European Railroad Discussion > Another new railway

On October 26th Chiltern Railways started their new service from Marylebone to a station on the outskirts of Oxford, Oxford Parkway, utilising a new stretch of railway connecting the Chiltern mainline at the new Bicester (BIS-ter) South Junction with the remaining bit of the Oxford to Cambridge line, at Gavray Junction, near the former station of Bicester Town. The Oxford to Cambridge line lost its passenger service in the mid 1960s, only to see it restored, as a single track 'basic' railway, between Oxford and Bicester Town in the 1980s. Bicester is also the location of a large military depot which sees regular freight trains and further east is the Calvert land fill site, to which trains run from a number of locations. Chiltern has rebuilt the railway into a double track mainline, building a new station on the outskirts of Oxford as a temporary terminus, a new station at Islip and one serving Bicester town centre, but re-named Bicester Village as it is the railhead for the Bicester Village Outlet Centre, the biggest such thing in Britain, and, bizarrely, the biggest tourist destination outside London for visitors from SE Asia.

Oxford Parkway is only a temporary termninus, the service will be extended to the main Oxford station after the latter has been extended to cope. In the meantime a shuttle bus takes passengers into the City Centre. The new service from London Marylebone to Oxford Parkway runs every 30 minutes, seven days a week, with the fastest train taking 61 minutes for 65 miles, with two intermediate stops (Bicester Village and Haddenham & Thame Parkway).

Here are some pictures I took on my first visit this morning. Weather wasn't great, it was mild but overcast and very damp underfoot. It's not often you get to ride two new railways in the space of 15 days.

The 10:35 Marylebone to Oxford descending the new chord. On some occasions this is one of Chiltern's Mainline loco hauled sets, but not today unfortunately.

From the same location, a footbridge, but in the opposite direction, the 11:15 return from Oxford crosses Gavray Junction. The line to Calvert trails off to the right. Eventually this is to be reopened as part of a project to return through trains between Oxford and Bletchley (and Milton Keynes).

This location also gives a great view of the Chiltern Mainline, a Banbury to Marylebone train formed of a pair of 165 DMUs heads across Bicester South Junction. The new modular LED signals look as though they should be on a Playmobil or Duplo model railway



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/15 13:58 by 86235.

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Further west and the 11:05 ex Marylebone crossing Gavray Junction, today sound barriers are almost obligatory when a new railway is built anywhere near a house.

This is Bicester Village station, I think an attractive modern building with blue brick cladding, incorporating a coffee/sandwich bar and a reception desk rather than a traditional ticket office.

From the station footbridge, the 11:35 from Marylebone consisting of a pair of class 170s (now 168/3s) which Chiltern has recently acquired from Transpennine Express



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/15 23:18 by 86235.

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What are the yellow metal pieces between the ties in the first series of pictures.  Are they some kind of spacer for maintenance?

jtwlunch Wrote:
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> What are the yellow metal pieces between the ties
> in the first series of pictures.  Are they some
> kind of spacer for maintenance?

Marklin power studs.

PHall Wrote:
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> jtwlunch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What are the yellow metal pieces between the
> ties
> > in the first series of pictures.  Are they
> some
> > kind of spacer for maintenance?
>
> Marklin power studs.

:-). I honestly don't know, they are only on the curve so I wondered whether they were something to do with the alignment of the track.

Interesting that the new station has the old BR logo on the window.

Sharon Evans
Glen Allen, VA

86235 Wrote:
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> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > jtwlunch Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > What are the yellow metal pieces between the
> > ties
> > > in the first series of pictures.  Are they
> > some
> > > kind of spacer for maintenance?
> >
> > Marklin power studs.
>
> :-). I honestly don't know, they are only on the
> curve so I wondered whether they were something to
> do with the alignment of the track.

I thought it was a new rack railway going in....

Always enjoy your photos Nick. Thanks

Posted from iPhone

They have something to do with signaling it looks like to me as there is a lump of some kind at the signals and then on each side of the track at the same point. PTC?

BAB Wrote:
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> They have something to do with signaling it looks
> like to me as there is a lump of some kind at the
> signals and then on each side of the track at the
> same point. PTC?

The 'lump' is the Advanced Warning System electromagetic inductor. I don't think tjhey have anything to do with that.

What a wild looking station on this section of track!

& thank you Nick for the story and pictures!

RNinRVR Wrote:
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> Interesting that the new station has the old BR
> logo on the window.

The old BR logo has been retained as the generic symbol for any railway station operated as part of the "national" system. A slightly ironic consequence of the deliberate fragmentation of the network under privatisation is that a universally recognised logo might be lost! You will find it applied on maps and street signs as well. How else does one describe "railway"?

jtwlunch Wrote:
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> What are the yellow metal pieces between the ties
> in the first series of pictures.  Are they some
> kind of spacer for maintenance?

I think they hold up the cable loops for the ATP system that is fitted on the Chiltern line. (there were 2 ATP systems tested in the UK, on on the Great Western Main Line ond one on the Chiltern)

They are spacers for maintaining the geometry of the sleepers (ties) on sharp curves. An acquaintance in Yorkshire has shown me pictures of similar arrangements on a sharp curve at Moorthorpe. He asked a track gang.