Northampton Loop Line

Northampton Loop Line
Legend West Coast Main Line Rugby Hillmorton Junction Kilsby and Crick Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT) Long Buckby Althorp Park Church Brampton Northampton to Market Harborough Line Northampton Northampton to Peterborough Line Bedford to Northampton Line Blisworth; Hunsbury Hill Tunnel Roade Hanslope Junction Castlethorpe Wolverton West Coast Main Line

The Northampton loop is a railway line serving the town of Northampton. It is a branch of the West Coast Main Line, deviating from the faster direct main line which runs to the west. The WCML is a four track line up to either end of the Loop: the 'up' and 'down' fast tracks take the direct route while the 'up' and 'down' slow tracks are diverted via Northampton railway station.

The southern interconnect between the Northampton loop and the direct London-Birmingham main line is at Hanslope Junction, just north of Milton Keynes. The lines continue to run alongside until the two routes diverge north of Roade at the northern end of Roade cutting. The loop line then runs north east for several miles until it reaches Northampton station. After Northampton, the line heads to the north-west for around twenty miles, until it re-joins the main line at Hillmorton Junction at Rugby, just east of Rugby station. The line is a total of 23 ³⁄₄ miles (38.2 km) long.

Services and operations

The majority of passenger services on the line are provided by London Midland using Class 350 electric multiple units. Class 321 units are used for peak-hour express services between Northampton and London Euston.^[1][2] The service consists of two 'semi fast' trains per hour between London Euston and Birmingham New Street. There is also an hourly local service between Northampton and Birmingham. Prior to December 2012 there was also a service to and from Crewe, but a few serve the loop line during morning and evenings and hourly on Sundays.

Virgin Trains provide a small number of Pendolino services to London at the extremes of the day. But nearly all Virgin trains use the direct main line. Line speeds on the loop line are currently limited to 75 mph (120 km/h)^[3] compared to 125 mph (200 km/h) on the fast line, making the line unattractive to the routing of fast services. As of 2011, line speeds were expected to increase to 90 mph (140 km/h) once signalling improvements are in place north of Northampton up to Rugby.^[3]

Long Buckby; the one other station on the line, is served by the London-Birmingham/Northampton-Birmingham services. The London-Crewe service does not stop at Long Buckby except on Sundays.

The Daventry International Railfreight Terminal (DIRFT) is located between Northampton and Rugby on the loop line, and so the line sees heavy freight traffic, mostly container trains.

Stations

The only stations that are currently operational on the route are Northampton and Long Buckby. Previously there were six stations between Hanslope Junction and Rugby, but only these two survive. The four stations closed were:

• Kilsby and Crick (closed 1960)
• Long Buckby
• Althorp Park (closed 1960)
• Church Brampton (closed 1931)
• Northampton
• Roade (closed 1964)

History

Aerial photo, looking North, shows where the Northampton Loop Line (right) diverges from the main line (left) at Roade.

When the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was constructed in the 1830s, Northampton was by-passed, with the line running on high ground to the west via Kilsby Tunnel. Traditionally this was said to have been because Northampton landowners objected to having a railway run to the town.^[4] However, more recently, railway historians have argued that Northampton was by-passed because the gradients would have been too steep for early locomotives to easily cope with. Robert Stephenson the engineer of the London and Birmingham Railway was determined to avoid gradients steeper than 1:330. As Northampton is located in the Nene Valley, 120 feet (37 metres) lower than Blisworth, the closest point the L&BR came, connecting the town would have required gradients steeper than this.^[5][6]

This meant however that Northampton, despite being a large town, did not have direct rail links to London. A branch from the main line was built to Northampton in the early 1840s, the Northampton and Peterborough Railway, from Blisworth, which gave the town indirect rail links to London and Birmingham.

The loop line was constructed in the late 1870s by the London and North Western Railway and was opened in 1881 (by this stage locomotives had become far more powerful). It was constructed to improve rail services to Northampton and give the town a direct link to London. It also had the advantage of doubling capacity on the line from Roade to Rugby without the expense of widening the tunnel at Kilsby.

The line was electrified along with the rest of the WCML during the 1960s in the wake of the BR 1955 Modernisation Plan.

Accidents

Two very similar railway accidents occurred on the Northampton loop in 1967 and 1969. The 1967 incident was near the village of Milton Malsor between Roade and Hunsbury Hill tunnel and the other in 1969 near the northern end of Roade cutting.

References

Sources

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northampton Loop Line.

• The Last Days Of Steam In Northamptonshire, by John M.C. Healy (1989) ISBN 0-86299-613-9
• Rugby's Railway Heritage, by Peter H Elliot (1985) ISBN 0-907917-06-2
• Kingscott, Geoffrey, Lost Railways Of Northamptonshire (2008), Countryside Books, ISBN 978-1-84674-108-1

Railway lines in the East Midlands Primary Chiltern Main Line Cross Country Route East Coast Main Line Midland Main Line Local Birmingham to Peterborough Line Buxton Line Crewe-Derby Line Derwent Valley Line Doncaster to Lincoln Line Glossop Line Ivanhoe Line Northampton Loop Line Nottingham-Grantham Line Nottingham-Lincoln Line Oakham to Kettering Line Poacher Line Robin Hood Line Sheffield to Lincoln Line Freight only Leicester to Burton upon Trent Line Shirebrook to High Marnham Heritage Battlefield Line Chasewater Railway Churnet Valley Railway Ecclesbourne Valley Railway Foxfield Light Railway Great Central Railway (Leicester) Great Central Railway (Nottingham) Lincolnshire Wolds Railway Midland Railway - Butterley Nene Valley Railway Northampton & Lamport Railway Peak Rail Rushden, Higham & Wellingborough Railway Rutland Railway (Cottesmore)

Railway lines in the West Midlands Main lines West Coast Main Line Cross Country Route Chiltern Main Line Inter-regional Birmingham to Peterborough Line Crewe-Derby Line Cotswold Line Shrewsbury to Chester Line Stafford to Manchester Line Welsh Marches Line Local Birmingham to Worcester via Bromsgrove Line Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line Chase Line Coventry to Leamington Line Coventry to Nuneaton Line Cross-City Line Leamington to Stratford Line North Warwickshire Line Northampton Loop Line Rugby–Birmingham–Stafford Line Stone to Colwich Line Stourbridge Town Branch Line Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury Line Freight only Camp Hill Line South Staffordshire Line Sutton Park Line Walsall to Wolverhampton Line Heritage Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Severn Valley Railway Telford Steam Railway