This book gives an insight into the wide selection of trains to be seen in Bedfordshire and a look at the variety of infrastructure to be seen at the county’s remaining railway stations.

Like many counties, the railway map of Bedfordshire is now much different from many years ago. Gone are the branches from Bedford to Northampton and Luton to Dunstable, but the long-lost branch from Bedford to Cambridge will hopefully be revived with an extension of East West Rail from Oxford.

However, there is still enough diversity of routes to interest the railway photographer, with both the East and West Coast and Midland Main Lines passing through the county, as well as the Marston Vale line from Bletchley to Bedford.

Published in September 2023 by Amberley Publishing and written by John Jackson, this soft-cover book measures around 16.5 cm x 23.4 cm, and has 96 pages and 180 colour photographs.

It has a published price of £15.99, but at the time of writing, it can be purchased for £14.39 from Amberley Publishing and for £14.53 from Amazon.

An introduction and a map of current railway lines in Bedfordshire is followed by five chapters covering the East Coast Main Line; railways in the Bedford area; the Midland Main Line southwards from Bedford to Luton; the Marston Vale branch from Bletchley to Bedford; and Leighton Buzzard on the West Coast Main Line.

The author has eschewed photos of Class 91s and Azumas in the first few pages of the East Coast Main Line section in favour of scenes such as those below.

The images on the left show the station at Sandy, where the fine station building contrasts well with the bland station platforms that greet today’s travellers. At the bottom-right is a scene that has vanished from much of today’s railways, showing a company’s private sidings.

The scenes below are reminders of stations long gone, although Arlesey at the top left reopened in 1988 after being closed in 1959.

Potton, at the bottom right, provides a reminder of what stations on this line once looked like.

Bedfordshire is a popular base for commuting to London, and today’s commuter trains offer plenty of variety in their liveries as seen in the pages below.

There are many reminders in the book that traditional station buildings still exist, such as the two examples on the Midland Main Line at the bottom of these pages. On the left, Flitwick still boasts a fine range of station buildings, as does Leagrave on the right.

This book shows that despite the loss of some of the county’s branches, there are still plenty of locations to photograph trains in Bedfordshire.

The author has included a surprisingly large variety of trains and infrastructure, showing that even when choosing a limited area such as a single county, there is still plenty for the railway photographer to explore.

Extensive captions add to the book’s interest with extra information about the origins of the trains and loads carried.

The author’s decision to group the photos by current operational lines makes it an easy read, supported by a good standard of reproduction throughout.

This book is recommended for anyone interested in Bedfordshire’s railways and merits a rating of 4.5/5.

The book is available to purchase from Amazon and Amberley Publishing.

We would like to thank Amberley Publishing for providing us with a copy of the book for review.