Wycombe Railway
Encyclopedia
The Wycombe Railway was a British railway between and that connected with the Great Western Railway
at both ends; there was one branch, to .
's Maidenhead railway station
, then located close to the site of the current Taplow railway station
. In 1852 construction started; the first section to be built was between Maidenhead
and High Wycombe
, and opened for passenger services on 1 August 1854. It linked the town of High Wycombe
with the Great Western Main Line
, and the Great Western Railway
operated the services for the Wycombe Railway company. The GWR had been built to Isambard Kingdom Brunel
's broad gauge
of 7 feet and 1/4 inch, so the Wycombe Railway was also built to this gauge.
In 1862, the Wycombe Railway opened an extension from High Wycombe via Princes Risborough
to Thame
. In 1863, it opened a branch line
from Princes Risborough to Aylesbury
. In 1864, it opened an extension from Thame to Kennington Junction on the GWR line between Didcot
and Oxford
, thus finally completing its route to Oxford.
The GWR took over the Wycombe Railway company in 1867. The GWR converted the entire line to standard gauge
in one week, between 23 August and 1 September 1870.
The Great Marlow Railway Company opened the branch between Bourne End
and Marlow in 1873. As with the Wycombe Railway, it was a separate company but the GWR provided the train service. The GWR took over this company in 1897.
On 15 March 1899, the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway
opened between High Wycombe and Northolt Junction, giving the GWR a shorter route between High Wycombe and London Paddington. As a consequence the Wycombe Railway lost a proportion of its traffic.
ways closed the section between Princes Risborough and Kennington Junction to passenger traffic and the section between Thame and Morris Cowley
to all traffic. BR closed the section between Bourne End and High Wycombe to freight traffic on 18 July 1966 and to passenger traffic on 4 May 1970. In 1991, BR closed the section between Princes Risborough and Thame, which hitherto had remained open for freight traffic to an oil depot at Thame.
Three sections of the Wycombe Railway remain open. The line between Maidenhead and Bourne End carries First Great Western
passenger trains as part of the Marlow Branch Line
. The line between High Wycombe and Princes Risborough carries Chiltern Railways
services as part of the Chiltern Main Line
. The line between Kennington Junction and the former Morris Cowley station is open for freight traffic to and from the Mini (BMW) factory.
and Cookham
. Bourne End, the next station after Cookham, was also an intermediate station, but is now terminus for this section of the line. The Great Marlow Railway branches westwards at Bourne End to Marlow
. The original locomotive on this branch was nicknamed "The Marlow Donkey".
Before the closure of the line to High Wycombe it continued through Bourne End station, over the current Station Road and through the current RAC industrial estate. It approached Cores End, crossed the A4094 road
and entered the agricultural areas of Wooburn Green. It then crossed a field, and some of the trackbed is now occupied by Stratford Drive.
The line then reached Wooburn Green. Wooburn Green railway station
had a single platform as the line was single track. From the early 1960s, the station was unstaffed.
From Wooburn Green, the trackbed followed the north end of Flackwell Heath Golf Course. Just before the line entered Loudwater, it went under the current M40 motorway
to Birmingham. Although the M40 was built after the dismantling of the track, the alignment was preserved with an overbridge, which can be viewed today from the A4094 past The Dreams Store, towards Wycombe Marsh.
At Loudwater railway station
, as at Wooburn Green, the original layout was a single platform. The station was at the bottom of Treadaway Hill just after the M40 bridge. The railway conservation footpath is on one side of the road which follows the original path of the railway.
The line crossed Treadaway Hill on a level crossing and entered a wooded area. Here it passed over its first underbridge of the route, Spring Lane, which has since been removed. Then it passed under the first overbridge of the route, the Abbey Barn Road bridge. The line then progressed towards the rye area, and at what is now the Willow Court housing estate, turned sharply northwest towards Oxford Road. Here the second underbridge of the route passed over Bowden Lane, onto an embankment, towards London Road. It continued northwest until a steel girder bridge took it over A40 road
, onto another embankment that took the line to what is now the Chiltern Line. Here it joins the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway from Northolt Junction, which ran alongside it into High Wycombe railway station.
There is little possibility of the line from Bourne End to High Wycombe being recommissioned as several key plots of land have subsequently been built on.
In 2008, Parliament passed the Crossrail Act
to build a new cross-London
line with its services terminating at Maidenhead. The preservation of the alignment of the former Wycombe Railway from property development is being considered, in order to keep viable the option to reopen this part of the Wycombe Railway to enhance north - south communications in south Buckinghamshire
.
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
at both ends; there was one branch, to .
History
The Wycombe Railway Company was incorporated by an act of Parliament passed in 1846. The act authorised the construction of a single line railway from the Great Western RailwayGreat Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
's Maidenhead railway station
Maidenhead railway station
Maidenhead railway station serves the town of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. It is served by local services operated by First Great Western from to , and is also the junction for the Marlow Branch Line. It has five platforms which are accessed through ticket barriers at both entrances to the...
, then located close to the site of the current Taplow railway station
Taplow railway station
Taplow railway station is a railway station in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England. The station is served by local services operated by First Great Western from , miles to the east, to stations, using class 165, and class 166 DMU trains...
. In 1852 construction started; the first section to be built was between Maidenhead
Maidenhead railway station
Maidenhead railway station serves the town of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. It is served by local services operated by First Great Western from to , and is also the junction for the Marlow Branch Line. It has five platforms which are accessed through ticket barriers at both entrances to the...
and High Wycombe
High Wycombe railway station
High Wycombe railway station is situated in High Wycombe in South Buckinghamshire. The station is served by Chiltern Railways trains on the Chiltern Main Line from Marylebone towards Birmingham Snow Hill. It is situated between Beaconsfield and Saunderton stations.-History:The station was built...
, and opened for passenger services on 1 August 1854. It linked the town of High Wycombe
High Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
with the Great Western Main Line
Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in Great Britain that runs westwards from London Paddington station to the west of England and South Wales. The core Great Western Main Line runs from London Paddington to Temple Meads railway station in Bristol. A major branch of the Great...
, and the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
operated the services for the Wycombe Railway company. The GWR had been built to Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
's broad gauge
Broad gauge
Broad-gauge railways use a track gauge greater than the standard gauge of .- List :For list see: List of broad gauges, by gauge and country- History :...
of 7 feet and 1/4 inch, so the Wycombe Railway was also built to this gauge.
In 1862, the Wycombe Railway opened an extension from High Wycombe via Princes Risborough
Princes Risborough railway station
Princes Risborough station is a railway station on the Chiltern Main Line that serves the town of Princes Risborough in Buckinghamshire, England...
to Thame
Thame railway station
Thame railway station was a station on the Wycombe Railway serving the town of Thame in Oxfordshire. It was opened in 1862 as the terminus of an extension from High Wycombe via Princes Risborough. In 1864 the line was extended from Thame to Oxford. The station was built with a train shed over its...
. In 1863, it opened a branch line
Branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
from Princes Risborough to Aylesbury
Aylesbury railway station
Aylesbury railway station is a railway station in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England and is a major stop on the London to Aylesbury Line from Marylebone station via Amersham. It is 37.75 miles from Aylesbury Station to Marylebone Station...
. In 1864, it opened an extension from Thame to Kennington Junction on the GWR line between Didcot
Didcot
Didcot is a town and civil parish in Oxfordshire about south of Oxford. Until 1974 it was in Berkshire, but was transferred to Oxfordshire in that year, and from Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire...
and Oxford
Oxford railway station
Oxford railway station is a mainline railway station serving the city of Oxford, England. It is about west of the city centre, northwest of Frideswide Square and the eastern end of Botley Road, and on the line linking with . It is also on the line for trains between and Hereford via...
, thus finally completing its route to Oxford.
The GWR took over the Wycombe Railway company in 1867. The GWR converted the entire line to standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
in one week, between 23 August and 1 September 1870.
The Great Marlow Railway Company opened the branch between Bourne End
Bourne End railway station
Bourne End railway station serves Bourne End in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated on the line between Maidenhead and Marlow 4½ miles north of Maidenhead....
and Marlow in 1873. As with the Wycombe Railway, it was a separate company but the GWR provided the train service. The GWR took over this company in 1897.
On 15 March 1899, the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway
Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway
The Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway was a joint venture supported by the Great Western Railway and Great Central Railway and run by the Great Western and Great Central Joint Committee. The original arrangement was agreed between the two companies in September 1898...
opened between High Wycombe and Northolt Junction, giving the GWR a shorter route between High Wycombe and London Paddington. As a consequence the Wycombe Railway lost a proportion of its traffic.
Later developments
In 1963, British RailBritish Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ways closed the section between Princes Risborough and Kennington Junction to passenger traffic and the section between Thame and Morris Cowley
Morris Cowley railway station
Morris Cowley was an intermediate station on the Wycombe Railway which served the small town of Cowley, just outside Oxford, from 1908 to 1915, and then from 1928 to 1963. The station originated opened as part of an attempt by the Great Western Railway to encourage more passengers onto the line at...
to all traffic. BR closed the section between Bourne End and High Wycombe to freight traffic on 18 July 1966 and to passenger traffic on 4 May 1970. In 1991, BR closed the section between Princes Risborough and Thame, which hitherto had remained open for freight traffic to an oil depot at Thame.
Three sections of the Wycombe Railway remain open. The line between Maidenhead and Bourne End carries First Great Western
First Great Western
First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....
passenger trains as part of the Marlow Branch Line
Marlow Branch Line
The Marlow Branch Line is a single track railway line between Maidenhead, Berkshire, Bourne End and Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England. Passenger services are operated by First Great Western using Class 165 diesel trains...
. The line between High Wycombe and Princes Risborough carries Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways is a British train operating company. It was set up at the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, and operates local passenger trains from Marylebone station in London to Aylesbury and main-line trains on the Chiltern Main Line to Birmingham Snow Hill with its associated branches...
services as part of the Chiltern Main Line
Chiltern Main Line
The Chiltern Main Line is an inter-urban, regional and commuter railway, part of the British railway system. It links London and Birmingham on a 112-mile route via the towns of High Wycombe, Banbury, and Leamington Spa...
. The line between Kennington Junction and the former Morris Cowley station is open for freight traffic to and from the Mini (BMW) factory.
The route between Maidenhead and High Wycombe
The route starts at Maidenhead, branching off the Great Western Main Line just to the west of Maidenhead's current station. The line turns north, and soon reaches the first intermediate stop, which was Maidenhead (Wycombe Junction), later renamed . This station was situated on the Bath Road half way up Castle Hill. The station closed in 1871 when the present Maidenhead railway station was opened. The entrance to Boyne Hill station can still be seen, though it is totally bricked up and thus inaccessible. Further intermediate stops - which are still open - are at Furze PlattFurze Platt railway station
Furze Platt railway station is a railway station in the town of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. While the Marlow branch line opened many years earlier, Furze Platt Halt opened in 1937 to cater for the area's growing population ....
and Cookham
Cookham railway station
Cookham railway station serves the village of Cookham, Berkshire, England. First Great Western trains between Maidenhead and Marlow serve the station. The station has basic facilities, including a ticket office which is open in the morning peak....
. Bourne End, the next station after Cookham, was also an intermediate station, but is now terminus for this section of the line. The Great Marlow Railway branches westwards at Bourne End to Marlow
Marlow railway station
Marlow railway station serves the town of Marlow in Buckinghamshire, England. It is the terminus of a single-track branch line with the station situated west of Bourne End station.-History:...
. The original locomotive on this branch was nicknamed "The Marlow Donkey".
Before the closure of the line to High Wycombe it continued through Bourne End station, over the current Station Road and through the current RAC industrial estate. It approached Cores End, crossed the A4094 road
A4094 road
The A4094 is a road in the United Kingdom that starts at Loudwater in Buckinghamshire and leads to Maidenhead in Berkshire....
and entered the agricultural areas of Wooburn Green. It then crossed a field, and some of the trackbed is now occupied by Stratford Drive.
The line then reached Wooburn Green. Wooburn Green railway station
Wooburn Green railway station
Wooburn Green railway station was a railway station that served Wooburn Green, Buckinghamshire, England, on the Oxford to Maidenhead line. It was opened in 1854. The station became a halt in 1968 because of a decreased service on the line....
had a single platform as the line was single track. From the early 1960s, the station was unstaffed.
From Wooburn Green, the trackbed followed the north end of Flackwell Heath Golf Course. Just before the line entered Loudwater, it went under the current M40 motorway
M40 motorway
The M40 motorway is a motorway in the British transport network that forms a major part of the connection between London and Birmingham. Part of this road forms a section of the unsigned European route E05...
to Birmingham. Although the M40 was built after the dismantling of the track, the alignment was preserved with an overbridge, which can be viewed today from the A4094 past The Dreams Store, towards Wycombe Marsh.
At Loudwater railway station
Loudwater railway station
Loudwater railway station was a railway station that served Loudwater, Buckinghamshire on the Oxford to Maidenhead line.-History:Loudwater station was located at the bottom of Treadaway Hill just past the present M40 bridge. Opened in 1854 and the station became a halt in 1968 because of a...
, as at Wooburn Green, the original layout was a single platform. The station was at the bottom of Treadaway Hill just after the M40 bridge. The railway conservation footpath is on one side of the road which follows the original path of the railway.
The line crossed Treadaway Hill on a level crossing and entered a wooded area. Here it passed over its first underbridge of the route, Spring Lane, which has since been removed. Then it passed under the first overbridge of the route, the Abbey Barn Road bridge. The line then progressed towards the rye area, and at what is now the Willow Court housing estate, turned sharply northwest towards Oxford Road. Here the second underbridge of the route passed over Bowden Lane, onto an embankment, towards London Road. It continued northwest until a steel girder bridge took it over A40 road
A40 road
The A40 is a major trunk road connecting London to Fishguard, Wales and officially called The London to Fishguard Trunk Road in all legal documents and Acts...
, onto another embankment that took the line to what is now the Chiltern Line. Here it joins the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway from Northolt Junction, which ran alongside it into High Wycombe railway station.
There is little possibility of the line from Bourne End to High Wycombe being recommissioned as several key plots of land have subsequently been built on.
In 2008, Parliament passed the Crossrail Act
Crossrail Act 2008
The Crossrail Act 2008 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that authorises the construction of the Crossrail railway from Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport to Shenfield and Abbey Wood. The legislation was introduced by the then Secretary of State for Transport Douglas Alexander and...
to build a new cross-London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
line with its services terminating at Maidenhead. The preservation of the alignment of the former Wycombe Railway from property development is being considered, in order to keep viable the option to reopen this part of the Wycombe Railway to enhance north - south communications in south Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
.