Talk:Railways in Buckinghamshire

Origins

There is a sentence "A junction was formed in 1851 at Verney for the line from there to Oxford"; but this is not technically correct, because there was no such place as Verney. See Day, John R. (1979) [1963]. The Story of London's Underground. London Transport. p. 32. ISBN 0 85329 094 6.:

The junction, which was where the Buckinghamshire Railway's own branch to Buckingham and Banbury left the main line, was called Verney Junction after Sir Harry Verney, chairman of the Buckinghamshire Railway; there was not much else in the locality to call it after.

- the first edition has exactly the same text on the same page.

The locality is difficult to describe. Whilst the name "Verney Junction" is nowadays used for the place in general, examination of the OS map (1 inch 7th series sheet 146 revision A, 1950) shows that the station was within Middle Claydon parish (Middle Claydon itself being 1¹/₂ miles away), but the closest settlement was Addington, a mile away; the nearest place of any size was Winslow, 2 miles - which, as is described elsewhere, had its own station.

Might be best to word it as "A junction was formed in 1851 near the village of Middle Claydon for the line to Oxford; it was named Verney Junction after Sir Harry Verney, chairman of the Buckinghamshire Railway." and then pop in a ref. to Day --Redrose64 (talk) 21:43, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

That sounds fine. Thanks. Oliver Fury, Esq. message • contributions 21:47, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Lines missed out

The following lines still need to be written up:

• Wolverton to Newport Pagnell
• Wolverton to Stony Stratford
• Leighton Buzzard to Stanbridgeford (LB station was in Bucks until 1965)
• Staines and West Drayton Railway

There may be more than this. More and more lines in traditional Bucks are popping up- one's I know little about. Anyway, onwards and upwards! Oliver Fury, Esq. message • contributions 04:19, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Not sure where your full list is, it's difficult to pick one out from the prose of the article, so I can't do a full check. I do have a stack of rail atlases which incorporate county boundaries, mainly Ian Allan and OPC (Baker). Ian Allan atlases are better for county boundaries than the OPC ones, since OPC are all post-1974 (Local Government reorganisation). IA do make mistakes - the 1967 atlas, and others, omit the Bucks/Berks bdy from page 5, and different edns can't agree whether Chorley Wood & Chenies is Bucks or Herts: in fact it's Herts, by about 150 yards, judging by the OS map (1" 7th series sheet 159). You can see a fair old list on my home page. However, examining various of those suggests this list:

Great Central

• Quainton Road Junc-Finmere-[Rugby] Y
• Ashendon Junc-Grendon Underwood Junc

Great Western & constituents

• [Paddington]-West Drayton-Maidenhead-[Bristol] Y
• West Drayton-Staines West
• Slough-Windsor & Eton Central (nb triangle at Slough) Y
• [Maidenhead]-Cookham-High Wycombe Y
• Bourne End-Marlow Y
• Princes Risborough-Chinnor-[Watlington] Y
• Princes Risborough-Thame-[Oxford] Y
• Ashendon Junc-Blackthorn-[Banbury] (nb flying junction at Ashendon - is this two lines?)

London & North Western & constituents

• [Euston]-Tring-Roade-[Birmingham] (nb Wolverton deviation - two lines?) Y
• Cheddington-Aylesbury Y
• Leighton Buzzard-Stanbridgeford-[Dunstable]
• Bletchley-Launton-[Oxford] Y
• Verney Junc-Brackley-[Banbury] Y
• Bletchley-Aspley Guise-[Bedford] Y
• Wolverton-Newport Pagnell (nb triangle at Wolverton)

London & South Western & constituents

• Staines Central-Windsor & Eton Riverside Y

Midland & constituents

• [Bedford]-Turvey-Piddington-[Northampton]

Joint lines

• [Baker Street]-Chorley Wood & Chenies-Verney Junc Y
• Chalfont & Latimer-Chesham Y
• Ruislip & Ickenham-Princes Risborough (nb up & down lines on different alignments at Saunderton, built many years apart) Y
• Princes Risborough-Ashendon Junc Y
• Princes Risborough-Aylesbury Y
• Quainton Road-Brill Y

BR period

• Calvert-Claydon curve
• Bletchley flyover

I don't list Wolverton-Stony Stratford, because I can't find it. I know where it ought to be, but there's nothing there. --Redrose64 (talk) 16:46, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I listed the lines which had been totally missed out, but there are quite a few that need extra detail. I recently bought a book entitled Branch Lines of Buckinghamshire by Colin G. Maggs, so that will help. The lines I've ticked above are those which have been written up but may require extra detail. The unticked lines are not written up at all. I will try to get it started shortly. This article has great potential, in my opinion- let's make it fantastic. Oliver Fury, Esq. message • contributions 21:55, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Found another one for you! According to the OS map I mentioned earlier, Ravenstone Wood Junction (grid reference SP844530) was just within Bucks (although the Ian Allan atlases show it in Northants, which is why I missed it earlier), so we have a hundred yards or so of the Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction Rly to consider also - the very eastern end of their main line.

I'm just about to add some more atlases to my home page - the Midland Railway Distance Diagrams. Whilst originally produced by the Mid. Rly, these show other railways on the same sheets, as well as county boundaries. Eastern Bucks is covered by volume 3 sheets 39-40. The scale is allegedly 1" = 1 mile, but appears to be reduced to approx 80% of that. --Redrose64 (talk) 10:52, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Yep, just abouts. This website I've remembered is also a great source of info, and possibly images, but I'm not sure of the copyright laws. As I'm from south Bucks, my knowledge of north Bucks railways was lacking, but now I know what to do. I've written Wolverton to Newport Pagnell Line, but apart from that there is the Stony Stratford tramway, the Bedford to Northampton line and the Stratford upon Avon & Midland Junction railway. The rest I know about and have been written, but may need upgrading.

I may need a bit of help with the BR built structures, namely the Bletchley flyover and the Calvert curve, as I don't know much about these. I'll tell you when I get to them. Thanks for your input! Oliver Fury, Esq. message • contributions 17:40, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Okeydokey, here's more on how Ravenstone Wood Junction came about - the 10.5 mile line to there from Towcester was auth. by Act of 15 August 1879 for - get ready - "Easton Neston Mineral & Towcester, Roade & Olney Junction Railway" (see Jenkins, Stanley C. (1990). "3 Nineteenth Century Developments". The Northampton & Banbury Junction Railway. Oakwood Library of Railway History. Headington: Oakwood. pp. 39–40. ISBN 0 85361 390 7.). Here we also find that this (as yet unbuilt) rly was renamed the "Stratford upon Avon, Towcester & Midland Junction Railway" in 1882; it was opd 13 April 1891 (goods) 1 Dec 1891 (pass) but pass services wdn end Mar 1883.

The SAT&MJR amalgamated with two others to form the Stratford upon Avon & Midland Junction railway on 1 August 1908 (Jenkins. The Northampton & Banbury Junction Railway. p. 47.) which of course became part of the LMS at the Grouping.

[There is a maxim that the shorter the railway the longer the name, and vice versa]

As for Calvert curve, that may have been put in during WWII, rather than by BR. Bletchley flyover was definitely BR however. --Redrose64 (talk) 16:34, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Here's another...

Halton Railway. --Redrose64 (talk) 21:53, 18 November 2009 (UTC)