WWII Whittlesford to London Line

[mikefranzak]

Hi,
I am a novice in the USA doing research on British passenger trains during WWII. I am specifically interested in the train that ran through Whittlesford to London (likely Liverpool Street Station) during WWII. I found information on LMS that ran from Cambridge to London via Bedford and London, but I do not think LMS serviced Whittlesford. I am specifically looking for information of trains through Whittlesford to London.

Does anyone have any information on a LNER line that ran through Whittlesford to London during WWII?

Thanks,
Mike

[Hatfield Shed]

Whittlesford would have had a regular passenger service terminating at the London end at Liverpool Street, as you have realised. Likely to have been a slow train, probably a couple of hours stopping at many if not all stations between Cambridge and Liverpool Street. Anyone in a hurry may have left Whittlesford going North to Cambridge, to pick up one of two faster - somewhat over an hour - services available on the LNER; Cambridge - Liverpool Street non stop, or Cambridge via Hitchin onto the line into Kings Cross. The eventual destination in London may have informed the choice. Likewise the LMS alternative from Cambridge via Bedford, which might have suited a passenger heading into the North Western districts of London rather than more central areas.

Quite how any of these services operated during the war - almost certainly slower by general reputation - is a whole other question.

[thesignalman]

Likewise the LMS alternative from Cambridge via Bedford, which might have suited a passenger heading into the North Western districts of London rather than more central areas.

The journey via Bedford to St Pancras would have required a walk between stations (Bedford St Johns and Bedford Midland Road) and staying on the train to Bletchley and changing for a train to Euston would have been easier.

But I hesitate to use the word "easier" because trains from Cambridge towards Bedford and Bletchley would all (and I hesitate to use the word "all" too) have called all stations (and there were a lot of 'em) and therefore made the journey painfully slow and completely pointless against calling all stations Whittlesford to Liverpool Street and taking the tube or bus across to wherever one needed to go. The only time I think these alternative routes would have been worth considering would have been if the Liverpool Street and Kings Cross routes were blocked by enemy action.

I suspect mikefranzak's original quote of "the train that ran through Whittlesford to London" may have been worded that way to him to specifically emphasise it was a fast train specifically taking the direct route to Liverpool Street and not by any of the alternatives. As I read it, Audley End or Cheshunt or any station on the route could just as easily have been mentioned.

John

[mikefranzak]

John and Hatfield Shed,
Thanks for the feedback. After I posted my question I was able to find an old timetable that shows all the stops from Cambridge to Liverpool Street Station circa 1950. It's not 1941 but close enough for what I need. I also found your page on LNER carriage descriptions very helpful for my research as well. What a great website and forum for novices like me.
Much appreciated,
Mike

[StevieG]

.... Without any knowledge of the frequency of the relevant services, might it also have been possible to travel via the LMSR Cambridge-Bedford route but only as far as Sandy, for an 'across-the-platform' change there into an LNER train going south on the King's Cross line? (possibly needing another change en route at Hitchin?).