late June 2022, the coffee and snack kiosk has gone and the booking hall appears to be closed. Wolverton Works The 1833 Act of Parliament approving the London and Birmingham Railway included a clause that specified that a railway works be built around the mid-point, as it was considered scientifically unsafe at the time for railway locomotives to move more than without further inspection. After surveying all possible sites, Wolverton was chosen due to its co-location alongside the wharfing facilities of the Grand Union Canal, thereby also enabling the railway company to gain an easy agreement to build a viaduct over the canal company's land at this point. Provision of refreshment facilities for passengers availing of the stop was (at least initially) the primary purpose of the station, located as it was in (at the time) a very rural area. Wolverton bend and Northampton Loop With the advent of fast trains, Wolverton gained notoriety among railwaymen for its famously tight curve. The curve was a result of the station and main line being moved eastward in 1881, to permit extension of the Wolverton Works. The path of the original route remains in place through the Works site and includes Robert Stephenson's (Grade II* listed) bridge over the Grand Union Canal. The Advanced Passenger Train failed its trials here in the early 1990s but the Pendolino tilting trains passed them in the early 2000s. Wolverton Viaduct To cross the valley of the River Great Ouse a little to the north, the company built a six-arch viaduct in 1838, at a cost then of £38,000. The viaduct was also designed by Robert Stephenson and is described by Historic England in its Grade II listing as "the most impressive of the several viaducts on the line, being taller, more elaborately treated and with wider arches. It was one of the principal landmarks of the first trunk railway and one of the earliest viaducts on this scale". Newport Pagnell Branch Line (closed) From 1865 to 1964, there was a branch line from Wolverton to Newport Pagnell, primarily for employees of Wolverton Works. In 1964 the line was closed to passengers by the Beeching cuts and freight ceased in 1967. Between 1817 and 1864, the section from Great Linford to Newport Pagnell was an arm of the Grand Junction Canal which was then drained to become the track-bed. The route from Wolverton to Newport Pagnell