Wycombe Railway

v t e Wycombe Railway
Legend
( Didcot – Oxford ) Abingdon Road Halt and Kennington Jn Iffley Halt Kennington Rail Bridge over the Thames A4074 road Littlemore Morris Cowley BMW Mini factory) Horspath Halt Horspath Tunnel Wheatley River Thame M40 motorway Tiddington A329 road Thame Towersey Halt Bledlow Met & GC joint line to Quainton Road Aylesbury Harrow-on-the-Hill South Aylesbury Halt Marsh Crossing Little Kimble Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway Monks Risborough GWR Bicester Cut-Off line to Banbury Princes Risborough Saunderton Tunnel Saunderton A4010 road West Wycombe A4128 road High Wycombe GW & GC Joint Railway to Northolt Junction A40 road Treadaway Hill Crossing Loudwater M40 motorway Wooburn Green A4155 road A4094 road Bourne End Marlow Bourne End Bridge over the Thames B4447 road Cookham Furze Platt A4 road Maidenhead Boyne Hill Maidenhead on GWR Main Line ( Reading – London )

The Wycombe Railway was a British railway between Maidenhead and Oxford that connected with the Great Western Railway at both ends; there was one branch, to Aylesbury.

History

The Wycombe Railway Company was incorporated by an act of

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.^[2]

The GWR took over the Wycombe Railway company in 1867.

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.^[3] The GWR took over this company in 1897.

On 15 March 1899, the

Later developments

In 1963, British Railways closed the section between Princes Risborough and Kennington Junction to passenger traffic. The part of this section between Thame and Morris Cowley was closed to all traffic in 1968. 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.^[5] The section from the B4009 underbridge west of Princes Risborough to the A329 level crossing west of Thame was subsequently converted into a footpath and cycle track, the Phoenix Trail.^[6][7]

Three sections of the Wycombe Railway remain open. The line between Maidenhead and Bourne End carries

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 Maidenhead Boyne Hill. This station was situated on the Bath Road halfway 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 Platt and Cookham.

The railway originally crossed the Thames at Bourne End on a 12-span wooden bridge but this was replaced in 1895 by a 3-span steel structure. 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

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

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

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.^{[citation needed]}

In 2017, Wycombe District Council approved a two-year study into the feasibility of the route. £100,000 is to be spent assessing the route which had previously been earmarked as a light rail corridor. With Crossrail reaching Maidenhead by December 2019, a heavy rail option is being explored.^[8]

In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line was listed as Priority 2 for reopening. Priority 2 is for those lines which require further development or a change in circumstances (such as housing developments).^[9]

See also

• Marlow Branch Line

Notes

References

• Oppitz, Leslie (2000). Lost Railways of the Chilterns. Newbury: Countryside Books.
  ISBN 1-85306-643-5
  .

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wycombe Railway.

• Marlow and Maidenhead Passengers' Association – History Section