Leighton Buzzard Light Railway

Pages Park Station on the narrow gauge railway December 2008

The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway Company was formed in 1919 closed as a business in 1982. The railway was used by both the major sand excavating firms in the area - J. Arnold and George Garside. Arnolds' main sand washing plant was at Billington Road. The longest run was four miles to Double Arches Quarry and there were over four miles of track in the quarries themselves. Bedfordshire & Luton Archives & Records Service has a good selection of primary records both for the Company and the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway Society, formed in 1967 to keep the track and rolling stock in repair.

The society still runs trains for the paying public from its terminus just south of Page's Park on Billington Road to the Stonehenge Quarry on Mile Tree Road in Heath and Reach and back. The writer of this page's children certainly enjoyed the ride.

 
Narrow Gauge Railway platform December 2008

Primary Sources

• X1/86: map: 1908;
• CCA74/1: agreement to construct and maintain level crossings across county roads between Bedfordshire County Council and Leighton Buzzard Light Railway Company: 1919;
• RY1135: Leighton Buzzard Light Railway journal account book: 1919-1933;
• RY1136: Leighton Buzzard Light Railway analysis of expenditure: 1922-1941;
• RY1137: Leighton Buzzard Light Railway account book including petrol return: 1925-1935;
• X749/1/1-2: Iron Horse Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway Society newsletters: 1968-1969;
• X749/2/1-112: Chaloner Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway Society newsletters: 1969-1997;
• CRT160/82: article on the railway by P. R. Arnold: 1970
• X749/4/1: Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway Society Limited society rule book: 1973;
• X749/4/2: Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway Society Limited operating rule book: 1973;
• X749/2/1: Guide to the railway: 1974;
• X749/2/2: Guide: c.1979;
• X749/4/3: revision of train operating methods consequent upon the introduction of electronic key token working: 1980;
• X749/4/4: regulations for train signalling: 1983;
• X749/3/1-24: leaflets with timetables: 1986-2004;
• X749/2/3: Guide: c.1990;
• X749/2/5: 25th anniversary souvenir brochure: 1992;
• X749/2/6: mini guide for visitors: c.1999

Publications

• The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway by S. A. Leleux;
• Narrow Gauge Tracks in the Sand: The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway by Rod Dingwall;
• Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway Guide;
• Bulletin of Industrial Archaeology in CBA Group 9 Leighton Buzzard Light Railway Brief Reports;
• Bedfordshire Magazine Volume XIV, page 53 "The Leighton Buzzard Light Railway by J. Estdale;
• Bedfordshire Magazine Volume XIV page 131, letter about the light railway