Denham railway station

Denham railway station is in Buckinghamshire, England, on the Chiltern Main Line 26 km (16 miles) north west of Marylebone towards High Wycombe.

History


The station was built just to the north of Denham village as part of the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway from Grendon Underwood junction to Marylebone via High Wycombe. Its original name was "Denham - Junction for Uxbridge" as it was a stop on the shuttle service between Gerrards Cross and Uxbridge High Street; the latter has long been closed and demolished, and the connection trackwork lifted.

The station layout was characteristic of the period, with four roads: two for non-stop trains, and two platforms for stopping services. There was a small goods yard to the north of the line, the whole supervised from a signal box on the London end of the down platform.

Abandoned Central Line Extension
Under the London Passenger Transport Board's 1935-1940 New Works Programme, the station was to have been the terminus of the Central Line's westward extension, with Central Line platforms to the south of those on the main line. Works on the extension were postponed during World War II. The introduction of the Metropolitan Green Belt limited the expansion of the London urban area and the extension was cut back to West Ruislip; no visible sign remains at Denham of the extension works.

The station was transferred from the Western Region of British Rail to the London Midland Region on 24 March 1974.

The signal box and the through roads have long gone, and all services use the platform roads, although these have improved track alignments to allow fast running. The former goods yard is now a heavily-used station car park.

Development
The Joint line builders provided a pedestrian underpass to link the platforms, but this was inaccessible to those of impaired mobility. Further, the embankment supporting the down (westbound) platform and buildings was subsiding, so work has been carried out to relocate the down platform as an island north of the down road, in the gap left by the removal of the original through roads, and to provide a footbridge and lifts, similar to Gerrards Cross, for disabled access. The relocated down platform was open for use in late July 2008, and the original down platform and buildings have been removed.

A second, proposed, stage, providing a third reversible track between the rear of the new platform and the existing up (eastbound) platform road, will improve operational flexibility by allowing stopping services to be passed by following non-stop trains.

Services
Monday to Saturday daytime there is a half-hourly service southbound to Marylebone and northbound to High Wycombe with an hourly service in each direction evenings and Sundays.