Buckinghamshire Railway
Encyclopedia
The Buckinghamshire Railway was a railway company in Buckinghamshire
and Oxfordshire
, England
that constructed railway lines connecting Bletchley, Banbury
and Oxford
. Part of the route is still in use today as the Oxford to Bicester Line
.
and territorial wars which took place in Buckinghamshire
in the 1840s. The London and Birmingham Railway
(L&B) had opened a standard gauge
line from to on 16 October 1837, extending to Birmingham in September 1838. In June of that year, the Great Western Railway
(GWR) opened the first part of its broad gauge
line from to Bristol
and a further branch from to had been opened by June 1844. The GWR subsequently looked to expand beyond Oxford by depositing bills
for the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
and the Oxford and Rugby Railway which would take it into the heart of the Midlands
.
Seeking to prevent the GWR from annexing Buckinghamshire into its empire, the L&B, supported by the Midland Railway
, countered with the London, Worcester and South Staffordshire Railway from Tring to Wolverhampton
via Aylesbury
. The scheme included loop lines from Bicester to Oxford
and Banbury to Rugby
. A third company, Mark Huish
's Grand Junction Railway
, supported the GWR's schemes as a means of forcing the London and Birmingham to merge with it; it proposed a Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway which would join with the Oxford and Rugby at Fenny Compton
. The GWR's schemes subsequently received Parliamentary approval, whilst the London and Birmingham was obliged to withdraw its proposal. The Grand Junction Railway's scheme was also passed, giving the GWR its route to Birmingham, and it merged with the L&B in 1846 to form the London and North Western Railway
(LNWR). The remains of the loop lines became the Buckingham and Brackley Junction Railway and the Oxford and Bletchley Junction Railway.
via Winslow
and Bicester, and another from a point near Claydon House
to Brackley
and Buckingham
. The third bill was for the amalgamation of the two companies into the Buckinghamshire Railway and the authorisation of an extension from Buckingham to Banbury. The bills were passed and, under the direction of the LNWR, the Buckinghamshire Railway was formed on 22 July 1847. The second Duke of Buckingham was chairman until he encountered financial difficulties and was replaced by Sir Harry Verney
, with his son, the Marquess of Chandos
, taking a seat on the board.
was employed to construct the line, with Thomas Brassey
as the civil engineering
contractor
. The line opened between Bletchley and Banbury on 30 March 1850, and between Verney Junction and Oxford on 20 May 1851. The line was worked by the LNWR, which originally leased the line, eventually absorbing the Buckinghamshire Railway on 21 July 1879.
The Buckinghamshire Railway made modest profits until its valuable freight was re-routed through Oxford and Didcot, leaving it to sink into losses from which it never re-emerged. It continued until the Chairman of the LNWR, Richard Moon, was elected to the board on 23 February 1878 and by 15 July in the same year the company's shares had been consolidated with those of the LNWR.
In 1879, the LNWR also absorbed the Bedford Railway which had constructed a line between Bletchley and . It had already absorbed the Bedford and Sandy Railway in 1865, which had constructed a line between Bedford and .
and that between Banbury and Bletchley was worked as a separate line, the Banbury to Verney Junction Branch Line
. The second line closed to all traffic by the end of 1966, whilst to Bedford to Cambridge section of the first line was closed as from the beginning of 1968. The section from Bedford to Bletchley remains as the Marston Vale Line
and that between Oxford and Bicester
was closed, but reopened to passenger traffic in 1986.
intends to include the Bicester Town - Oxford section of the line in its Project Evergreen 3, by building a junction with the Chiltern Main Line
at Bicester, doubling and upgrading the track between Bicester and and opening a new station at . In the longer term the East West Rail Link would use the Bletchley - Oxford section and possibly create new stations at and .
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....
and Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
that constructed railway lines connecting Bletchley, Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
and Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. Part of the route is still in use today as the Oxford to Bicester Line
Oxford to Bicester Line
The Oxford to Bicester Line is a branch line linking Oxford and Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.-History:The line was opened in 1850 as part of the Buckinghamshire Railway, which in 1879 became part of the London and North Western Railway...
.
Origins
The origins of the Buckinghamshire Railway can be traced back to the gaugeRail gauge
Track gauge or rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers...
and territorial wars which took place in 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....
in the 1840s. The London and Birmingham Railway
London and Birmingham Railway
The London and Birmingham Railway was an early railway company in the United Kingdom from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway ....
(L&B) had opened a 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...
line from to on 16 October 1837, extending to Birmingham in September 1838. In June of that year, 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...
(GWR) opened the first part of its 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 :...
line from to Bristol
Bristol Temple Meads railway station
Bristol Temple Meads railway station is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is an important transport hub for public transport in Bristol, with bus services to various parts of the city and surrounding districts, and a ferry service to the city centre in addition to the...
and a further branch from to had been opened by June 1844. The GWR subsequently looked to expand beyond Oxford by depositing bills
Bill (proposed law)
A bill is a proposed law under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an act or a statute....
for the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton railway was a company authorised on 4 August 1845 to construct a railway line from the Oxford and Rugby Railway at Wolvercot Junction to Worcester, Stourbridge, Dudley, and Wolverhampton, with a branch to the Grand Junction Railway at Bushbury...
and the Oxford and Rugby Railway which would take it into the heart of the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
.
Seeking to prevent the GWR from annexing Buckinghamshire into its empire, the L&B, supported by the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
, countered with the London, Worcester and South Staffordshire Railway from Tring to Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
via Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
. The scheme included loop lines from Bicester to Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and Banbury to Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
. A third company, Mark Huish
Mark Huish
Captain Mark Huish was an English railway manager. He is best known for his term as General Manager of the London & North Western Railway, which he held for 12 years, beginning from the Company's formation in 1846....
's Grand Junction Railway
Grand Junction Railway
The Grand Junction Railway was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was merged into the London and North Western Railway...
, supported the GWR's schemes as a means of forcing the London and Birmingham to merge with it; it proposed a Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway which would join with the Oxford and Rugby at Fenny Compton
Fenny Compton
Fenny Compton is a village and parish in Warwickshire, England, about eight miles north of Banbury. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 797. Its church of St. Peter and St. Clare was built in the 14th century...
. The GWR's schemes subsequently received Parliamentary approval, whilst the London and Birmingham was obliged to withdraw its proposal. The Grand Junction Railway's scheme was also passed, giving the GWR its route to Birmingham, and it merged with the L&B in 1846 to form the London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...
(LNWR). The remains of the loop lines became the Buckingham and Brackley Junction Railway and the Oxford and Bletchley Junction Railway.
Authorisation
Three bills were presented to Parliament in 1846-47 for the formation of railway companies to construct the relics of the thwarted L&B and LNWR ambitions in Buckinghamshire. The first two bills were for the establishment of the Buckingham and Brackley Junction Railway and the Oxford and Bletchley Junction Railway to construct lines from Bletchley to OxfordOxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
via Winslow
Winslow, Buckinghamshire
Winslow is a small market town and also a civil parish designated as a town council within Aylesbury Vale district in north Buckinghamshire. It has a population of about 4500....
and Bicester, and another from a point near Claydon House
Claydon House
Claydon House is a country house in the Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire, England, close to the village of Middle Claydon. It was built between 1757 and 1771 and is now owned by the National Trust....
to Brackley
Brackley
Brackley is a town in south Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Oxford and miles form Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the intersecting trade routes between London, Birmingham and the English Midlands and between Cambridge and Oxford...
and Buckingham
Buckingham
Buckingham is a town situated in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire. The town has a population of 11,572 ,...
. The third bill was for the amalgamation of the two companies into the Buckinghamshire Railway and the authorisation of an extension from Buckingham to Banbury. The bills were passed and, under the direction of the LNWR, the Buckinghamshire Railway was formed on 22 July 1847. The second Duke of Buckingham was chairman until he encountered financial difficulties and was replaced by Sir Harry Verney
Sir Harry Verney, 2nd Baronet
Sir Harry Verney, 2nd Baronet PC, DL, JP was an English soldier and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1832 and 1885.-Background and education:...
, with his son, the Marquess of Chandos
Richard Temple-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos GCSI, PC , styled Earl Temple until 1839 and Marquess of Chandos from 1839 to 1861, was a British soldier, politician and administrator of the 19th century...
, taking a seat on the board.
Later history
Robert StephensonRobert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS was an English civil engineer. He was the only son of George Stephenson, the famed locomotive builder and railway engineer; many of the achievements popularly credited to his father were actually the joint efforts of father and son.-Early life :He was born on the 16th of...
was employed to construct the line, with Thomas Brassey
Thomas Brassey
Thomas Brassey was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about one-third of the railways in Britain, and by time of his death in 1870 he had built one...
as the civil engineering
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works like roads, bridges, canals, dams, and buildings...
contractor
General contractor
A general contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and communication of information to involved parties throughout the course of a building project.-Description:...
. The line opened between Bletchley and Banbury on 30 March 1850, and between Verney Junction and Oxford on 20 May 1851. The line was worked by the LNWR, which originally leased the line, eventually absorbing the Buckinghamshire Railway on 21 July 1879.
The Buckinghamshire Railway made modest profits until its valuable freight was re-routed through Oxford and Didcot, leaving it to sink into losses from which it never re-emerged. It continued until the Chairman of the LNWR, Richard Moon, was elected to the board on 23 February 1878 and by 15 July in the same year the company's shares had been consolidated with those of the LNWR.
In 1879, the LNWR also absorbed the Bedford Railway which had constructed a line between Bletchley and . It had already absorbed the Bedford and Sandy Railway in 1865, which had constructed a line between Bedford and .
Present status
The line between Oxford and Cambridge was subsequently known as the Varsity LineVarsity Line
The Varsity Line is an informal name for the railway route that formerly linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated successively by the London and North Western Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and British Railways...
and that between Banbury and Bletchley was worked as a separate line, the Banbury to Verney Junction Branch Line
Banbury to Verney Junction Branch Line
The Banbury to Verney Junction Branch Line was a railway branch line constructed by the Buckinghamshire Railway which connected the Oxfordshire market town of Banbury with the Buckinghamshire town of Bletchley via the historic county town of Buckingham and the Northamptonshire town of Brackley, a...
. The second line closed to all traffic by the end of 1966, whilst to Bedford to Cambridge section of the first line was closed as from the beginning of 1968. The section from Bedford to Bletchley remains as the Marston Vale Line
Marston Vale Line
The Marston Vale Line is the railway line from Bletchley to Bedford in England. It is one of two surviving passenger-carrying sections of the "Varsity Line" between Oxford and Cambridge....
and that between Oxford and Bicester
Oxford to Bicester Line
The Oxford to Bicester Line is a branch line linking Oxford and Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.-History:The line was opened in 1850 as part of the Buckinghamshire Railway, which in 1879 became part of the London and North Western Railway...
was closed, but reopened to passenger traffic in 1986.
Future plans
Chiltern RailwaysChiltern 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...
intends to include the Bicester Town - Oxford section of the line in its Project Evergreen 3, by building a junction with 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...
at Bicester, doubling and upgrading the track between Bicester and and opening a new station at . In the longer term the East West Rail Link would use the Bletchley - Oxford section and possibly create new stations at and .