Aylesbury railway station

Aylesbury railway station (also called Aylesbury Town railway station ) is a railway station in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England and is a major stop on the London to Aylesbury Line from Marylebone station via Amersham. It is 37.75 miles from Aylesbury Station to Marylebone Station. A branch line from Princes Risborough, on the Chiltern Main Line, terminates at the station.

History
The first station on the site was first opened in 1863 by the Wycombe Railway (later GWR). In 1868 the Aylesbury & Buckingham Railway (later Metropolitan Railway) connected to Aylesbury. The Metropolitan Railway connected from Little Chalfont in 1892, in which the station was rebuilt. The Great Central Railway connected to Aylesbury in 1899 from Annesley Junction just north of Nottingham on their 'London Extension' line to London Marylebone.

The Aylesbury Railway Disaster of 1904

Because the station had been a terminus for the Metropolitan railway the original junction layout on the route to London Marylebone included a sharp curve. While not important to trains stopping at the station it took on a different significance once some Great Central trains began to run non-stop through Aylesbury from 1899 onwards. Rather than change the junction layout to accommodate faster trains a 15 mph speed restriction was placed on the curve.

On 23 December 1904 at about 3.38 am this curve was the site of the Aylesbury Railway Disaster. The 2.45 am Great Central express newspaper train from London Marylebone consisting of an engine, tender, and ten vehicles - three coaches, an assortment of six fish, meat and parcel vans, and a brake van - failed to slow for the curve, and became completely derailed. The engine, tender, and the first three or four vehicles mounted the down platform of the station, two vehicles mounted the up platform, and the rest of the train was smashed to pieces and scattered over a distance of 50 yards between the two platforms. The driver of the train, Joseph Barnshaw was seriously injured and died the next day. The fireman George Masters was killed as also were London-based driver David Summers and fireman Josiah Stanton who were travelling as passengers in the first coach on their way to Gorton, Manchester.

There was heavy fog at the time of the accident, and at the subsequent Board of Trade inquiry there was some doubt as to how well driver Barnshaw knew the route. What the inquiry did not touch on was that there had been a history of fast running of these newspaper trains, which had become an important traffic for the Great Central Railway. This dated back to the Boer War which had ended only two years earlier. The Manchester Guardian's stance on the Boer War had resulted in significant drops in circulation, and the London newspapers (led by the Daily Mail) saw a significant business opportunity in the Manchester area. They sought to get their morning newspapers to Manchester in time to grab a share of this market. These trains recorded fast times for the era, including an authenticated timing of 220 minutes for the 206 mile journey including stops.

The station buildings

The current station buildings date from 1926 when the station was again extensively rebuilt by the LNER. Until nationalisation in 1948, Aylesbury was a joint station operated by the LNER and the Great Western Railway.

The 1960s to the present day

Until 1966, Aylesbury was an intermediate station on the former Great Central Railway main line from London Marylebone to Sheffield Victoria and on to Manchester via the Woodhead Tunnel. Aylesbury was also on the Metropolitan Railway (later Metropolitan Line) and through trains from Baker Street to Verney Junction operated until 1936. From 1948 to 1961 Aylesbury was the terminus of the Met's mainline in which trains had to change from electric to steam locomotives at Rickmansworth. Following electrification from Rickmansworth to Amersham, Aylesbury was no longer served by London Underground trains. In 1966, the Great Central Main Line was closed north of Aylesbury. Aylesbury was thus left with commuter services to London only. From the 1960s until the 1980s, passenger trains at Aylesbury were almost exclusively operated by British Rail Class 115 diesel multiple units.

By the 1980s, the lines serving Aylesbury were in a poor state. Aylesbury station itself was run down and needed a facelift. Network SouthEast decided to revamp the lines out of Marylebone, and Aylesbury was refurbished with the addition of a new waiting room, new toilets and better lighting. Platform 4 was closed and the car park was extended. A new driver's staff room on platform 3 and a new heavy maintenance depot was built just north of the station. Aylesbury became the headquarters of the operational side of the Chiltern Line. (For more information, see: Chiltern Line Modernisation)

On the 14th December 2008, two miles of the line north of Aylesbury was reopened for passenger service, with regular passenger services running north of the station for the first time since 1966. This new service is to Aylesbury Vale Parkway opened by Chiltern Railways.

Present layout
The station is laid out for through traffic, with hourly trains to/from Aylesbury Vale Parkway and waste freight trains to the landfill site at Calvert heading north. On selected days, usually bank holidays, special passenger services run to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre at Quainton Road station. In addition there is a major repair and maintenance depot just north of the station, and several sidings.

There are three platforms. Platform 3 gives access to Amersham and London Marylebone only, whilst platform 1 only gives access to Princes Risborough and London Marylebone via High Wycombe only. Platform 2 can serve both routes. There used to be a bay platform (platform 4) and several freight sidings but the car park now lies on the trackbed and bike racks occupies the platform. The goods depot was to the west of the station and was demolished in the 1960s. Modern apartments now occupy the site.

The station is managed by Chiltern Railways and has recently been fitted with Automatic Ticket Gates. There are two FastTicket self-service ticket machines accepting cash and cards, a PERTIS machine and two ticket windows. There is a taxi rank outside the station. From 21 January 2008, the taxi rank has moved to the car park for 52 weeks as a result of major engineering work on the new Southcourt Bridge and the new Station Boulevard.

Aylesbury is home to no fewer than seven First Generation DMUs built in the late 1950s. These units are jointly used by Chiltern Railways and Network Rail for route learning and sandite duties. One unit is used solely for passenger services to/from Princes Risborough.

All three station platforms have step-free access. However, to access platforms 1 and 2 without steps, passengers should ask staff for assistance to cross the tracks via the down passenger loop frame.

Future
A further expansion of rail services to Bletchley and Bedford is suggested in a consultants' report written to provide regional planning guidance to Bucks County Council concerning the development of Aylesbury Vale.

As part of the plans to restore the Varsity Line, these services could be extended to terminate at Milton Keynes via Bletchley.

Aylesbury may also feature in the Croxley Rail Link project which envisages re-routing part of the London Underground Metropolitan line to Watford Junction; proposals also exist to start direct rail services between Watford Junction and Aylesbury via Rickmansworth and Amersham.

Services


Train services to London are usually via Amersham on the London to Aylesbury Line. In addition to this, travellers also have the option of going to Princes Risborough, and changing to a service on the Chiltern Main Line (although this results in a longer journey time). However, on late nights and Sundays, some services run direct to Marylebone via the Princes Risborough and Chiltern Main Line route, without the need to change.

At peak times, there are up to five trains per hour towards London in the morning, and returning from London in the evening. Some of these are express services, which skip the stops shared with the Metropolitan Line nearer to London. The typical service pattern is as follows:

Monday-Friday
 * 2tph to/from London via Amersham (plus 1tph express service to London in morning, and from London in evening peak) (1tph is extended north to Aylesbury Vale Parkway)
 * 1tph to/from Princes Risborough

Saturday
 * 2tph to/from London via Amersham (1tph is extended north to Aylesbury Vale Parkway)
 * 1tph to/from Princes Risborough

Sunday
 * 1tph to/from London via Amersham (All trains terminate at Aylesbury Vale Parkway on Sundays)
 * 1tph to/from London via Princes Risborough

Onward connections
Aylesbury bus station is a two minute walk from the station. Buses depart to several destinations across Buckinghamshire, including Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Milton Keynes, Oxford and Leighton Buzzard. Bus departure times are displayed on screens outside the rail station's departure lounge as well as at the bus station itself.