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Aylesbury railway station is a
railway station in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, on the
London–Aylesbury line from London Marylebone via Amersham. It is
38 miles (61 km) from Aylesbury to Marylebone. A branch line
from Princes Risborough on the Chiltern Main Line terminates at
the station. It was the terminus for London Underground's
Metropolitan line until the service was cut back to Amersham in
1961. The station was also known as Aylesbury Town under the
management of British Railways from c. 1948 until the 1960s.
The first station on the site was opened in 1863 by the Wycombe
Railway, which in 1867 was taken over by the Great Western
Railway. In 1868 the Aylesbury & Buckingham Railway (later part
of the Metropolitan Railway) reached Aylesbury.
When opened, the line to Aylesbury from Princes Risborough was
broad gauge. To avoid mixed gauge track when the standard gauge
Aylesbury and Buckingham arrived at the station in 1868, the
section to Princes Risborough was converted to standard gauge,
and therefore until the rest of the Wycombe Railway was
converted in 1870 there was no access to the rest of the GWR
system. The GWR provided motive power and trains to both the
Wycombe Railway and the A&B, and ran a shuttle service from
Princes Risborough to Verney Junction.
A broad gauge single-road engine shed was provided from the
station's opening in 1863; the shed was doubled in length within
a year or two, and in 1870 became a two-road shed with a lean-to
added to the east side of the original shed. By 1892, with the
arrival of the Metropolitan Railway, the shed was converted to a
north-light two-road shed using the west wall of the original
broad gauge shed and the east wall of the 1870 extension.
The Metropolitan Railway opened from Chalfont Road in 1892 to a
separate station named Aylesbury (Brook Street) adjacent to the
GWR station. It closed in 1894 when services were diverted to
the GW station. The Great Central Railway reached Aylesbury in
1899 from Annesley Junction just north of Nottingham on its
London extension line to London Marylebone.
The original station had one platform with a brick-built station
building a canopy projected from the building over the platform
supported on cast iron pillars. The cost of the station building
was shared between the Wycombe Railway and the Aylesbury and
Buckingham Railway; the original plans are in Aylesbury local
records office.
The current station buildings date from 1926, when the station
was extensively rebuilt again—this time by the London and North
Eastern Railway. Until nationalisation in 1948, Aylesbury
station was operated by a joint committee whose constituents
were also joint committees: the GWR & GCR Joint and the
Metropolitan and GCR Joint; although the LNER had taken on the
role of the former Great Central Railway in all three joint
committees, these committees were not renamed.
Aylesbury 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. 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 gives access to
Princes Risborough and London Marylebone via High Wycombe only.
Platform 2 can serve both routes. There was a bay platform
(platform 4) that served as the terminus for Metropolitan trains
and several freight sidings but the car park now lies on the
trackbed and bike racks occupy 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, which has recently
had automatic ticket gates installed. There are two FastTicket
self-service ticket machines accepting cash and cards, a permit
to travel machine and two ticket windows. There is a taxi rank
outside the station. From 21 January 2008 the taxi rank was
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.
Seven first generation DMUs built in the late 1950s are based at
Aylesbury. These units are jointly used by Chiltern Railways and
Network Rail for route learning and Sandite duties. One unit was
used solely for passenger services until 2017 to and from
Princes Risborough.
All three station platforms have step-free access, with access
to platforms 1 and 2 via a pair of lifts.
All services at Aylesbury are operated by Chiltern Railways.
Most services operate to London Marylebone although services can
take one of two routes running via either Amersham on the
London-Aylesbury line or via the Aylesbury–Princes Risborough
line, High Wycombe and the Chiltern Main Line.
Aylesbury bus station is a two-minute walk from the station.
Buses, the majority of which are operated by Arriva Shires &
Essex, depart to several destinations across Buckinghamshire,
Hertfordshire and Oxfordshire, including Stoke Mandeville
Hospital, Milton Keynes, Oxford, Tring, Watford, Luton 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.
The Aylesbury - Princes Risborough rail link offers connections
to High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury and Birmingham. This route
was greatly improved by "Project Evergreen" - the re-dualing and
speeding-up of Marylebone - Risborough - Birmingham track and
services. Since 2015 Risborough has also had access to direct
Oxford trains via a new junction at Bicester Village.
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