LHF To Bourne End

Taking us home to Bourne End, we have left Wooburn Green behind and continue onwards.

Above we can see the home signal for Wooburn Green at the occupation crossing. The railway travels across the field and continues along the back of the old mill.

This shows the railway about 200 yards down from the occupation crossing and passing the back of Soho Mill. Notice the railway spur running into the mill.

This 1925 ordnance survey map shows the extent of the railway within the mill. You can see three turntables and many spurs to different parts of the mill. These would have been private and not really to do with the branch line.

Another view of the mill from the other side, again showing the railway spur. The railway at this point is about 800 yards from Cores End level crossing. In the pic to the right, the railway runs on a slight diagonal across the upper half, running behind the chimney of Gunpowder Mill and eventually reaches Cores End on the very edge of the map.

2 pics of Cores End level crossing here. In the above left pic, we have a mighty 9F 2-10-0, no. 92220, heading towards Wooburn Green. Note the sidings on the left in the background. The above right pic is further back in time, judging by the cars, some time in the 30's. The old railway house is still there and the level crossing gate posts can be seen in the relics section.

Here is Bourne End station in it's heyday. With two signal boxes and north and south sidings, it would have been a busy station.

In this 1925 ordnance survey map, you can see the layout of the sidings. In later years, north and south sidings were added with a north and south signal box at the station, and one at Cores End.

The above diagram is an extract from a British Railways signal engineering book. You can see the automatic barriers at Station Road and Cores End level crossings. The angle of the track to the road at Cores End makes for a big level crossing area. In the relics section there is a pic of one of the barrier gate posts. You can also see the north and south sidings which were here at this time, 1967, but were lifted the following year.

I've put these 3 pictures here to compare the architecture. They are very similar but not exactly the same, I assume they were built by different contractors. From left to right, they are Loudwater, Wooburn Green and Cookham. Cookham being the only surviving station.

This picture shows the 2 tracks leaving the station, heading north towards Cores End crossing. Pic courtesy of Chris Bellett.