Name a train as Marston Vale Line gets back on track

A competition to name a Class 150 train on the Marston Vale Line to celebrate the reintroduction of the full rail timetable is now open.

Operator London Northwestern Railway (LNR) is looking for suggestions of names which celebrate people and places along the line between Bedford and Bletchley. LNR has also put a major ticket offer in place which represents a discount of up to 90 per cent on the usual fare, depending on the journey.

A partial service has been running on the Marston Vale Line since November 2023 when LNR introduced a replacement train fleet. Rail replacement had been in operation on the line since December 2022 after the company which maintained the Class 230 trains previously used on the route entered administration. The full rail timetable resumed on the line on Monday, February 19.

Class 150 trains being used on the route were most recently in service with Northern. The winning competition entry to name one of these trains will be decided by a panel from LNR and the Marston Vale Community Partnership.

Cara Higgs, LNR community strategy manager, said: “We are delighted to celebrate the return of the full timetable on the Marston Vale Line by offering the opportunity to name a train on the route. We are looking forward to seeing the suggestions and holding the official naming ceremony after the competition closes.

“We are also running a major ticket offer on the line. For the next three months, a single journey between any two stations on the Marston Vale Line will cost just £1 or 50p for children.”

Entries to the competition can be made by online or by completing a submission form which can be picked up at Ridgmont Station Heritage Centre and Tea Room.

The contest winner will have the chance to attend the Official Naming Ceremony at Bletchley Station. Entrants have until Monday 4 March to submit their suggestions.

The line. which opened in 1846, is a surviving remnant of the former Varsity Line between Oxford and Cambridge, most of which was closed in the late 1960s.

Visit the website to find out more and to enter the competition.