The London and North Western Railway opened Bow Brickhill station in 1905, significantly later than many other stations on the branch. It was one of seven halts built for the introduction of a steam rail motor service over the line.[1] It closed temporarily during the first World War as an economy measure, from Jan 1917 to May 1919. Bow Brickhill lost its staffing and gated level crossing to modernisation in the 1980s, and since then the station has been unmanned except for two security cameras operated from other stations.
Until 2004 Bow Brickhill was unique on the line for having staggered platforms. The purpose of this is so that road traffic on the level crossing is not held up by trains standing still in the platform. However recently a number of other stations on the line including Aspley Guise have been rebuilt to have their platforms staggered also as part of the Bedford-Bletchley route modernisation.
Bow Brickhill in 1962
Another oddity about Bow Brickill is that the road crossing here, the V10 Brickhill Street, has a roundabout immediately on either side of the crossing. This causes traffic jams whenever the crossing barriers are down, as each roundabout clogs with the traffic queue and remains so for up to ten minutes. Milton Keynes Council has a long-term plan for the level crossing to be replaced with a bridge, but the Transport and Works Act Order for East West Rail exempts Network Rail from any obligation to provide such a bridge as part of its works on revitalising this line.[2]: 318
The typical off-peak service is one train per hour in each direction between Bletchley and Bedford which runs on weekdays and Saturdays only using Class 230EMUs. There is no Sunday service.[3]
Bow Brickhill station, in common with others on the Marston Vale Line, is covered by the Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership,[4] which aims to increase use of the line by involving local people.
Location
The station is on Brickhill Street (V10) near its junction with Station Road, about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) west of Bow Brickhill. The nearest post-code is MK17 9FH.[5] In the chainage notation traditionally used on the railway, it is 2 miles 1 chain (2.01 mi; 3.24 km) from Bletchley station on the line to Bedford.[6]
43,410
41,340
