Dunstable Branch Lines

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v t e Dunstable Branch Lines
Legend
Leighton Buzzard West Coast Main Line Grand Union Canal River Ouzel Stanbridgeford Totternhoe sidings Sewell Cutting Dunstable North A5 road Cement works A505 road Dunstable Town M1 motorway Chaul End Midland Main Line River Lea Luton Midland Road Luton Bute Street Chiltern Green Luton Hoo Nickey line Midland Main Line Harpenden East River Lea Wheathampstead Blackbridge sidings Ayot A1 road Welwyn Garden City East Coast Main Line to Hertford Cowbridge

The Dunstable Branch Lines were railway branch lines that joined the English town of Dunstable to the main lines at Leighton Buzzard and Welwyn. The two lines were under separate ownership and joined just east of the Dunstable North station.

Dunstable and London and Birmingham Railway Act 1845
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act for making a Railway from the Town of Dunstable to join the London and Birmingham Railway near Leighton Buzzard in the County of Bedford.
Citation	8 & 9 Vict. c. xxxvii
Dates
Royal assent	30 June 1845

The line from Leighton Buzzard to Dunstable North was authorised by the Dunstable and London and Birmingham Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. xxxvii), and built by the London and North Western Railway. This opened in 1848.

The Luton, Dunstable and Welwyn Junction Railway planned a connecting line from the Great Northern Railway at Welwyn. The line between Dunstable and Luton opened in 1858. The company then amalgamated with the Hertford and Welwyn Junction Railway to form the Hertford, Luton and Dunstable Railway. The track to Welwyn was completed in 1860 and the line was taken over by the Great Northern in the following year. It became part of the London and North Eastern Railway from 1923 until British Railways was formed in 1948.

Passenger services were withdrawn in 1965 under the Beeching Axe, and the track between Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard was removed. The line between Dunstable and the Midland Main Line at Luton remained open for freight until 1990. Dunstable is now one of the largest towns in the South East without a railway connection.^[1]