Northampton to Market Harborough (Walk 16 miles) / Continued
I decide to continue. It now starts to rain and shortly after I resume my walk, I meet a lady who smiles and says, “we are not used to this”. We are certainly not and after a record breaking hot summer, it is great to have a bit of cooling rain.
As well as ironstone, freight and local passenger traffic, the Brampton Valley Line also saw occasional use by longer distance passenger services. Holiday trains from Leicester heading to the south coast resorts were often routed along the line. Football specials heading to Wembley also passed this way.
Stopping services were withdrawn in 1960 when all remaining intermediate stations closed. Through passenger trains returned to the line from the late 1960s onwards, most notably in the form of a sleeper linking Euston and Glasgow via Northampton and Nottingham. All passenger services were then permanently withdrawn in August 1973.
I stop to admire the Millennium Milepost at the side of the path. Over 1,000 of these were installed across all four countries of the UK to celebrate the National Cycle Network. I haven’t actually met any cyclists since I was walking past the heritage railway more than an hour ago.
I am also pretty impressed by the quantity and the quality of the wooden benches on the Brampton Valley Way, most of them have inscriptions dedicating them to people’s memory. 
The Brampton Valley Way itself dates from 1993. It opened 12 years after the railway had closed. Local councils purchased the land to create what is now known as “a linear park.”
After another walk of around ten minutes, I arrive at the busy A580 (7.9 miles) and the site of Lamport Crossing. It is 2:15pm and having covered around half the distance I am confident I am making decent progress.
The platforms at Lamport (1859-1960) have gone but, unlike any of the other stations on the line, the station building still exists and is being used as a private dwelling. The name of the heritage operation, ‘Northampton and Lamport’, suggests an ambition to one day extend operations to this point.
I reach Maidwell Footbridge. The wooden steps have long since been removed, but the old ironwork is largely intact, albeit quite rusty. Around twenty minutes later I pass under the busy and very noisy A14 dual carriageway (10.3 miles).
Then, just a little further on, I reach Kelmarsh Tunnel (10.5 miles). It feels a bit sinister as I approach it. There are warning signs about the fact it is long and unlit and suggestions of diversionary paths. I put on my head torch and venture inside.
The tunnel is around 525 yards (480 metres) long with a ventilation shaft about halfway through. Although it is perfectly straight, it still feels eerie walking through here on my own. I turn the torch off for a moment and it is pitch black. The floor is a little uneven, so walking through here without a torch would certainly be very hazardous.
It takes me about 6 minutes to walk through. It is just after 3pm when I emerge from the northern portal. When the line was originally built there was only one track. In 1878 the line was doubled and a second bore was constructed. Today both tunnels still exist but the Brampton Valley Way is routed through the old up line. The old down tunnel is close by but not visible from the path.
Just after Kelmarsh Tunnel is Kelmarsh (1859-1960). There is a simple bench at the side of the path to mark the position where the station used to be. It has now stopped raining and I pause to pack away my waterproofs.
I stop to talk to a local man who is walking his three dogs. He is actually surprised to hear I have walked through the tunnel. He assures me that it shouldn’t take much more than an hour to reach Market Harborough and there are several good options for a pint there.
The last intermediate station on the line was Clipston & Oxendon (1863-1960). It was added later after pressure from local villagers. Once again there is nothing remaining here today, the local folk obviously eventually found other ways of getting around.
Just a bit further on from the station site is the second tunnel, Oxendon (13.2 miles). Like Kelmarsh there was originally one single‑track bore and a second one was added later. As at Kelmarsh, the path is routed through the old up tunnel and once again the other bore is not easily visible.
Head torch back on and I go inside. This one is 453 yards; the parallel down tunnel is a few yards longer. They have just resurfaced the floor so it is a bit easier underfoot. It is cold though and my breath interferes with the ray of light coming from the torch making it slightly difficult to see.
I pause at the ventilation shaft and look up. There is a constant drip, drip of water coming down. Further on towards the end of the tunnel there is more water dripping through the roof. It has created multicoloured shapes on the walls.
It is getting on for 4pm as I emerge from the northern portal. I am now pretty confident that with less than three miles to go I can reach my destination by 5pm or so.
I walk on along the last section of line. Freight continued for a time, but declining traffic and high operating costs led to the line’s formal closure on 16 August 1981. On 15 August, a special final passenger train ran. The track was dismantled shortly afterwards.
The track bed curves and now, looking across a field, I can now see the Midland Main Line running parallel into Market Harborough. With the original route now built over in the town, any future plan to reopen this line from Northampton (and there have been a few) would probably have to involve a new connection to the network somewhere in this vicinity. 
I continue on and a few minutes later the first housing estates on the outskirts of Market Harborough appear. The old formation is still discernible as it passes another Millennium Marker in Little Bowden Park (15.5 miles).
The shape of the old track bed completely disappears as I enter a small cul-de-sac, Britannia Walk (15.8 miles) with houses on each side. This is the official end of the Brampton Valley Way.
From here onwards, a few hundred yards shy of the station, the old railway course is completely gone. It has been obscured by a modern roundabout, a Lidl supermarket and a retirement home complex.
It is just after 5pm and I have reached Market Harborough station (16.12 miles). The line from Northampton would have crossed the road directly in front of me here and entered the station on my left. The bridge abutment is still there.
It occurs to me that if the 1960s plan had gone ahead, I might now be watching a Euston to Sheffield express passing over the bridge in front of me. The timings via Northampton would probably have been competitive. In 1969, trains were still scheduled to take more than 80 minutes from London St Pancras to Leicester.
Anyway, I have made it. I have more than an hour before my train is due. I see a sign that says the centre is close by so I divert for a little walk around and a pint at the pub.
The attractive town centre has a couple of distinctive buildings. The Old Grammar School (1614) stands on wooden pillars, raised up so market traders could keep dry, whilst St Dionysius Church stands next to it directly on the pavement without a traditional churchyard.
The History of Railways around Market Harborough
Market Harborough (population: 24,779) is a historic market town in Leicestershire. Its first station was opened in May 1850 by the LNWR on the Rugby to Stamford branch. Then in 1857 the Midland Railway’s line arrived. Initially it was part of a link that was being constructed from Wigston to Bedford (extended to London in 1868 and still open today) and Hitchin (now closed). The last line to arrive at Market Harborough was the Brampton Valley Line itself in 1859. The current station opened in 1884.
All the lines eventually came into the ownership of the LMS in 1923 and subsequently British Railways in 1948. The original LNWR line from Rugby saw traffic decline in the mid‑20th century and was closed in June 1966.
After freight services from Northampton ceased in 1981, Market Harborough was no longer a junction. The line through Market Harborough to Wigston was electrified in July 2024.
Market Harborough
I walk up to the attractive station building. It replaced the original 1850 structure when it could no longer cope with passenger growth. Designed by John Livcock, it opened in 1884 and is now Grade II listed. In 2024/5 it was used by 0.94 million passengers.
The station building once sat between the LNWR lines from Rugby and Northampton which curved in from the left side and the MR line from Bedford which curved in from the right side. Now, with only the two Midland platforms remaining, the building looks a little odd sitting there on its own to the side of the whole layout.
I go inside. The interior is clean and welcoming. There is a little cafe, although it is closed at 6pm. There are no barriers. With some time to spare I walk up the long ramp to the down platform.
Some of the platform buildings and canopies were replaced in the 1960s but they have been refurbished since. The platforms look well cared for and are decorated with flowers. I walk up to the new footbridge and go across. It is fitted with lifts and other improved accessibility features.
My train is the 18:25 service to St Pancras. It is operated by East Midlands Railway (EMR), one of the last remaining operators in private hands and not due to revert to public ownership until next year. I stand on the up platform waiting. The computerised announcement tells me that my train, a service from Nottingham, is delayed for an unknown amount of time for a reason that is under investigation.
Market Harborough to St Pancras by Train (83 Miles)
The train eventually turns up twenty minutes late. It is formed of a Class 222 Meridian diesel five-car unit. These trains have been the mainstay of the Midland Main Line for over 20 years but are now being phased out in favour of the new Class 810s, which EMR market as “Aurora”. The 18:25 is quite full but I just manage to get an aisle seat.
The new 810s are bi-mode trains and will be able to switch to electric at Wigston Junction just south of Leicester and then make use of the newly erected wires all the way to London. Sadly, in an effort to increase capacity, they won’t have as many seats with tables as the trains they replace. There have been delays getting the 810s into service and so EMR has been apologising.
At the next stop, Kettering, my seat mate leaves and I am able to shift across to the window. I was never that familiar with the Midland Main Line, but after several trips to Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham in the last ten years, I am slowly getting to know it.
We make an extra stop at Wellingborough, still twenty minutes adrift. Even after St Pancras was saved, the Midland Main Line was still starved of the levels of investment that went into the West Coast and East Coast Main Lines. In the 1970s it was very much the “Cinderella” of the Intercity network. Things began to improve in the 1980s with the introduction of InterCity 125s and an increase in line speed to 110mph.
The line was electrified for suburban services as far as Bedford in 1983. The wires reached Wigston Junction in 2024. Now more than two thirds of the distance between London and Leicester is passed for 125mph. Today’s non-stop timing to the city is just over 60 minutes for the 99 miles.
We pass Bedford. The line is quadrupled south of Kettering but after Bedford the slow lines become more intensively used. The trains we now overtake are Thameslink services that will be avoiding the terminus at St Pancras, heading instead through the ‘widened lines’ tunnels towards Farringdon, Blackfriars and on to destinations south of London such as Brighton. If St Pancras had closed in the 1960s, shuttle services from Leicester would have followed the first part of this route to Farringdon and then on to Moorgate.
We slow down and pass through the last station, Kentish Town, before coming to a halt in the EMR section of St Pancras. We have taken quite an impressive 63 minutes for the journey including the two stops. Nevertheless, we still arrive 20 minutes late. There is an apology but no explanation.
St Pancras
I come through the ticket barrier and walk away from the EMR platforms and into the station proper. It is magnificent of course. Designed by William Barlow, its single-span overall roof was the largest of its kind at the time of its completion. The station opened in 1868 with the famous hotel in front of it following in 1873.
However, whilst I am not going to claim Euston is better, I know from the experience of using EMR at St Pancras during busy periods that it is not exactly a passenger nirvana. The faces of many of the people lining up to board their delayed trains tonight speak for themselves.
The main station, historically the Midland Main Line’s departure point, has been turned over to Eurostar and the space given to EMR is actually quite limited. EMR’s platforms are located under a modern canopy outside the main hall, entailing a long walk to and from the Underground. The small number of platforms allocated to EMR can also constrain the amount of time available for turning around and boarding.
Crowds are held in front of the EMR gate lines so sometimes you have to push your way through when your train is finally called. As the company switch between two different fleets of trains, the problem has been made worse by the suspension of all seat reservations. To alleviate overcrowding in the small area in front of its own gates, EMR has now enhanced the queuing system. It has provided roped off lines that stretch back into the main hall.
Customers are generally divided into Sheffield and Nottingham lines. This spreads people out but the back of these narrow queues can be far away from the gate line and any idea what is happening there. It is all far from ideal. But at least the frustrated passenger at St Pancras can do something that it is impossible to do at Euston: look up at the glorious roof !
Meanwhile – A walk along the Brampton Valley Way is certainly recommended ! Advance singles from Euston to Northampton can be had for £9 and those from Market Harborough to St Pancras can be as low as £20 (2026 prices – excluding railcard discounts). The fare on the number 8 bus to Mill Lane is £3.
Click here – For more on the story of how the railway network grew north from Euston and then south to St Pancras and how the history of the two great termini became intertwined.
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