Leighton Buzzard Light Railway 19th century sand was carried by horse carts from quarries south of the town to be shipped on the Dunstable-Leighton Buzzard railway. The carts damaged roads and resulted in claims for compensation against the quarry owners from Bedfordshire County Council. At the end of the century steam wagons were introduced which increased the damage to roads. The outbreak of the First World War cut off supplies of foundry sand from Belgium. Sand was needed for ammunition factories and new sources were sought. Leighton Buzzard sands proved well suited and production increased. After 1919 the quarry companies were told they could
Headcorn and Maidstone Junction Light Railway Headcorn and Maidstone Junction Light Railway The Headcorn & Maidstone Junction Light Railway was a proposed railway in Kent. An Act of Parliament authorised its construction, but only a short branch at Tovil, opened to goods only, was built. Maidstone, the county town of Kent, had been reached by the railway in 1846, when the South Eastern Railway built a branch from Paddock Wood. In 1856 a branch was built from Strood to make an end-on junction with the branch from Paddock Wood at what is now station. Headcorn had been reached by the railway in 1842, on the main