I'm re-reading G. F. Fiennes autobiography "I Tried To Run
A Railway" and came across his assertion that the Bletchley
fly-over was a monument to those who did not recognise that
the railway should concentrate on a few main routes and
abandon routes which were not self-financing.

It's years since I last travelled on the WCML so I have to ask.
Does the Bletchley flyover still exist or was it dismantled?

Incidentally, a few mile west of Bletchley on the route the
fly-over was to serve lies Verney Junction, now of course
closed for decades. I was there a few weeks ago. To my
surprise the track in still in place and the station platforms
have not been demolished. Nor has the overhead bridge which,
I guess, brought in the line from Aylesbury.

Robin9 wrote:

I'm re-reading G. F. Fiennes autobiography "I Tried To Run
A Railway" and came across his assertion that the Bletchley
fly-over was a monument to those who did not recognise that
the railway should concentrate on a few main routes and
abandon routes which were not self-financing.

It's years since I last travelled on the WCML so I have to ask.
Does the Bletchley flyover still exist or was it dismantled?

Incidentally, a few mile west of Bletchley on the route the
fly-over was to serve lies Verney Junction, now of course
closed for decades. I was there a few weeks ago. To my
surprise the track in still in place and the station platforms
have not been demolished. Nor has the overhead bridge which,
I guess, brought in the line from Aylesbury.

The flyover is still there, and will soon be in service again. It may even
have platforms added on the eastern end.

Thank you gentlemen.

On 2016-04-16 07:32:36 +0000, Robin9 said:

It's years since I last travelled on the WCML so I have to ask.
Does the Bletchley flyover still exist or was it dismantled?

Yep, still there. It will be used for East West Rail if/when that
eventually happens. The odd binliner train used to use it relatively
recently.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

On 16/04/2016 09:59, Neil Williams wrote:
On 2016-04-16 07:32:36 +0000, Robin9 said:

It's years since I last travelled on the WCML so I have to ask.
Does the Bletchley flyover still exist or was it dismantled?

Yep, still there. It will be used for East West Rail if/when that
eventually happens. The odd binliner train used to use it relatively
recently.

Neil
still in use 2013


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I7toFEjP_I

On Sat, 16 Apr 2016 09:59:23 +0100, Neil Williams
wrote:

On 2016-04-16 07:32:36 +0000, Robin9 said:

It's years since I last travelled on the WCML so I have to ask.
Does the Bletchley flyover still exist or was it dismantled?

Yep, still there. It will be used for East West Rail if/when that
eventually happens. The odd binliner train used to use it relatively
recently.

As you say the flyover is intact. Although the last time I saw it,
small pieces of concrete seemed to have flaked and detached.
Once there were some platforms on the west side of Bletchley Station
for service from Oxford terminating at Bletchley. They were destroyed
several decades back by the nationalized railway.

On 2016-04-17 10:44:16 +0000, e27002 aurora said:

As you say the flyover is intact. Although the last time I saw it,
small pieces of concrete seemed to have flaked and detached.
Once there were some platforms on the west side of Bletchley Station
for service from Oxford terminating at Bletchley. They were destroyed
several decades back by the nationalized railway.

They are sort-of still there, but are of no use at all for current
operations and so are not maintained.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

In message , Robin9
wrote:
Incidentally, a few mile west of Bletchley on the route the
fly-over was to serve lies Verney Junction, now of course
closed for decades. I was there a few weeks ago. To my
surprise the track in still in place and the station platforms
have not been demolished.

I think they've been cleared recently. I have a photo taken in 2012
where there are trees 3 metres high in the four foot.

Nor has the overhead bridge which,
I guess, brought in the line from Aylesbury.

What bridge? The only bridge on the Met. was demolished many years ago.
Or do you mean the one on the line from Milton Keynes about half a mile
east of Verney Junction?

--
Clive D.W. Feather | Home:
Mobile: +44 7973 377646 | Web: http://www.davros.org
Please reply to the Reply-To address, which is:

I'm not certain - which is why I inserted "I guess" - but having
looked at the Ian Allan Pre-grouping Atlas, the line coming in
from Aylesbury and Quainton Road seems most likely. (The A-Z
of Buckinghamshire is totally uninformative on this point)

I was driving from Winslow along Verney Road. A railway
embankment came in on my right. Shortly before Verney
Junction the road goes under an old railway bridge. Now,
assuming the railway to my right is the trackbed of the old
route from Winslow and Bletchley, the bridge brought in the
line from Quainton Road. What I need is a 1930s Ordnance
Survey map of the area!

Thanks to the good advice from posters here - thank you,
gentlemen, you're very well informed - I've had a look at a
1939 Ordnance Survey map of Verney Junction. This shows
clearly that the overhead railway bridge brought in the line
from Quainton Road.

Is there any means of inserting images into posts here?
I wanted to show the map of Verney Junction.