Quainton Road railway station
| Quainton Road | |
|---|---|
  Quainton Road Location of Quainton Road in Greater London | |
| Location | Quainton |
| Local authority | Aylesbury Vale |
| Owner | Metropolitan Railway |
| Number of platforms | 3 |
| Replaced by | Buckingham Railway Centre - partially reopened 1968 |
| Other information | |
| Coordinates | 51°51′49″N 0°55′36″W / 51.8635°N 0.9267°W |
 London transport portal | |
Quainton Road railway station is a railway station serving the village of Quainton in Buckinghamshire, England. It is the home of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, although occasionally in the summer it is still served by some main line trains, especially during special events.
History
The station was a through station on the impoverished Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway (A&BR), a branch line running from Aylesbury station, connecting with the GWR, to Verney Junction, connecting with the LNWR cross-country route between Oxford and Cambridge, the Varsity Line. It was also the northern terminus of the Wootton (later Brill) Tramway. Originally opened in 1871, the tramway was one of the first 'light railways' opened under new legislation brought in to support local lines. Later subsumed onto the Metropolitan Railway's northern extensions and purchase of the A&BR, there were plans to extend the few miles from Brill to Oxford.
As a result of the replacement of the original level crossing by the current road bridge, the original station at Quainton Road closed on November 29, 1896, along with the separate Brill Tramway station; a new, combined station (re-located from the "Country" to the "London" side of Station Road) was opened by the Metropolitan Railway the next day; after 1899, the station was served by both the infrequent "Met" service between Aylesbury and Verney Junction and the through mainline service from the Great Central Main Line, joining the route of the A&BR approximately half a mile north of Quainton Road station at Quainton Road Junction.
The line to Brill was closed on November 30, 1935, after the formation of London Transport; the line from Quainton Road Junction to Verney Junction succumbed a year later, on July 4, 1936, with services between Aylesbury and Quainton Road being withdrawn the same day. Services between Aylesbury and Quainton Road were restored after May 1945, but were withdrawn in May 1948.
The station today
Quainton Road station, beautifully maintained, still remains as the centrepiece of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. In 1982, the BBC conducted location filming at the station for the Doctor Who serial Black Orchid. There are no regular passenger train services, although special services operate from Aylesbury to link with events at the Heritage Centre; these services run via the single line and call at the station's up platform, thus providing step-free access to the centre. For national rail purposes, the station has the three letter identifier QRD. The main station building is on the Up (London-bound) side of the National Rail (NR) line with a smaller (and possibly now unique) wooden building of distinctive style on the platform between the currently-vacant NR Down line trackbed and the platform from which the Brill service ran. At the north-west corner of the site are the somewhat-larger terminal buildings of 1851 from Oxford Rewley Road railway station transplanted here in 2002.
The original line to Verney Junction has been closed and lifted, but the old Great Central main line remains, albeit singled, as far as the point where it crossed the Oxford and Cambridge cross country line. Here Calvert Curve, one of the country's wartime emergency connections, curves to the east, joining the cross-country route at Claydon L&NE Junction, where the formation remains in use for several hundred feet as a shunting neck.
It hopes one day to re-extend the preserved Great Central Railway in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire to Quainton Road in the near future.
Metro-land
The station featured in the closing sequence in John Betjeman's film Metro-land
In September 2006 Quainton Road was the destination of a special excursion through "Metro-land" to mark the centenary of the birth of the poet John Betjeman, who had done much to keep alive the spirit of the old Metropolitan Railway.
Future
Template:Future Regular services may yet return to the line from Aylesbury, as a consultants' report on the development of the Vale of Aylesbury prepared for Buckinghamshire County Council [1] has suggested offering passenger train services from the town to Bletchley and Bedford. Railway services on at least part of the line from Aylesbury will be restored as part of Chiltern Railways' construction of Aylesbury Vale Parkway station at the crossing of the A41 road, to serve the Berryfields Major Development Area housing development.
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waddesdon | British Railways Great Central Main Line |
Calvert | ||
| Waddesdon | Metropolitan Railway Until 1936 |
Granborough Road | ||
| Aylesbury | Metropolitan Line 1943-1948 |
Terminus |