London Northwestern Railway names train in honour of Bletchley Park WW2 heroes

London Northwestern Railway (LNR) has today (Thursday 22 May) named one of its trains on the Marston Vale line in honour of Bletchley Park and its historic role in World War II codebreaking, following a competition with local residents.

The train, which operates on the Marston Vale line between Bletchley and Bedford, has been named “Bletchley Codebreakers”. The competition asked locals to suggest names which celebrate local people or places along the line and was judged by an expert panel from LNR and the Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership.

Bletchley Park served as the principal centre for signals intelligence and enemy codebreaking during the Second World War. Thousands of personnel worked in secrecy at the site, contributing to critical breakthroughs such as the decryption of the Enigma cipher. The connection between the railway line and Bletchley Park is well documented, with many codebreakers known to have travelled via the Marston Vale Line during the war.

Cara Higgs, community strategy manager at LNR, said: “Through research we discovered that the Bletchley Park codebreakers were known to take the train along the Marston Vale line to and from the estate, so this new name is really fitting. It’s been fantastic to spend the day with the competition winners, where we celebrated this historic railway line by taking a ride on the train and visiting Ridgmont’s heritage centre.”

Iain Standen, CEO of Bletchley Park Trust, said: “Naming this train is a wonderful tribute to the codebreakers of Bletchley Park as many of them used the line to travel to and from their billets as far away as Bedford. As part of the longer 'Varsity Line', it would also have served those staff recruited from Oxford and Cambridge Universities, such as Alan Turing and Max Newman.

“The service the Marston Vale line provided to these customers remained secret, along with Bletchley Park for many years after World War Two. This initiative not only celebrates our unique wartime and railway heritage but also strengthens the enduring connection between Bletchley Park and the local community.”

The Class 150 train – unit number 150141 - was formally named during a special ceremony at Bletchley station this morning, where the competition winners, Peter Griffiths and Sophie Marks were among the first to take a trip on the “Bletchley Codebreakers” train.

The event coincides with 200 years since the inception of the Marston Vale line as well as Community Rail Week, an annual celebration of community rail events and partnerships across the UK.