Ravenstone Wood Junction to Towcester section

[David Blagrove]

This section still had rails for some years after closure and was used for storing redundant open wagons. These were of course cleared out before the track was lifted and a friend of mine, Tony Warwick, then a fireman based at Northampton (Far Cotton Sheds), made at least one trip from the Bedford line towards Towcester collecting the wagons c1965. After the wagons were stationed there it became the practice in fine weather for some of the older boys from Roade Secondary School to make there way across a couple of fields that separated the line from the School fields and make use of one of the wagons as a private smoking room during the lunch break. One day somebody released the brakes on the wagon in which the lads were "faggin' it" and they trundled off down the gradient towards the main line bridge, hitting another stationary rake with considerable force and scaring the lads out of their wits.
The M1 bridge was never, so far as I am aware, ever used by revenue-earning trains. The rails through Stoke Bruerne station were certainly removed by August 1965, although I found several ex-LNWR chairs lying in a heap by the Boat Horse road bridge a year later. some of these were used as ballast in a canal boat and one, cast-marked L&NWR 1909 I used for many years as a door stop. I believe these were in fact recycled main-line chairs used by the LMS during the 1930s when the whole line from Ravenstone to Towcester was relaid.

[Ian Lyman]

   I'm sure I've input this before...I fetched the ashes from the burnt out remains of the box and fellow RCTS member John Mawby made the casket.   I visited the box many times and have rescued a number of Train Registers and also one of the box nameboards which goes with one of the boxboards I rescued from Towcester.  I recovered both ends by climbing a ladder and unscrewing the boards and climbing back down - no fun as all the metal had been removed and the men were about to torch the wooden frame which they also did to Ravenstone Wood Jct. box.    There is film at RWJct and down the branch to Roade in my Telerail DVD.

   Re the 11.11.09 query - the trains came up from Northampton Far Cotton.  Northampton power, men and guard booked on daily around 5.30am and were relieved at around 1.00pm by another engine, men and guard.   This was the case when the track was lifted between Roade and Towcester and later Ravenstone Wood Jct. to Roade.   As far as I know only Northampton men and guards signed the SMJ east of Woodford West Jct. as the only train that passed over the branch was the 8.30am Northampton - Woodford and back, Mondays to Saturdays and it was only worked by Northampton men.    I cadged many trips on this train and it was a really super day out with our snap and strong (condensed milk) tea consumed in Byfield box before a gentle ride back through some very remote countryside...and almost always you could take the regulator as far as Blisworth.!