin Trains East Coast, Southbound EC services run either non-stop to the capital or call only at Stevenage, northbound destinations include Leeds, Newcastle Central and Edinburgh Waverley. Great Northern trains start and terminate at Peterborough and serve the intermediate stations southwards, CrossCountry regional services run hourly between Birmingham via Leicester and Stansted Airport via Cambridge. East Midlands Trains are also hourly, between Norwich and Liverpool via Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester Piccadilly, EMT also operate local services to Spalding, Sleaford and Lincoln on an approximately hourly frequency. Abellio Greater Anglia operate a service to Ipswich via Ely. Sunday services run less frequently on the ECML, but on similar frequencies on the routes other than the Spalding Line. Platform 1, Through platform, predominantly used by Southbound Virgin Trains East Coast to Kings Cross, the services to and from Spalding occasionally use this platform. Renumbered from 2 in December 2013, a south-facing bay platform, former Platform 1, was decommissioned & lifted in December 2013. Platform 2, An island through platform, mostly used by Great Northern and it is also used by the hourly service to Spalding & Lincoln, typically operated by class 153 units. Platform 3, New through island platform alongside the up fast line, used predominantly by Virgin Trains East Coast fast services to London, though some Great Northern suburban trains also use it, non-stop southbound trains also pass through this platform. One through track between platforms 3 and 4 for non-stop passenger services and these are used by non-stop Virgin Trains East Coast trains northbound, and also by Hull Trains and Grand Central
8.
Wellingborough railway station
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Wellingborough railway station is a Grade II listed station located in the market town of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line, it is 65 miles from London St. Pancras, East Midlands Trains operate the station and run most of its services using Meridian trains. With Northamptonshires history in the industry, the film Kinky Boots filmed in the county and featured Wellingborough station. In late 2009 Wellingborough was made a Penalty fare station by East Midlands Trains, Wellingborough was built by the Midland Railway in 1857 on its extension from Leicester to Bedford and Hitchin. A curve linked the two stations from west to north, the buildings, designed by C. H. Driver, still exist, though in altered form. Much of this occurred when the branch to Higham Ferrers was built in 1894, Wellingborough also had a large locomotive depot with two roundhouses, the first built 1868, the second in 1872. One of the buildings still exist next to the station building. On 2 September 1898, the station was the scene of a rail accident when a trolley ran off the platform in front of a Manchester express train. The crew and five passengers were killed and sixty-five injured, british Rail removed the fourth track between Kettering and Sharnbrook Junction in the 1980s for cost cutting reasons making platform 4 unused. The platform still does exist, overgrown and no link to the rest of the station, a building is left derelict on it and there are proposals for the platform to be reopened. There were originally five platforms at Wellingborough station - Platforms 1 &2 still exist as they were, platform 3 was the bay platform for Northampton trains, the bay is still there, but fenced off from platform 2. In 1964 Platform 4 was re-numbered platform 3, Platform 5 was taken out of use when the Rushden and Higham Ferrers services ceased in 1959. Wellingborough has three platforms, two are used, one occasionally, and another platform face with no trackwork. The station was formerly the junction for a branch to Higham Ferrers, the station has the PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together at a saving. From Bedford to Kettering the Midland Main Line is unusual for being a main line. Other instances of this occurring are on the Cross City Line in Birmingham, East Midlands Trains launched a new timetable in December 2008, with one train fewer running during the morning peak period, and four fewer during the evening peak. Some journey times increased, with the quickest train taking 47 minutes at peak times, there is a half-hourly service to London St. Pancras and hourly services to either Nottingham via Leicester or to Corby, both operated by Meridian trains. During peak, one Nottingham services is extended to start and finish at Lincoln via Newark and one Corby service goes to, faster East Midlands Trains services to/from Leeds, Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby run through Wellingborough at high speed, but do not call outside of peak hours
9.
Stamford railway station
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Stamford railway station serves the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire, England. The station is 12.5 miles west of Peterborough opened by the Syston and Peterborough Railway, crossCountry operate the majority of services as part of their Birmingham to Stansted Airport route. It is owned by Network Rail and operated by East Midlands Trains train operating company, the station was formerly known as Stamford Town to distinguish it from the now closed Stamford East station in Water Street. The station building is a stone structure in Mock Tudor style, influenced by the nearby Burghley House. Services westbound to Birmingham go via Oakham, Melton Mowbray, Leicester, Narborough, Hinckley, Nuneaton, services eastbound to Stansted Airport or Cambridge call at Peterborough, March, Ely and Audley End. Despite managing the station, East Midlands Trains only operates three services to the station, two early morning services to Norwich and a late night service to Nottingham. Central Trains undertook internal modifications and refurbishment to the ticket office, Network Rail also invested £500,000 on refurbishment of the station building, modern lighting, overbridge and foot crossing to further update the station in late 2007. This will involve changes to the alignment and the platform canopy. It is planned that both platforms will be extended by up to 5 metres by no later than 2012, the permanent station opened along with through services to Leicester on 20 March 1848. The London and North Western Railway opened their single track line from Rugby via Market Harborough on 2 June 1851. When Stamford East station closed in 1957, the Stamford to Essendine services were diverted to Town station, general goods services in Stamford finished in the late 1960s but the coal yard remained in use until 16 May 1983. When the coal yard closed, the opportunity was taken to close the signal box. All pointwork was removed and mechanical signals were replaced by colour lights controlled by Ketton signal box, Ketton signal box was retained due to the need to monitor the level crossing. With no crossover, the Peterborough to Stamford shuttles were for a time reversed at Ketton, with the line to the bay platform lifted, the bay was filled in to form a flowerbed. In the late 1990s, the toilets were closed, having been the subject of vandalism, the ticket office is only open in the mornings. The small bicycle rack outside the station was removed, the table below shows the train departures from Stamford Town on weekdays in February 1863. The table below shows the train departures from Stamford Town on weekdays in July 1922, train times and station information for Stamford railway station from National Rail Brief history of Stamford railways
10.
Borough of Bedford
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Bedford is a unitary authority area with borough status in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England. Its council is based at Bedford, the county town of Bedfordshire, the borough contains one large urban area, the 71st largest in the United Kingdom that comprises Bedford and the adjacent town of Kempston, surrounded by a rural area with many villages. 75% of the population live in the Bedford Urban Area and the five large villages which surround it. The borough is also the location of the Wixams new town development, the District of Bedford was formed on 1 April 1974 as a merger of the existing borough of Bedford, along with Kempston urban district and Bedford Rural District. In 1975 the district was granted a charter granting borough status as North Bedfordshire. The borough was renamed as Borough of Bedford in 1992, over half of the former municipal borough of Bedford is unparished. However, Brickhill is a parish, and Queens Park as well as Cauldwell & Kingsbrook elect their own community councils. The rest of the district including Kempston is parished and this means Bedford Borough has assumed responsibility in areas such as education, social services and transport which were previously provided by Bedfordshire County Council. Unlike most English districts, Bedfords council is led by an elected mayor of Bedford. The first elections for the new unitary Bedford Borough Council were held on 4 June 2009 when 36 councillors in addition to the mayor were elected. Since an electoral review which came into effect for the elections in 2011. From 2009 to 2011, Independents were included in the executive committee, while Conservative members sat in opposition on the council
11.
National Rail
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The name and the accompanying double arrow symbol are the intellectual property of the Secretary of State for Transport. The National Rail logo was introduced by ATOC in 1999, and was used on the Great Britain public timetable for the first time in the edition valid from 26 September in that year. Rules for its use are set out in the Corporate Identity Style Guidelines published by the Rail Delivery Group, the NR title is sometimes described as a brand. As it was used by British Rail, the operator before franchising, its use also maintains continuity and public familiarity. National Rail should not be confused with Network Rail, the two networks are generally coincident where passenger services are run. Most major Network Rail lines carry traffic and some lines are freight only. About twenty privately owned operating companies, each franchised for a defined term by government. The Rail Delivery Group is the association representing the TOCs and provides core services. It also runs Rail Settlement Plan, which allocates ticket revenue to the various TOCs, and Rail Staff Travel and it does not compile the national timetable, which is the joint responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail. Since the privatisation of British Rail there is no longer a single approach to design on railways in Great Britain, the look and feel of signage, liveries and marketing material is largely the preserve of the individual TOCs. However, National Rail continues to use BRs famous double-arrow symbol and it has been incorporated in the National Rail logotype and is displayed on tickets, the National Rail website and other publicity. The trademark rights to the arrow symbol remain state-owned, being vested in the Secretary of State for Transport. The double arrow was already prescribed for indicating a railway station, the lettering used in the National Rail logotype is a modified form of the typeface Sassoon Bold. It is a misconception that Rail Alphabet was also used for printed material. The British Rail typefaces of choice from 1965 were Helvetica and Univers, TOCs may use what they like, examples include Futura, Helvetica, Frutiger, Bliss, and a modified version of Precious by London Midland. Several conurbations have their own metro or tram systems, most of which are not part of National Rail, LO now also possesses some infrastructure in its own right, following the reopening of the former East London line of London Underground as the East London Railway of LO. Heathrow Express and Eurostar are also not part of the National Rail network despite sharing of stations, northern Ireland Railways were never part of British Rail, which was always confined to Great Britain, and therefore are not part of the National Rail network. National Rail services have a common ticketing structure inherited from British Rail, through tickets are available between any pair of stations on the network, and can be bought from any station ticket office
12.
Market Harborough railway station
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Market Harborough railway station is a Grade II listed station which serves the town of Market Harborough in Leicestershire, England. It is situated to the east of the centre and lies on the Midland Main Line,16 miles south-east of Leicester. The original station was opened on 1 May 1850 by the London, the Midland Railway shared it from 1857 when it built its extension from Leicester to Bedford and Hitchin. On 16 February 1859 the branch line to Northampton opened, the station was the scene of a serious accident on 28 August 1862. An excursion train bound for Burton-upon-Trent stopped to pick up water, the accident resulted in the death of one person and seventy were injured. As traffic built up, the Midland opened a new line on 26 June 1885 at an elevation, crossing the LNWR. The new station building was opened on 14 September 1884 and it was built by Parnell and Sons of Rugby from designs by John William Livock and Millbank. The engineer was Hirst of Rugby, Market Harborough was the largest station within the county boundary south of Leicester. A shed was never built but this did not stop it becoming a sub-shed of Leicester in later years, the service on the original LNWR line was drastically reduced in 1960 and it finally closed in June 1966. Freight traffic on the line to Northampton continued until closure in August 1981, the Midland line continues, with the platform buildings and canopies replaced with modern designs in the sixties. The main building survived, however, and was restored in 1981. Market Harborough is served by the fast and semi-fast East Midlands Trains Class 222 Meridian/HST services, Trains to London are around every half hour and all off peak trains now start or end at Nottingham. One of these are fast going non-stop to or from London, while the other is a semi-fast service via Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway. Services north to Nottingham call at Leicester and either Loughborough and Beeston or East Midlands Parkway, in the morning and evening some services are extended to Lincoln via Newark. Weekend services include trains operating to York and, in the summer, bus services depart from outside the station and operate throughout the town and also to both Lutterworth, Hinckley and Leicester. The initial specification for the East Midlands Trains franchise, which started in 2007 and these plans were fought against by the Harborough Rail Users Group, and, as a result, the final specification saw no reduction in services. Stagecoach promised as part of their bid that they would create additional car parking spaces at stations along their route, Market Harboroughs new larger car park opened early in 2008. Market Harborough station is located on a curve on the Midland Main Line, as a result of this line speeds through the station have always been relatively slow
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