Northampton Loop Line

The Northampton loop is a railway line serving the town of Northampton. It is a branch of the West Coast Main Line, deviating from the faster direct main line which runs to the west.

The Northampton loop leaves the direct London-Birmingham line at Hanslope Junction, just north of Milton Keynes but continues to run alongside it until the two lines separate north of Roade at the northern end of Roade cutting, it then runs north east for several miles until it reaches Northampton station. After Northampton, the line verges to the north-west for around twenty miles, until it re-joins the direct London-Birmingham line at Hillmorton Junction at Rugby, just east of Rugby station. The line is a total of 23+3/4 mi long.

Services and operations
The majority of passenger services on the line are provided by London Midland using Class 350 electric multiple units. Class 321 units are used for peak-hour express services between Northampton and London Euston. Since December 2012 the service consists of three 'semi fast' trains per hour between London Euston and Northampton, two of which continue as a through service to Birmingham New Street. There are also two hourly local services from Northampton to Birmingham (in the southbound direction one of these continues to form one of the Euston services). Prior to December 2012 there was also a service to Crewe, but this now only serves Northampton during the peaks and on Sundays, running direct from Milton Keynes to Rugby at other times.

Virgin Trains provide a small number of semi-fast Pendolino services to London at the extremes of the day. But nearly all Virgin trains use the direct main line. Line speeds on the loop line are currently limited to 75 mph compared to 125 mph on the fast line, making the line unattractive to the routing of fast services. As of 2011, line speeds are expected to increase to 90mph once signalling improvements are in place north of Northampton up to Rugby.

Long Buckby; the one other station on the line, is served half hourly in each direction by the London-Birmingham/Northampton-Birmingham services. However the Crewe service does not call there except on Sundays.

The Daventry International Railfreight Terminal (DIRFT) is located between Northampton and Rugby on the loop line, and so the line sees heavy freight traffic, mostly container trains.

Stations
The only stations that are currently operational on the route are Northampton and Long Buckby. Previously there were six stations between Hanslope Junction and Rugby, but only these two survive. The four stations closed were:


 * Kilsby and Crick (closed 1960)
 * Long Buckby
 * Althorp Park (closed 1960)
 * Church Brampton (closed 1931)
 * Northampton
 * Roade (closed 1964)

History
When the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was constructed in the 1830s, Northampton was by-passed, with the line running on high ground to the west via Kilsby Tunnel. Traditionally this was said to have been because Northampton landowners objected to having a railway run to the town. However, more recently, railway historians have argued that Northampton was by-passed because the gradients would have been too steep for early locomotives to easily cope with. Robert Stephenson the engineer of the London and Birmingham Railway was determined to avoid gradients steeper than 1:330. As Northampton is located in the Nene Valley, 120 ft lower than Blisworth, the closest point the L&BR came, connecting the town would have required gradients steeper than this.

This meant however that Northampton, despite being a large town, did not have direct rail links to London. A branch from the main line was built to Northampton in the early 1840s, the Northampton and Peterborough Railway, from Blisworth, which gave the town indirect rail links to London and Birmingham.

The loop line was constructed in the late 1870s by the London and North Western Railway and was opened in 1881 (by this stage locomotives had become far more powerful). It was constructed to improve rail services to Northampton and give the town a direct link to London. It also had the advantage of doubling capacity on the line from Roade to Rugby without the expense of widening the tunnel at Kilsby.

The line was electrified along with the rest of the WCML during the 1960s in the wake of the BR 1955 Modernisation Plan.

Accidents
Two very similar railway accidents occurred on the Northampton loop in 1967 and 1969. The 1967 incident was near the village of Milton Malsor between Roade and Hunsbury Hill tunnel and the other in 1969 near the northern end of Roade cutting.