Transport Age 12 : January 1960 : British Transport Commission : London : 1960 : cover - Bletchley Flyover by V. Carless
The issues of the BTC magazine "Transport Age" feature many articles on the growing pace of Modernisation on British Railways, much of which was to hit the rock of the Beeching Review after only a few years. The modernisation saw a dramatic shift to diesel and electric traction and this view of the West Coast Main Line at Bletchley sees a diesel locomotive rushing towards us under the almost complete structure of the Bletchley flyover.
This structure carried the lines of the Oxford - Cambridge cross-country line over the busy West Coast route and was part of a scheme to remove the level crossing of the lines at this point to enable better utilisation and higher speeds particularly on the West Coast lines. What this illustration by artist Vic Carless (1928 - 2011) does not show is the impending overhead electrification that was poised to take place here. Carless was commissioned by British Railways for posters and he is well known for his advertising and particularly his marine subjects.
The flyover was to become a bit of a white elephant and a symbol of the mistakes of the Modernisation Plan. First coming into use in 1959 by 1968 the through line between Oxford and Cambridge had been closed and so much of the raison d'etre of the flyover was undone. It stood until 2021 when as part of the drawn out East-West Rail project to reopen and reconstruct the missing links between the two university towns and serving Milton Keynes it was found to be in poor structural condition and so was partially demolished and reconstructed.
Transport Age 12 : January 1960 : British Transport Commission : London : 1960 : cover - Bletchley Flyover by V. Carless
The issues of the BTC magazine "Transport Age" feature many articles on the growing pace of Modernisation on British Railways, much of which was to hit the rock of the Beeching Review after only a few years. The modernisation saw a dramatic shift to diesel and electric traction and this view of the West Coast Main Line at Bletchley sees a diesel locomotive rushing towards us under the almost complete structure of the Bletchley flyover.
This structure carried the lines of the Oxford - Cambridge cross-country line over the busy West Coast route and was part of a scheme to remove the level crossing of the lines at this point to enable better utilisation and higher speeds particularly on the West Coast lines. What this illustration by artist Vic Carless (1928 - 2011) does not show is the impending overhead electrification that was poised to take place here. Carless was commissioned by British Railways for posters and he is well known for his advertising and particularly his marine subjects.
The flyover was to become a bit of a white elephant and a symbol of the mistakes of the Modernisation Plan. First coming into use in 1959 by 1968 the through line between Oxford and Cambridge had been closed and so much of the raison d'etre of the flyover was undone. It stood until 2021 when as part of the drawn out East-West Rail project to reopen and reconstruct the missing links between the two university towns and serving Milton Keynes it was found to be in poor structural condition and so was partially demolished and reconstructed.