This cache was placed to celebrate the 6th Anniversary of the Side Tracked series of caches.
For more information about the series please visit http://www.sidetrackedseries.info
There has been a station in Leighton Buzzard since 1838 as part of the first section of the line from London Euston to Denbigh Hall (Bletchley). In May 1848 the station became a junction when a branch line to Dunstable was opened. The London and North Western Railway replaced the first station in February 1859 by another more permanent structure located at the present site 160 m to the south of the original station.
The LNWR was absorbed by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in the 1923 railway grouping and, in 1927, it added a crossover between the fast and slow lines. This was to play a significant role in the derailment of Royal Scot No. 6114 "Coldstream Guardsman" at Linslade on 22 March 1931 when the driver took the crossover at 50-60 mph instead of the regulation 15 mph. There had been a diversion in place on the fast lines and the driver had missed the warning signals. The engine overturned and six people were killed including the driver and fireman. The Great Train Robbery of 1963 occurred just south of this station, at Bridego Bridge near Ledburn, at a bridge on the southbound stretch towards Cheddington. In 1989, the platforms were lengthened to accommodate 12-coach trains and a £1.8m project to rebuild the station was started.
The current station has an annual passenger usage of over 1.5 million people. London Midland and Southern services run from Leighton Buzzard to London Euston and South Croydon in the South and to Milton Keynes, Northampton, Rugby and Birmingham New Street in the North.
The cache itself is a small plastic tube hidden in the park next to the station.