The Bedford and Cambridge Railway Station at Sandy [Z1306/99]

In 1862, twelve years after the opening of the Great Northern Railway through Sandy another railway opened. This was the Bedford and Cambridge Railway, created by Act of Parliament two years before. Its engineers were, first, Liddell & Gordon, then Charles Liddell alone. The contractor was Joseph Firbank. Surveys of this line were made as early as 1845.

The line had, due to the number of bridges, only a single track from Bedford to Sandy. It crossed the Great Northern Railway then curved south into Sandy Station. The railway then ran along the line of Captain Peel's railway, built five years before, before continuing on from Potton to Cambridge. In 1865 the Bedford & Cambridge Railway was acquired by the London and North Western Railway [LNWR]. The livery employed by the latter was dark grey with black running gear for freight with passenger locomotives and rolling stock having maroon, or plum, lined in yellow. In 1917 the two sets of buildings, LNWR and GNR were amalgamated into one station serving both routes.

The bridge connecting the platforms of the GNR and LNWR at Sandy [Z1306/99]

In 1922 the Railway Act 1921 grouped the old companies into groups. The LNWR became part of London Midland and Scottish Railways (LMS). Its livery was, basically, that of the old LNWR. In 1948 the railways were nationalised as British Rail. Richard Beeching undertook a restructuring of the railways involving the closure of many lines. One such was the line from Bedford to Cambridge which closed on 1st January 1968 and the old Bedford and Cambridge Railway station buildings subsequently demolished.