Page’s Park station is the operational heart of the Leighton Buzzard Railway. Here you will find ample free parking for cars and coaches, and the booking office for you to buy tickets for your journey. The railway shop offers souvenirs of all kinds, and is famous for its range of Thomas The Tank Engine merchandise.

The Sandhill Junction buffet offers a wide selection of food, drinks and ice cream, and is the ideal place to relax in a friendly Italian-style atmosphere. It is well worth visiting for its spectacular railway-themed mural.

At the far end of the two-platform terminus station is the shed, which is the operating base of the locomotives and coaches that run the passenger service. A footpath leads from Platform 2 to the front of the shed, to allow viewing from close quarters.

The newly rebuilt Platform 1 stands alongside the large public park which gives the station its name, with an excellent children’s play area, plus sporting and picnic facilities.

Leaving Page’s Park station, the line climbs sharply between the park and a former sand quarry, now redeveloped as yet another housing estate. The line then takes on the suburban character of the first part of the journey, running rather incongruously through a “green corridor” past modern housing and industry.

The train stops at Stanbridge Road level crossing, to let off the flagmen to stop the traffic. Soon afterwards, it descends the 1:25 (4%) gradient of Marley’s Bank, named after the tileworks which once stood alongside the line, and was supplied with sand by its trains. This is one of the steepest gradients used by passenger trains in Britain, and your engine will work hard on its return journey.

Leedon Loop is where trains cross on busy days, and you can watch the train crews operate the points. They will also radio to Control for permission to go forward on to the next stretch of single track--and ensure that nothing else is coming in the opposite direction. This is the limit of the Christmas passenger service.

Immediately beyond the loop is Hockliffe Road level crossing, which is again protected by flagmen. After Swing-Swang Bridge, which crosses Clipstone Brook, the line begins a long climb to Vandyke Road level crossing, and the scenery starts to open out to a more rural aspect. A sharp curve after the crossing takes you through a right angle, to run alongside the road.

Here you leave the last of the houses, and following a recent clearance exercise, you can see the track of an old sand quarry branch disappearing behind the gardens. The current working face of Chamberlain’s Barn quarry can be seen in the distance, as the line climbs to its highest point alongside Shenley Hill, marking the southern limit of the Greensand Ridge, which runs across country to the outskirts of Cambridge.

There are good views from here across to the Chiltern Hills. On clear days the Whipsnade Lion--carved into the chalk hills of Dunstable Downs, near the famous zoo--can be seen in the distance.  

Stonehenge Works station is named after the brickworks that used to stand alongside the railway, which supplied it with sand. The works was demolished in the 1980s, and replaced by the modern tile factory.

But still standing is the former stables block, where horses were once kept for work in the quarries. An outstanding piece of Bedfordshire rural architecture, built in 1918, supposedly by prisoners of war, it now houses the Leighton Buzzard Railway’s main workshops.

Stonehenge Works is also the base of the locomotives and rolling stock not involved in the passenger service, and some items are on public display in the works yard. A special viewing area lets you see the footplate crew topping up the passenger train locomotive with coal and water, before running round for the return journey.

At regular intervals during the season, the Industry Trains Display is operated in Stonehenge Works yard, demonstrating how narrow-gauge railways once transported goods and materials for many different industries. On other days, one of the Ruston-Bucyrus 10RB excavators, rescued from nearby quarries, roars into life, and shows how it used to earn its living, filling railway wagons with sand. See the Special Events section for dates.

There is also a small exhibition building, which  contains a new display telling the story of the origins of the railway, and what else was going on back in 1919. Nearby, an ex-RAF passenger coach  contains a new display on the 90 years of collaboration between Leighton Buzzard Light Railway Ltd and the Motor Rail & Tramcar Co Ltd, and their respective successors.

A craft shop, with light refreshment facilities, is an increasingly popular attraction, with a wonderfully varied display of hand-made items for sale.

Beyond Stonehenge Works, the line continued to Double Arches, where the sand processing plant is still fed by nearby quarries, but all transport is now by road. Some of the track still remains, and is used as storage sidings. Restoration of the remainder, and the extension of passenger services to Double Arches, is a long-term aim of the Leighton Buzzard Railway.

© 2009 Leighton Buzzard Railway