High Wycombe railway station

The remains of the 1854 station

The original terminus station was built in 1854 after an original design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The station had one platform and a train shed that covered two broad gauge tracks. On one side of the train shed was a single road engine shed and on the platform side were a booking office and waiting rooms (on the Birdcage Walk side). The walls of the train shed, an engine shed and offices were constructed from brick and knapped flint with slate roofs. This building remained as a station in use until 1864 when it became a goods shed. Between the 1880s and 1940 various additions were made to the fabric of the old station. The building received grade two listing in 1999 due to being one of only six remaining GWR train sheds. Following listing most of the later additions were removed, restoring the building to its original footprint, the only addition being the flat roof second floor extension added in 1940.

The dimensions and general design of the train shed, engine shed and office accommodation were repeated at Thame with only the building materials different; Wycombe was built with brick and knapped flint wall while Thame was constructed from timber.

A second through station was opened on the current location in 1864 with a second platform and, later, a footbridge. For two years prior to this date, after the extension to Thame had been made, all through trains had to reverse in and out of the old station which was not located on the new through lines. The design of the office accommodation on the newer station was a copy of the office accommodation on the old, with a canopy covering the platform rather than the train shed. The building was extended as least once at its west end.

With the building of the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway in 1906 the station was again rebuilt to the design that is in use today, with four lines between two staggered platforms and a subway.

The station was originally the terminus of the Wycombe Railway line from Maidenhead, which was later extended to Aylesbury and Oxford, and then in 1867 was taken over by the Great Western Railway.

In 1906 the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway line was opened through High Wycombe, linking London with the two companies' lines to the north. Much of the current Chiltern Main Line is formed from this joint line.

British Rail closed the original branch line to Maidenhead on 2 May 1970 and subsequently the track was lifted.[1]

The station was transferred from the Western Region of British Rail to the London Midland Region on 24 March 1974.[2]

In November 2005 a fire in the ticket office gutted the roof of the building.[3] The restored station building reopened in September 2007.[4]

In April 2015 the Northbound platform was lengthened.[5] The subway was closed and has now been replaced with a footbridge with a lift at each end.[6]

A Class 168 going to London calls at High Wycombe as a northbound service approaches

All trains are operated by Chiltern Railways. The current off-peak services are:[7]

• 5 trains per hour to London Marylebone, of which:
  • 2 are non-stop to London Marylebone
  • 2 semi-fast calling at Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross.
  • 1 local calling at Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross as well as other intermediate stations, which originates at High Wycombe.
• 1 train per hour to Birmingham Moor Street.
• 1 train per hour to Aylesbury.
• 1 train per hour to Banbury.
• 1 train per hour to Oxford calling at Bicester Village.

High Wycombe has a bay platform, Platform 1, from which additional peak-hour local services run to and from London Marylebone. It is also used by a terminating weekdays only parliamentary service from West Ealing via the Greenford line.[8] Until December 2018 it operated from London Paddington via the Acton-Northolt line.[9]

Future

High Wycombe is to gain further rail links north of Aylesbury to Winslow and Milton Keynes by 2030 as part of the East West Rail project.[10]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Saunderton		Chiltern Railways Chiltern Main Line		Beaconsfield
Bicester Village		Chiltern Railways London Marylebone — Oxford		London Marylebone
West Ealing		Chiltern Railways Greenford line (limited service) Monday - Friday only		Terminus
	Disused railways
Terminus		Great Western Railway Wycombe Railway Until 1970		Loudwater

Wikimedia Commons has media related to High Wycombe railway station.

• Chiltern Railways
• Chiltern Railways Evergreen 3 - Proposed services to Oxford.
• Drawings of how the station looked when built