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
Abbey Town railway station on to the London Midland Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The station closed on 7 September 1964. Abbey Town railway station Abbey Town railway station was on the branch line off the Solway Junction Railway in the English county of Cumberland (later Cumbria). The first station after Abbey Junction on the branch to Silloth on the Solway Firth, it served the village of Abbey Town. The station closed with the line to Silloth in 1964. Opened as Abbey by the Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway in 1856, then renamed Abbey Town by the North British Railway in