IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Oak Crescent, SANDY, SG19 2PY

The white building on the left is the former Red Lion public house, once convenient for the railway station. Sandy television transmitter shows in the distance.

The Bedford-Cambridge line opened in 1861 and closed on 1 January 1968. The station building at Potton is now a private house, but the platforms and the canopy with delicate cast-iron columns and spandrels remain. Sandy and Potton were the only stations on the Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Line which had platform canopies. The ruined brick base of the water tower is in the foreground on the left. The rest of the station site is occupied by an industrial estate.

The Bedford-Cambridge line opened in 1861 and closed on 1 January 1968. Potton station building is now a private house and the rest of the station site an industrial estate.

Now the Potton & District Club, which seems very popular on a Sunday afternoon. Above the door is inscribed 'Potton Charities Educational Foundation' and then a list of trustees, but no date.

Now a house, it is grade II listed, from 1862. This was the second Potton station, the original station was a terminus at the end of a different alignment finishing west of Biggleswade Road, where the current houses 22-28 are. A building survives here behind the houses, variously described as an engine shed or goods shed. Shannon Place is named after the name of the first locomotive on the Sandy and Potton Railway. It is unlikely to have run to this station, but would have run to the first station. It later ran on the Wantage Tramway and has survived, currently at Didcot Railway Centre, but not a runner.

Near the corner of Willow Road on a bright January morning.

The Varsity Line connected Oxford and Cambridge and train services ran on the section between Bedford and Cambridge until the end of 1967 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varsity_Line . Plans are underway to reopen the line in stages between Oxford and Cambridge, and the route is now known as East West Rail. Some local authorities have taken steps to protect disused rail routes. Hence much of the original alignment between Oxford and Bedford will be/is being reused as it was because it was not built over in the meantime. However, there are several places between Bedford and Cambridge where the old route has been built over, and consequently a completely fresh route is likely to be constructed for this section. Part of the (second) Potton Station can be seen in the foreground on the left, this now being used as a house. The road straight ahead is Shannon Place. The business premises on the left are built on the alignment of the Varsity Line, which was situated on the far side of the station and ran parallel to Shannon Place. Additional history of the railway and stations in this village may be found from other Geograph contributors and from http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/p/potton/index.shtml More details of future plans for East West Rail are available from https://www.eastwestrail.org.uk/central-section-overview/

From 1857-61 this was the engine shed of the Sandy & Potton Railway, at its terminus. The engine entered at the other end. The Sandy & Potton ceased to exist with the opening of the Bedford and Cambridge line, whose station (closed 1968) is a few hundred yards away. The owner of the Sandy & Potton was Captain William Peel, who paid £800 for its locomotive, which, like its shed, still exists - at the Didcot Railway Centre. This tiny engine passed to the London & North Western Railway (owners of the Oxford-Bedford-Cambridge Varsity Line), then to the Wantage Tramway Co in Oxfordshire, where it worked until 1946, thereafter standing on display at Wantage Road station until being restored and appearing at the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1975. For more about the locomotive, try the Didcot website: http://www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/locos/5/5.html .

From 1857-61 this was the engine shed of the Sandy & Potton Railway, at its terminus. The doors through which the engine passed were at the left-hand end. The Sandy & Potton ceased to exist with the opening of the Bedford and Cambridge line, whose station (closed 1968) is a few hundred yards away. The owner of the Sandy & Potton was Captain William Peel, who paid £800 for its locomotive, which, like its shed, still exists - at the Didcot Railway Centre. This tiny engine passed to the London & North Western Railway (owners of the Oxford-Bedford-Cambridge Varsity Line), then to the Wantage Tramway Co in Oxfordshire, where it worked until 1946, thereafter standing on display at Wantage Road station until being restored and appearing at the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1975. For more about the locomotive, try the Didcot website: http://www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/locos/5/5.html .