page_title: Northampton–Market Harborough line
section_title: Closure
hierarchical_section_title: Northampton–Market Harborough line / Closure
caption_attribution_description: English: 25181 and 25106 lead an aggregate train towards Northampton at Merry Tom Crossing, 06:50 1975-06-13
context_page_description: The Northampton–Market Harborough line is a closed railway line in England. It opened on 16 February 1859 and finally closed on 16 August 1981. The former trackbed is used by the Brampton Valley Way and part of the route has been re-opened as the Northampton & Lamport Railway.
context_section_description: The line had a staggered history in its final years. It was first closed to advertised passenger traffic on 4 January 1960 along with all remaining intermediate stations (Spratton station was closed during in 1947; Pitsford & Brampton in 1950) but was re-opened to through traffic on 6 January 1969 in conjunction with the re-routing of sleeping car services away from St. Pancras. The one train each way per night was electrically hauled between Euston and Northampton and by a Class 45 locomotive between Northampton and Glasgow. It did not call at Market Harborough. The line was closed to passenger traffic again on 1 May 1969 and reopened on 10 July 1972. The advertised passenger service was finally withdrawn on 26 August 1973, although the line continued to be used by freight trains, football specials and as a diversionary route.
  During the 1960s and 1970s, the staple traffic declined considerably, consisting principally of coal trains from the Nottinghamshire coalfields to London and their northbound empties. 
  The line had several manual level crossings. Each of these required a mechanical signalbox to be maintained and staffed, leading to high fixed costs, which were only slightly reduced by staffing the boxes for only one or two shifts per day, according to traffic needs. Proposals to automate the level crossings were met with hostility by locals in the wake of the Hixon rail crash. Although the line was considered useful by the operators as a diversionary route, the high costs and diminishing coal traffic led to its closure at a time when British Rail was under great pressure from government to close marginal lines.
  On 15 August 1981, the day before closure, a special train was chartered to run from Northampton to Market Harborough and return. This was the last British Rail passenger train to run on the line.
caption: 25181 and 25106 lead an aggreate train towards Northampton at Merry Tom Crossing 06:50  1975-06-13
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