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Sandy
General information
Location	Sandy, Central Bedfordshire England
Grid reference	TL177487
Managed by	Great Northern
Platforms	2
Tracks	4
Other information
Station code	SDY
Classification	DfT category E
History
Opened	7 August 1850
Original company	Great Northern Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Northern Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway Eastern Region of British Railways
Passengers
2019/20	0.496 million
2020/21	0.143 million
2021/22	0.386 million
2022/23	0.524 million
2023/24	0.572 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Sandy railway station serves the town of Sandy in Bedfordshire, England. It is on the East Coast Main Line, about 44 miles (71 km) from London King's Cross. Sandy is managed by Great Northern but all train services are operated by Thameslink.

Sandy station was originally built in 1850 for the Great Northern Railway; the London and North Western Railway opened an adjacent station in 1862. The stations were later merged into one, which has since undergone many changes.

The present station has two large platforms and 4 main rail lines, a pair of "up and down" slow lines used by stopping services and a pair of "up and down" fast lines used by high speed services passing through. A fifth line extends off the "up" slow line which links into the remaining sidings and original bay platforms. There is also a sixth line off the "down" slow line that links to a siding beside Platform 1.

History

The first section of the Great Northern Railway (GNR) - that from Louth to a junction with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway at Grimsby - opened on 1 March 1848, but the southern section of the main line, between Maiden Lane and Peterborough, was not opened until August 1850. Sandy was one of the original stations, opening with the line on 7 August 1850.

The Sandy and Potton Railway was opened for goods traffic on 23 June 1857, and to passengers on 9 November 1857. It was later purchased by the Bedford and Cambridge Railway (B&CR), which closed the line in January 1862 for reconstruction. The line reopened on 7 July 1862, including a new station at Sandy separate from, but adjacent to, the GNR station. The B&CR was absorbed by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in 1865. The eastern section of the Bedford-Cambridge route (sometimes known as the Varsity Line) closed on 1 January 1968, and with it, the ex-LNWR platforms at Sandy.

The two stations were physically adjacent, and shared an island platform. In 1917 the LNWR station was placed under the management of the GNR, and then shared the booking facilities. After the closure of the Varsity Line, the station was considerably rebuilt in the early 1970s to give a 4-track layout throughout, and platforms on the slow lines only, thus removing a 2-track bottleneck on the East Coast Main Line.

Sandy railway station was the site of the English unjust enrichment case Great Northern Railway Co. v Swaffield (1874) LR 9 Exch 132, in which the defendant sent a horse to this railway station, to be collected. His employee arrived the next day, but the station master demanded that he pay livery stable costs for the night; the employee refused to pay, and did not collect the horse. The defendant arrived later, and demanded payment to compensate him for duress of goods (after the station master offered to pay livery stable costs out of pocket); after the station master refused to pay such compensation, the defendant left the horse in the possession of the station for four months during litigation. The Court of the Exchequer held the defendant liable for four months' stable costs, as the plaintiff in the case 'had not choice, unless they would leave the horse at the station or in the high road to his own danger and the danger of other people' (per Kelly CB). In this way the court recognised a limited exception to the rule that no claim for salvage be recognised by the courts outside the context of salvage in tidal waters. The stable costs were paid to the use of the defendant by way of necessity, and therefore constituted unjust enrichment.

Facilities

v t e Railways in Sandy
Legend
to Peterborough & Edinburgh Tempsford Road to Tempsford│to Everton  A1  London Road public footbridge Girtford Halt Varsity Line to Oxford public bridleway Brickhill Road Sand Lane public footbridge to brick & tile works   to Town Centre  B1042  Potton Road to Potton   Sandy to Stevenage & London

v t e Railways in Bedfordshire
Legend
Midland Main Line to Kettering & Leicester Northampton & Peterborough Rly to Stamford & Peterborough Northampton–Market Harborough line to Market Harborough Wellingborough Brixworth Ditchford Spratton Wellingborough London Road Pitsford and Brampton Rushden Northampton and Lamport Railway Rushden, Higham & Wellingboro' Rly Boughton Higham Ferrers Northampton loop to Rugby via Long Buckby Irchester Northampton Castle Ashby & Earls Barton Northampton St. John's Street Billing Northampton Bridge Street Sharnbrook Tunnel West Coast Main Line to Rugby via Stowe Hill tunnel Hunsbury Hill Tunnel Blisworth Sharnbrook Roade Geismar Depot Tiffield Piddington Stoke Bruern Salcey Forest Towcester East & West Jct Rly to Fenny Compton & Stratford Olney Northampton & Banbury Jct Rly to Banbury Merton Street Turvey Castlethorpe Newport Pagnell Oakley Great Linford Wolverton works │ Bradwell Wolverton Wolverton & Stony Stratford Tramway Stony Stratford Old Stratford East Coast Main Line to Huntingdon & Peterborough Deanshanger Varsity Line to Cambridge Milton Keynes Central Sandy Bedford East Coast Main Line to Hitchin & London King's Cross Bedford Gas Company Girtford Halt River Ivel Blunham Bedford Cauldwell Walk depot Willington Bedford St Johns Kempston and Elstow Halt Bedford St Johns (former) Kempston Hardwick Cardington Wootton Broadmead Halt Southill Forders (Stewartby) Shefford Stewartby Henlow Camp Millbrook Bedford–Hitchin line to Hitchin & London King's Cross Lidlington Ridgmont Lafarge Stone Terminal Husborne Crawley Halt Wixams Aspley Guise Ampthill Woburn Sands Flitwick Bow Brickhill Harlington Fenny Stratford Midland Main Line to Luton & London St Pancras Leagrave Bletchley West Coast Main Line to Leighton Buzzard & London Euston Newton Longville Newton Longville landfill Varsity Line (East West Rail) to Oxford

Sandy station has a small café inside the booking office on Platform 2. There is a large sheltered area with seating on Platform 1, and a smaller one on Platform 2. Both platforms have step-free access via the external road bridge. However the slope to the bridge is relatively steep on both sides of the railway and the footpath on the bridge is quite narrow.

In the later half of 2016, modern ticket barriers were installed at the entrance to both platforms along with a covered area to protect them from wind and rain damage. When in use, there are staff on hand if any issues arise.

The station has two modern touch screen ticket machines located in front of the booking office, and there are cycle storage facilities to the south of it. The station also has help points throughout, which were installed by former franchise holder First Capital Connect.

Services

All services at Sandy are operated by Thameslink using Class 700 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

• 2 tph to Horsham via London Bridge, Redhill and Gatwick Airport
• 2 tph to Peterborough (all stations)

On Sundays, the service is reduced to hourly and southbound services run to London King's Cross instead of Horsham.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Biggleswade		ThameslinkGreat Northern Route		St Neots
	Historical railways
BiggleswadeLine and station open		Great Northern RailwayEast Coast Main Line		TempsfordLine open, station closed
	Disused railways
Girtford Halt Line and station closed		British Rail Eastern Region Varsity Line		Potton Line and station closed

Future

In 2017, there was speculation that the station might be relocated from its current position in the town centre to a new site just to the north of the town. In late January 2020, East West Rail Ltd announced that the route of EWR between Bedford and Cambridge would be 'in the Tempsford area', mid way between Sandy and St Neots. Concern has been expressed locally that a new EWR/ECML interchange hub at Tempsford railway station may lead to the closure of Sandy station.

Location

In the chainage notation traditionally used on the railways, it is 44 miles 10 chains (71.01 km; 44.13 mi) from London King's Cross.

References

1. Gordon, W.J. (1989) . Our Home Railways. London: Bracken Books. volume II, p. 44. ISBN 1-85170-314-4.
2. Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. London: Guild Publishing. p. 135. CN 8983.
3. ^ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 205. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
4. Awdry 1990, p. 100
5. Catford, Nick. "Disused Stations: Sandy (LNWR)". Retrieved 8 May 2010.
6. Table 25 National Rail timetable, May 2022
7. "Is Sandy's train station on the move?". Biggleswade Today. 13 July 2017.
8. "'A landmark moment': Consortium delight as 'central section' route is announced". East West Rail. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
9. "Sandy rail station could close as part of east west rail development in favour of new Tempsford hub". Bedfordshire News. 31 January 2020.
10. Padgett, David (October 2016) . Brailsford, Martyn (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 2: Eastern (4th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 15C. ISBN 978-0-9549866-8-1.

External links

• Train times and station information for Sandy railway station from National Rail

52°07′30″N 0°16′52″W / 52.125°N 0.281°W / 52.125; -0.281

• http://www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/CommunityArchives/Sandy/TheDeathOfASandyStationMaster.aspx (with photographs of both old stations)

• Railway stations in Bedfordshire
• DfT Category E stations
• Former Great Northern Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1850
• Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway
• Sandy, Bedfordshire
• Former London and North Western Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862
• Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1968
• 1862 establishments in England