This past weekend I was in Quainton, near Aylesbury, for a trip to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. Not in London, I know, but its close enough to be considered Metroland, and it has ties with the London Underground that make it worthy of inclusion here.
I was there to do a talk and book signing, as part of a Steam Enthusiast weekend, but it was also chance to see another disused station that I’d read about but never actually been to (following on from the recent trip to Ongar).
The museum is located at the former Quainton Road railway station, opened in 1868 and closed for passenger services in 1963. Despite being around 44 miles from London, it briefly became part of the Metropolitan line in 1933.
Over the next 30 years, Met line services were gradually withdrawn from here and 13 other stations in the area, including several between Aylesbury and Amersham, and along branch lines to Verney Junction and Brill (originally known as the Brill Tramway), both of which branched off from the mainline at Quainton Road.
The old stations between Amersham and Aylesbury still operate today, run by Chiltern Railways on the route from Marylebone, but the stations along the two branch lines have pretty much disappeared without a trace. Quainton Road is still standing though, and has been lovingly preserved as one of the main attractions at the museum.
In addition to the old station, the museum also has a huge collection of rolling stock, old signs and artefacts.
The collection includes some Royal Mail train carriages, which the museum has tied in with a history of the Great Train Robbery. It's a bit of a tenuos link, seeing as most of that happened further down the line elsewhere in Buckinghamshire, but you can't really blame them for cashing in on the Biggs' legend.
The special weekend also included several steam engines running through the site. Take away the colour, and the photo of the engine and signal box seen here looks like it could easily have been taken 80 years ago.
More photos from the visit will be added to the Do Not Alight Here Flickr page soon.
All photos used courtesy of Do Not Alight Here photographer Louise Trueman.
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