Chiltern Green railway station

Chiltern Green
A local goods train near Chiltern Green in 1950
General information
LocationNew Mill End, District of Central Bedfordshire
England
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Pre-groupingMidland Railway
Key dates
13 July 1868Opened as Chiltern Green
1 December 1891Renamed Chiltern Green for Luton Hoo
7 April 1952Closed [1]
Railways around Luton
Leagrave
Luton
Luton Bute Street
Luton Airport Parkway
Luton Hoo
Chiltern Green

Chiltern Green railway station was built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St. Pancras.

The station was located in New Mill End but took its name from the small hamlet of Chiltern Green about a mile away. Adjacent to it was the GNR station of Luton Hoo also located in New Mill End. The small hamlet of New Mill End is unique in having two railway stations (Chiltern Green and Luton Hoo) neither of which, after 1 December 1891, were named after the village they served. The two lines ran side by side at this point: the Midland into Luton Midland Road and the GNR from Hatfield into Luton Bute Street.[2]

The station closed in 1952 due to competition from Luton Hoo station, only 600 yards (500 m) away. Ironically, the branch line between Welwyn Garden City and Leighton Buzzard, which Luton Hoo was on, closed in 1965, meaning that New Mill End was no longer served by a local railway station.

The station buildings survive to this day as a private home. The platform on the station building side partly survives but is overgrown and difficult to see when passing in a train. The other platform was removed when the line was electrified.

  1. ^ Butt, R.V.J., (1995) The Directory of Railway Stations, Yeovil: Patrick Stephens
  2. ^ Radford, B., (1983) Midland Line Memories: a Pictorial History of the Midland Railway Main Line Between London (St Pancras) & Derby London: Bloomsbury Books