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132-523: Oxford Rewley Road railway station was a railway station serving the city of Oxford , England , located immediately to the north of what is now Frideswide Square on the site of the Saïd Business School , to the west of Rewley Road . It had features of significance in construction history, and was the terminus of the Buckinghamshire Railway , which was worked, and later absorbed, by

264-404: A bar or pub . Other station facilities may include: toilets , left-luggage , lost-and-found , departures and arrivals schedules , luggage carts, waiting rooms , taxi ranks , bus bays and even car parks . Larger or staffed stations tend to have a greater range of facilities including also a station security office. These are usually open for travellers when there is sufficient traffic over

396-499: A motive power depot . The Great Western Railway had opened its station in 1852 on an adjacent site, the location of the current Oxford railway station , and the two stations came under joint management in 1933. Rewley Road was closed to passengers by the London Midland Region of British Railways on 1 October 1951 and services transferred to the ex-GWR station. The goods yard remained available for use until 5 April 1984 and

528-526: A 2,700-acre (1,100 ha) site near the Tramway's Waddesdon station to use as a site for his country mansion of Waddesdon Manor . The Tramway's management recognised that the construction works would lead to a significant increase in the haulage of heavy goods, and that the Aveling and Porter engines would be unable to cope with the increased loads. The newly established engineering firm of W. G. Bagnall wrote to

660-406: A bypass line, used by freight trains that do not need to stop at the terminus. Some termini have a newer set of through platforms underneath (or above, or alongside) the terminal platforms on the main level. They are used by a cross-city extension of the main line, often for commuter trains , while the terminal platforms may serve long-distance services. Examples of underground through lines include

792-499: A dedicated service from Quainton Road, with three vans per week of milk collected from the Wotton estate shipped to Broad Street . Passengers were not carried, other than estate employees and people accompanying livestock. The tramway did not link to the A&;B, but had its own station at Quainton Road at a right angle to the A&B. A 13-foot (4.0 m) diameter turntable at the end of

924-570: A different design in 1888. The other main feature of the site was Rewley Road Swing Bridge , a swing bridge just to the north, taking the line across the navigable Sheepwash Channel which links the River Thames and the Castle Mill Stream next to the Oxford Canal . The bridge remains in situ but not in use today. There were also extensive sidings for coal and other freight traffic, and

1056-521: A direct connection between the two lines, but it was not built. In late 1871 the residents of Brill , the former seat of the Mercian kings and the only significant town near Wotton House, petitioned the Duke to extend the route to Brill and to run a passenger service on the line. In January 1872 a passenger timetable was published for the first time, and the line was officially named the "Wotton Tramway", but it

1188-454: A direct link between the former A&B and the O&;AT to be built. The new station was re-sited to the southeast of the road, on the same side as the turntable connection with the Tramway. The new station had two platforms on the former A&B line and a third platform for Brill trains. In 1896 the level crossings around the station were replaced by a road bridge over the railway. A curve between

1320-404: A few intermediate stations that take the form of a stub-end station, for example at some zigzags . If there is a station building , it is usually located to the side of the tracks. In the case of intermediate stations used for both passenger and freight traffic, there is a distinction between those where the station building and goods facilities are on the same side of the tracks and those in which

1452-472: A few small railway stations are designated as "halts" ( Irish : stadanna , sing. stad ). In some Commonwealth countries the term "halt" is used. In Australia, with its sparse rural populations, such stopping places were common on lines that were still open for passenger traffic. In the state of Victoria , for example, a location on a railway line where a small diesel railcar or railmotor could stop on request, allowing passengers to board or alight,

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1584-794: A further 40 from other companies at the Grouping of 1923. Peak building periods were before the First World War (145 built) and 1928–1939 (198 built). Ten more were opened by British Rail on ex-GWR lines. The GWR also built 34 "platforms". Many such stops remain on the national railway networks in the United Kingdom, such as Penmaenmawr in North Wales , Yorton in Shropshire , and The Lakes in Warwickshire , where passengers are requested to inform

1716-497: A junction to the south of the turntable to allow through running of trains. The stretch from Quainton Road to Brill would be straightened and improved to main-line standards, and the little-used stations at Waddesdon Road and Wood Siding would be closed. From Brill, the line would pass in a 1,650-yard (1,510 m) tunnel through Muswell Hill to the south of Brill, and on via Boarstall before crossing from Buckinghamshire into Oxfordshire at Stanton St. John , calling at Headington on

1848-440: A legal action against the A&B. However, the A&B was in such a precarious financial position that any successful legal action against it would likely have forced its through Quainton Road to close, severing the Tramway's connection with the national network. Many Tramway passengers changed trains at Quainton Road to continue their journey on the A&B; in 1885, 5,192 passengers did so. The Tramway's management suggested that

1980-571: A line was dual-purpose there would often be a freight depot apart from the passenger station. This type of dual-purpose station can sometimes still be found today, though in many cases goods facilities are restricted to major stations. Many stations date from the 19th century and reflect the grandiose architecture of the time, lending prestige to the city as well as to railway operations. Countries where railways arrived later may still have such architecture, as later stations often imitated 19th-century styles. Various forms of architecture have been used in

2112-414: A long and expensive eviction. The building's occupiers were supported by many local politicians and put forward alternative proposals for the junction design and alternative uses for the building, including an art gallery and tourist centre. Part of the controversy surrounding the building of the new business school involved the project's funding coming from Wafic Saïd . The Business School opened in 2001 and

2244-407: A long enough period of time to warrant the cost. In large cities this may mean facilities available around the clock. A basic station might only have platforms, though it may still be distinguished from a halt , a stopping or halting place that may not even have platforms. Many stations, either larger or smaller, offer interchange with local transportation; this can vary from a simple bus stop across

2376-504: A member of on-board train staff if they wish to alight, or, if catching a train from the station, to make themselves clearly visible to the driver and use a hand signal as the train approaches. Most have had "Halt" removed from their names. Two publicly advertised and publicly accessible National Rail stations retain it: Coombe Junction Halt and St Keyne Wishing Well Halt . A number of other halts are still open and operational on privately owned, heritage, and preserved railways throughout

2508-663: A new through-station, including the cases of Berlin Hauptbahnhof , Vienna Hauptbahnhof and numerous examples throughout the first century of railroading. Stuttgart 21 is a controversial project involving the replacement of a terminus station by a through-station. An American example of a terminal with this feature is Union Station in Washington, DC , where there are bay platforms on the main concourse level to serve terminating trains and standard island platforms one level below to serve trains continuing southward. The lower tracks run in

2640-422: A nuisance, and in the 1870s pursued a policy of charging disproportionately high fees for through traffic between the Tramway and the main line, with the intention of forcing the Tramway out of business. A&B trains would deliberately miss connections with the Tramway, causing milk shipped via Quainton Road to become unsellable. The Tramway sought legal advice and was informed that the Duke would be likely to win

2772-482: A railway now running near the boundary of the Wotton House estate at Quainton Road, the 3rd Duke decided to open a small-scale agricultural railway to connect the estate to the railway. The line was intended purely for the transport of construction materials and agricultural produce, and not passengers. The line was to run roughly southwest from Quainton Road to a new railway station near Wotton Underwood. Just west of

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2904-591: A relatively insignificant part of the Tramway's business, and in 1898 passenger receipts were only £24 per month (about £3,400 in 2024). Quainton Road had seen little change since its construction by the A&B in 1868, and in 1890 was described by The Times as "one of the most primitive-looking stations in the British Isles". While the line to Brill was being upgraded, the MR were rebuilding and re-siting Quainton Road as part of its improvement programme, freeing space for

3036-641: A single passenger. Frank Pick , managing director of the Underground Group from 1928 and the Chief Executive of the LPTB, aimed to move the network away from freight services and concentrate on the electrification and improvement of the core routes in London. He saw the lines beyond Aylesbury via Quainton Road to Brill and Verney Junction as having little future as financially viable passenger routes. On 1 June 1935

3168-407: A spot at the station to board and disembark trains is called station track or house track regardless of whether it is a main line or loop line. If such track is served by a platform , the track may be called platform track. A loop line without a platform, which is used to allow a train to clear the main line at the station only, is called passing track. A track at the station without a platform which

3300-417: A station and various other features set certain types apart. The first is the level of the tracks . Stations are often sited where a road crosses the railway: unless the crossing is a level crossing , the road and railway will be at different levels. The platforms will often be raised or lowered relative to the station entrance: the station buildings may be on either level, or both. The other arrangement, where

3432-576: A station stop does not. A station stop usually does not have any tracks other than the main tracks, and may or may not have switches (points, crossovers). An intermediate station does not have any other connecting route, unlike branch-off stations , connecting stations, transfer stations and railway junctions . In a broader sense, an intermediate station is generally any station on the route between its two terminal stations . The majority of stations are, in practice, intermediate stations. They are mostly designed as through stations ; there are only

3564-405: A station track as a temporary storage of a disabled train. A "terminus" or "terminal" is a station at the end of a railway line. Trains arriving there have to end their journeys (terminate) or reverse out of the station. Depending on the layout of the station, this usually permits travellers to reach all the platforms without the need to cross any tracks – the public entrance to the station and

3696-609: A store then as a shop for a number of years before its current use to house an exhibit on the history of the Brill Tramway. A former London Transport building from Wembley Park was dismantled and re-erected at Quainton Road to serve as a maintenance shed. From 1984 until 1990, the station briefly came back into passenger use, when special Saturday Christmas shopping services between Aylesbury and Bletchley were operated by British Rail Network SouthEast on Saturdays only, and stopped at Quainton Road. From August Bank Holiday 1971 until

3828-538: A terminus adjacent to the station. He extended it soon afterwards to provide a passenger service to the town of Brill , and the tramway was converted to locomotive operation, known as the Brill Tramway . All goods to and from the Brill Tramway passed through Quainton Road, making it relatively heavily used despite its geographical isolation, and traffic increased further when construction began on Ferdinand de Rothschild 's mansion of Waddesdon Manor . The plan of extending

3960-405: A three-way junction and platforms are built on all three sides, for example Shipley and Earlestown stations. In a station, there are different types of tracks to serve different purposes. A station may also have a passing loop with a loop line that comes off the straight main line and merge back to the main line on the other end by railroad switches to allow trains to pass. A track with

4092-449: A train, sometimes consisting of a short platform and a waiting area but sometimes indicated by no more than a sign, are variously referred to as "stops", " flag stops ", " halts ", or "provisional stopping places". The stations themselves may be at ground level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other transport modes such as buses , trams , or other rapid transit systems. Train station

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4224-636: A tunnel beneath the concourse and emerge a few blocks away to cross the Potomac River into Virginia. Terminus stations in large cities are by far the biggest stations, with the largest being Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Other major cities, such as London, Boston , Paris, Istanbul , Tokyo, and Milan have more than one terminus, rather than routes straight through the city. Train journeys through such cities often require alternative transport ( metro , bus , taxi or ferry ) from one terminus to

4356-464: Is Arbroath . Occasionally, a station serves two or more railway lines at differing levels. This may be due to the station's position at a point where two lines cross (example: Berlin Hauptbahnhof ), or may be to provide separate station capacity for two types of service, such as intercity and suburban (examples: Paris-Gare de Lyon and Philadelphia's 30th Street Station ), or for two different destinations. Stations may also be classified according to

4488-455: Is any longer served by trains), or military base (such as Lympstone Commando ) or railway yard. The only two such "private" stopping places on the national system, where the "halt" designation is still officially used, seem to be Staff Halt (at Durnsford Road, Wimbledon) and Battersea Pier Sidings Staff Halt, both of which are solely for railway staff. In Portugal , railway stops are called halts ( Portuguese : apeadeiro ). In Ireland ,

4620-404: Is frequently, but not always, the final destination of trains arriving at the station. Especially in continental Europe, a city may have a terminus as its main railway station, and all main lines converge on it. In such cases all trains arriving at the terminus must leave in the reverse direction from that of their arrival. There are several ways in which this can be accomplished: There may also be

4752-535: Is now the extended Down Yard have been converted for various uses by the Society, including storage and exhibition of rolling stock. Although the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre's steam trains run on the sidings which were disconnected from the network in 1967, the station still has a working railway line running to it, used for occasional special passenger trains from Aylesbury in connection with events at

4884-507: Is the terminology typically used in the U.S. In Europe, the terms train station and railway station are both commonly used, with railroad being obsolete. In British Commonwealth usage, where railway station is the traditional term, the word station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise specified. In the United States, the term depot is sometimes used as an alternative name for station , along with

5016-411: Is used for trains to pass the station without stopping is called through track. There may be other sidings at the station which are lower speed tracks for other purposes. A maintenance track or a maintenance siding, usually connected to a passing track, is used for parking maintenance equipment, trains not in service, autoracks or sleepers . A refuge track is a dead-end siding that is connected to

5148-502: The Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway , it was the result of pressure from the 3rd Duke of Buckingham to route the railway near his home at Wotton House and to open a railway station at the nearest point to it. Serving a relatively underpopulated area, Quainton Road was a crude railway station, described as "extremely primitive". The Duke of Buckingham built a short horse-drawn tramway to transport goods between his estates at Wotton and

5280-472: The Buckinghamshire Railway was being built by Sir Harry Verney. The scheme consisted of a line running roughly south-west to north-east from Oxford to Bletchley , and a line running south-east from Brackley via Buckingham , joining roughly halfway along the Oxford–Bletchley line. The first section opened on 1 May 1850, and the rest opened on 20 May 1851. The Buckinghamshire Railway intended to extend

5412-600: The London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). In 1923, it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) " Varsity Line " service from Cambridge via Bletchley . The line from Bletchley to Oxford was opened by the Buckinghamshire Railway (worked and later owned by the L&;NWR) in 1851. The Oxford station was built on the site of Rewley Abbey , a 13th-century Cistercian monastery . The contractors for

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5544-508: The Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford led to dismantling of the station building in 1999 with the financial support of the University. Official consent to this without a public inquiry , together with associated road works and the cutting down of trees on the perimeter of the site, made the decision controversial and led to the building being occupied for six months culminating in

5676-661: The Shinkansen in Japan, THSR in Taiwan, TGV lines in France, and ICE lines in Germany. Stations normally have staffed ticket sales offices, automated ticket machines , or both, although on some lines tickets are sold on board the trains. Many stations include a shop or convenience store . Larger stations usually have fast-food or restaurant facilities. In some countries, stations may also have

5808-912: The Thameslink platforms at St Pancras in London, the Argyle and North Clyde lines of Glasgow's suburban rail network , in Antwerp in Belgium, the RER at the Gare du Nord in Paris, the Milan suburban railway service 's Passante railway , and many of the numerous S-Bahn lines at terminal stations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, such as at Zürich Hauptbahnhof . Due to the disadvantages of terminus stations there have been multiple cases in which one or several terminus stations were replaced with

5940-595: The West Coast Main Line , to Aylesbury High Street railway station in eastern Aylesbury , the first station in the Aylesbury Vale . On 1 October 1863 the Wycombe Railway opened a branch line from Princes Risborough railway station to Aylesbury railway station on the western side of Aylesbury, making Aylesbury the terminus of two small and unconnected branch lines. Meanwhile, to the north of Aylesbury,

6072-514: The 1987 season, and again from August Bank Holiday 2001 the station has had special passenger trains from Aylesbury in connection with events at the centre – these shuttles now run regularly each Spring and August Bank Holiday weekend. Rewley Road , the Oxford terminus of Harry Verney's Buckinghamshire Railway and of the Oxford to Cambridge Line , closed to passengers on 1 October 1951 with trains diverted to

6204-417: The A&B subsidise the Tramway to the sum of £25 (about £3,400 in 2024) per month to allow passenger services to continue, but the A&B agreed to pay only £5 (about £700 in 2024) per month. By the mid-1880s the Tramway was finding it difficult to cover the operating expenses of either goods or passenger operations. In 1837 Euston railway station opened, the first railway station connecting London with

6336-409: The Aveling and Porter engines), traffic levels soon rose. Milk traffic rose from 40,000 gallons carried in 1875 to 58,000 gallons (260,000 L; 70,000 US gal) in 1879, and in 1877 the Tramway carried a total of 20,994 tons (21,331 t) of goods. In early 1877 the Tramway was shown on Bradshaw maps for the first time, and from May 1882 Bradshaw included its timetable. Although

6468-822: The Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway. When the Great Central Railway (GCR) from the north of England opened, Quainton Road became a significant junction at which trains from four directions met, and by far the busiest of the MR's rural stations. In 1933 the Metropolitan Railway was taken into public ownership to become the Metropolitan line of the London Passenger Transport Board 's London Underground , including Quainton Road. The LPTB aimed to move away from freight operations, and saw no way in which

6600-419: The Brill Tramway to Oxford, which would have made Quainton Road a major junction station , was abandoned. Instead, the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway and the Brill Tramway were absorbed by London's Metropolitan Railway (MR), which already operated the line from Aylesbury to London. The MR rebuilt Quainton Road and re-sited it to a more convenient location, allowing through running between the Brill Tramway and

6732-531: The British Isles. The word is often used informally to describe national rail network stations with limited service and low usage, such as the Oxfordshire Halts on the Cotswold Line . It has also sometimes been used for stations served by public services but accessible only by persons travelling to/from an associated factory (for example IBM near Greenock and British Steel Redcar – although neither of these

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6864-460: The Buckinghamshire Railway Centre was negotiating for a reconnection of the link between its sidings and the main line, to allow the centre's locomotives to run to Aylesbury when the line is not in use by freight trains, and to rebuild part of the Brill Tramway between Quainton Road and Waddesdon Road. Quainton Road Station was used for the filming location for the video for The Tourists ' single So Good To Be Back Home Again in 1980. As one of

6996-536: The Duke offering to hire a locomotive to him for trials. The offer was accepted, and on 18 December 1876 the locomotive was delivered. The tests were generally successful and an order was placed to buy a locomotive from Bagnall for £640 (about £76,100 in 2024) which was delivered on 28 December 1877. With trains now hauled by the Bagnall locomotive (the Kingswood branch generally remained worked by horses, and occasionally by

7128-445: The GCR line from Aylesbury to Rugby were withdrawn, leaving only the stretch from Aylesbury to Calvert, running through the now-closed Quainton Road, open for freight trains. This was reduced to a single track shortly afterwards. The signal box at Quainton Road was abandoned on 13 August 1967, and the points connecting to the goods yard were disconnected. While other closed stations on

7260-533: The Grenvilles began to look for ways to maximise profits from their remaining farmland around Wotton, and to seek business opportunities in the emerging fields of heavy industry and engineering. Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, who became the Marquess of Chandos on the death of his grandfather Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos in 1839,

7392-510: The LNWR. The Act of Parliament authorising the scheme received the Royal Assent on 20 August 1883, and the new Oxford, Aylesbury and Metropolitan Junction Railway Company, including the Duke of Buckingham, Ferdinand de Rothschild and Harry Verney among its directors, was created. The scheme caught the attention of the expansionist Metropolitan Railway, who paid for the survey to be conducted. Despite

7524-520: The LPTB gave the required six months' notice to the O&AT that it intended to terminate operations on the Brill Tramway. The last scheduled passenger train on the Brill Tramway left Quainton Road in the afternoon of 30 November 1935. Hundreds of people gathered, and a number of members of the Oxford University Railway Society travelled from Oxford in an effort to buy the last ticket. Accompanied by firecrackers and fog signals ,

7656-412: The MR north from London to Aylesbury and the Tramway southwest to Oxford, creating a through route from London to Oxford. Rail services between Oxford and London at this time were poor: although still an extremely roundabout route, this scheme would have formed the shortest route from London to Oxford, Aylesbury, Buckingham and Stratford upon Avon. The Duke of Buckingham was enthusiastic, and authorisation

7788-465: The MR to Baker Street . Following Watkin's retirement in 1894, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway obtained permission for a separate station in London near Baker Street at Marylebone , and the line was renamed the Great Central Railway (GCR). The new line joined the MR just north of Quainton Road, and opened to passengers on 15 March 1899. Although it served a lightly populated area,

7920-400: The MR to improve services on the former Tramway line, damaged the track, and in 1910 the line between Quainton Road and Brill was relaid to MR standards using old track removed from the inner London MR route, still considered adequate for light use on a rural branch line. Following this track upgrading, the speed limit was increased to 25 miles per hour (40 km/h). The MR was unhappy with

8052-452: The MR took over the operation of the A&B from the GWR. On 1 July 1894 the MR extension to Aylesbury was completed, giving the MR a unified route from London to Verney Junction. The MR embarked on a programme of upgrading and rebuilding the stations along the newly acquired line. Construction from Brill to Oxford had not yet begun. Further Acts of Parliament were granted in 1892 and 1894 varying

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8184-428: The Oxford & Aylesbury Tramroad (O&AT), this envisaged the extension being built to the same light specifications as the existing Tramway. On 26 March 1889 the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos died, aged 65. By this time the construction of the MR extension to Aylesbury was well underway, and on 1 July 1891 the MR formally absorbed the A&B. Sir Harry Verney died on 12 February 1894, and on 31 March 1894

8316-604: The Quainton Road–Verney Junction route closed altogether, leaving the former GCR route from Aylesbury via Rugby as the only service through Quainton Road. London Transport services were briefly restored in 1943 with the extension of the Metropolitan line's London–Aylesbury service to Quainton Road, but this service was once more withdrawn in 1948. Quainton Road closed to passengers on 4 March 1963 and to goods on 4 July 1966. On 3 September 1966 passenger services on

8448-440: The area's farms, carrying 3,200 tons (3,300 t) in 1872. As it was the only physical link between the Tramway and the national railway network, almost all of this traffic passed through Quainton Road station. By the mid-1870s the slow speed of the Aveling and Porter locomotives and their unreliability and inability to handle heavy loads were recognised as major problems for the Tramway. In 1874 Ferdinand de Rothschild bought

8580-647: The built-up area, making them inconvenient to reach. Charles Pearson (1793–1862) had proposed the idea of an underground railway connecting the City of London with the relatively distant main-line termini in around 1840. Construction began in 1860. On 9 January 1863 the line opened as the Metropolitan Railway (MR), the world's first underground passenger railway. The MR was successful and grew steadily, extending its services and acquiring other local railways north and west of London. In 1872 Edward Watkin (1819–1901)

8712-546: The centre. Regular freight trains, mainly landfill trains from waste transfer depots in Greater London to the former brick pits at Calvert, passed through until October 2021 when Network Rail closed the line to the north and lifted the tracks. In 2023 the Station Road bridge was in-filled with foamed concrete to strengthen it until its replacement is opened at which point the tracks to the north will be replaced. In 2010,

8844-474: The compound forms train depot , railway depot , and railroad depot —it is used for both passenger and freight facilities. The term depot is not used in reference to vehicle maintenance facilities in the U.S., whereas it is used as such in Canada and the United Kingdom. The world's first recorded railway station, for trains drawn by horses rather than engined locomotives , began passenger service in 1807. It

8976-529: The construction of stations, from those boasting grand, intricate, Baroque - or Gothic -style edifices, to plainer utilitarian or modernist styles. Stations in Europe tended to follow British designs and were in some countries, like Italy, financed by British railway companies. Train stations built more recently often have a similar feel to airports, with a simple, abstract style. Examples of modern stations include those on newer high-speed rail networks, such as

9108-451: The cross-loading of freight and may be known as transshipment stations, where they primarily handle containers. They are also known as container stations or terminals. Quainton Road railway station Quainton Road railway station was opened in 1868 in under-developed countryside near Quainton , in the English county of Buckinghamshire , 44 miles (71 km) from London . Built by

9240-468: The east, north and southwest, but no line southeast towards London and the Channel ports. Quainton Road station was built on a curve in the line at the nearest point to the Duke's estates at Wotton. Six miles (10 km) northwest of Aylesbury, it was southwest of the small village of Quainton and immediately northwest of the road connecting Quainton to Akeman Street . The railway towards Aylesbury crossed

9372-403: The former A&B and the Tramway opened on 1 January 1897, allowing through running without the need to turn the engine and carriages individually on the turntable for the first time. The MR made a concerted effort to generate passenger traffic on the line. From 1910 to 1914 Pullman cars operated between Aldgate and Verney Junction, calling at Quainton Road, and a luxurious hotel was built in

9504-506: The former GWR Oxford General , the current Oxford station. In co-operation with the Science Museum , Rewley Road was dismantled in 1999, the main station building and part of the platform canopy being moved to Quainton Road for preservation and improved visitor facilities with the main shop and office of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre, thus maintaining it as a working building. A number of former Ministry of Supply food warehouses in what

9636-548: The former MR lines north of Aylesbury were generally demolished or sold, in 1969 the Quainton Railway Society was formed to operate a working museum at the station. On 24 April 1971 the society absorbed the London Railway Preservation Society, taking custody of its collection of historic railway equipment. The station was maintained in working order and used as a bookshop and ticket office, and

9768-470: The goods facilities are on the opposite side of the tracks from the station building. Intermediate stations also occur on some funicular and cable car routes. A halt , in railway parlance in the Commonwealth of Nations , Ireland and Portugal , is a small station, usually unstaffed or with very few staff, and with few or no facilities. In some cases, trains stop only on request , when passengers on

9900-641: The hostile MR, GCR General Manager William Pollitt decided to create a link with the Great Western Railway and a route into London that bypassed the MR. In 1899 the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway began construction of a new line, commonly known as the Alternative Route, to link the GWR at Princes Risborough to the GCR at Grendon Underwood , about three miles (5 km) north of Quainton Road. Although formally an independent company,

10032-477: The industrial heartlands of the West Midlands and Lancashire. Railways were banned by a Parliamentary commission from operating in London itself, and thus the station was built on what was then the northern boundary of the built-up area. Other main line termini soon followed at Paddington (1838), Bishopsgate (1840), Fenchurch Street (1841), King's Cross (1852) and St Pancras (1868). All were built outside

10164-470: The introduction of the Bagnall locomotives and the traffic generated by the works at Waddesdon Manor had boosted the line's fortunes, it remained in serious financial difficulty. The only connection with the national railway network was by the turntable at Quainton Road. Although the 3rd Duke of Buckingham was both the owner of the Wotton Tramway and Chairman of the A&B, the latter regarded the Tramway as

10296-401: The layout of the platforms. Apart from single-track lines, the most basic arrangement is a pair of tracks for the two directions; there is then a basic choice of an island platform between, two separate platforms outside the tracks ( side platforms ), or a combination of the two. With more tracks, the possibilities expand. Some stations have unusual platform layouts due to space constraints of

10428-417: The less developed KTM East Coast railway line to serve rural 'kampongs' (villages), that require train services to stay connected to important nodes, but do not have a need for staff. People boarding at halts who have not bought tickets online can buy it through staff on board. In rural and remote communities across Canada and the United States, passengers wanting to board the train at such places had to flag

10560-498: The line outright. From 1 December 1899, the MR took over all operations on the Tramway. The O&AT's single passenger coach, a relic of Wotton Tramway days, was removed from its wheels and used as a platelayer 's hut at Brill. An elderly Brown, Marshalls and Co passenger coach was transferred to the line to replace it, and a section of each platform was raised to accommodate the higher doors of this coach, using earth and old railway sleepers. D class locomotives, introduced by

10692-505: The line southwards to connect to its station at Aylesbury, but this extension was not built. Richard Plantagenet Campbell Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville (10 September 1823 – 26 March 1889), the only son of Richard Plantagenet Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos , was in serious financial difficulties by the middle of the 19th century. The 2nd Duke had spent heavily on artworks, womanising, and attempting to influence elections, and by 1847 he

10824-531: The line was closed to passenger traffic and local goods trains ceased using the station. The line through the station was singled and used by occasional freight trains only. In 1969 the Quainton Road Society was formed with the aim of preserving the station. In 1971, it absorbed the London Railway Preservation Society, taking over its collection of historic railway equipment including many locomotives, and passenger and non-passenger rolling stock. The station

10956-530: The loading and unloading of goods and may well have marshalling yards (classification yards) for the sorting of wagons. The world's first goods terminal was the 1830 Park Lane Goods Station at the South End Liverpool Docks. Built in 1830, the terminal was reached by a 1.24-mile (2 km) tunnel. As goods are increasingly moved by road, many former goods stations, as well as the goods sheds at passenger stations, have closed. Many are used purely for

11088-401: The main building were Fox, Henderson who were completing The Crystal Palace at the same time, and they used similar — but not identical — prefabricated cast iron main structural components. The historic importance of this feature caused it to be made a Grade II* listed building . There were two platform faces partly under a glass-roofed train shed ; the latter was replaced to

11220-403: The main reception facilities being at the far end of the platforms. Sometimes the track continues for a short distance beyond the station, and terminating trains continue forward after depositing their passengers, before either proceeding to sidings or reversing to the station to pick up departing passengers. Bondi Junction , Australia and Kristiansand Station , Norway are examples. A terminus

11352-414: The new line was operated as a part of the GCR. A substantial part of GCR traffic to and from London was diverted onto the Alternative Route, reducing the significance of Quainton Road as an interchange and damaging the profitability of the MR. On 1 July 1933 the MR, along with London's other underground railways aside from the short Waterloo & City Railway , was taken into public ownership as part of

11484-413: The new village of Verney Junction . By 1899 the MR and the O&AT were cooperating closely. Although the line had been upgraded in preparation for the Oxford extension and had been authorised as a railway in 1894, construction of the extension had yet to begin. On 27 November the MR arranged to lease the Tramway from the O&AT, for an annual fee of £600 (about £85,000 in 2024) with an option to buy

11616-497: The newly formed London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB). Despite being 44 miles (71 km) from London, Quainton Road became part of the London Underground network. By this time, the lines from Quainton Road to Verney Junction and Brill were in severe decline. Competition from the newer lines and from improving road haulage had drawn away much of the Tramway's custom in particular, and Brill trains would often run without

11748-409: The opening of the GCR made Quainton Road an important junction station at which four railway lines met. The number of passengers using the station rose sharply. It had many passengers in comparison to other stations in the area. In 1932, the last year of private operation, the station saw 10,598 passenger journeys, earning a total of £601 (about £52,700 in 2024) in passenger receipts. Quainton Road

11880-402: The original flimsy rails and longitudinal sleepers. At around this time two Manning Wardle locomotives were brought into use. The rebuilding of the Tramway greatly improved service speeds, reducing journey times between Quainton Road and Brill to between 35 and 43 minutes. The population of the area had remained low; in 1901 Brill had a population of only 1,206. Passenger traffic remained

12012-784: The other. For instance, in Istanbul transfers from the Sirkeci Terminal (the European terminus) and the Haydarpaşa Terminal (the Asian terminus) historically required crossing the Bosphorus via alternative means, before the Marmaray railway tunnel linking Europe and Asia was completed. Some cities, including New York, have both termini and through lines. Terminals that have competing rail lines using

12144-558: The outskirts of Oxford and terminating at a station to be built in the back garden of 12 High Street, St Clement's , near Magdalen Bridge . At 23 miles (37 km) the line would have been by far the shortest route between Oxford and Aylesbury, compared with 28 miles (45 km) via the Great Western Railway (GWR), which had absorbed the Wycombe Railway, and 34 miles (55 km) via the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway and

12276-589: The performance and safety record of the D Class locomotives, and sold them to other railways between 1916 and 1922, replacing them with A class locomotives. In 1893 another of Edward Watkin's railways, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway , had been authorised to build a new 92-mile (148 km) line from Annesley in Nottinghamshire south to Quainton Road. Watkin had intended to run services from Manchester and Sheffield via Quainton Road and along

12408-585: The platform indicate that they wish to board, or passengers on the train inform the crew that they wish to alight. These can sometimes appear with signals and sometimes without. The Great Western Railway in Great Britain began opening haltes on 12 October 1903; from 1905, the French spelling was Anglicised to "halt". These GWR halts had the most basic facilities, with platforms long enough for just one or two carriages; some had no raised platform at all, necessitating

12540-452: The proposed route slightly and allowing for its electrification, but no work was carried out other than some preliminary surveying. On 1 April 1894, with the proposed extension to Oxford still intended, the O&AT exercised a clause of the 1888 Act and took over the Tramway. Work began on upgrading the line in preparation for the extension. The line from Quainton Road to Brill was relaid with improved rails on transverse sleepers , replacing

12672-420: The provision of steps on the carriages. Halts were normally unstaffed, tickets being sold on the train. On 1 September 1904, a larger version, known on the GWR as a "platform" instead of a "halt", was introduced; these had longer platforms, and were usually staffed by a senior grade porter, who sold tickets and sometimes booked parcels or milk consignments. From 1903 to 1947 the GWR built 379 halts and inherited

12804-510: The railway network. Freight trains still use this line, and passenger trains still call at the station for special events at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre. On 15 June 1839 entrepreneur and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Buckingham , Sir Harry Verney, 2nd Baronet , opened the Aylesbury Railway . Built under the direction of Robert Stephenson , it connected the London and Birmingham Railway 's Cheddington railway station , on

12936-422: The road via a level crossing immediately southeast of the station. The Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway had spent most of their limited budget on the construction of the line itself. Details of the design of the original Quainton Road station are lost, but it is likely that the station had a single timber-covered earth platform and minimal buildings; it was described in 1890 as being extremely primitive. With

13068-516: The rural parts of the MR could be made into viable passenger routes. In 1935 the Brill Tramway was closed. From 1936 Underground trains were withdrawn north of Aylesbury, leaving the London and North Eastern Railway (successor to the GCR) as the only operator using the station, although Underground services were restored for a short period in the 1940s. In 1963 stopping passenger services were withdrawn but fast passenger trains continued to pass through. In 1966

13200-415: The scheme's powerful backers, the expensive Muswell Hill tunnel deterred investors and the company found it difficult to raise capital. De Rothschild promised to lend money for the scheme in return for guarantees that the line would include a passenger station at Westcott, and that the Duke would press the A&B into opening a station at the nearest point to Waddesdon Manor. Waddesdon Manor railway station

13332-539: The section between Quainton Road and Wotton was formally opened by the Duke in a brief ceremony. At the time of its opening the line was unnamed, although it was referred to as "The Quainton Tramway" in internal correspondence. The extension from Wotton to Wood Siding was complete by 17 June 1871; the opening date of the northern branch to Kingswood is not recorded, but it was not yet fully open in February 1873. The London and North Western Railway immediately began to operate

13464-486: The sidings—still intact, although disconnected from the railway line in 1967 —were used for locomotive restoration work. The Quainton Railway Society, which operates the station as the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre , restored the main station building to its 1900 appearance. A smaller building on the former Brill platform, once a shelter for passengers waiting for Brill and down trains, was used first as

13596-629: The site of the station was subsequently marked by a commemorative plaque . Parts of the goods yard were developed for housing. The station building components were moved to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre at Quainton Road railway station where they were refurbished and re-erected, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund , as a visitor centre and display building, formally opened in 2002, so that Rewley Road station once again houses railway trains . Railway station Locations at which passengers only occasionally board or leave

13728-401: The station at Wotton the line split. One section would run west to Wood Siding near Brill. A short stub called Church Siding would run northwest into the village of Wotton Underwood itself, terminating near the parish church, and a 1-mile 57 chain (1 mile 1,254 yards; 2.8 km) siding would run north to a coal siding near Kingswood . Construction began on the line on 8 September 1870. It

13860-405: The station entrance and platforms are on the same level, is also common, but is perhaps rarer in urban areas , except when the station is a terminus. Stations located at level crossings can be problematic if the train blocks the roadway while it stops, causing road traffic to wait for an extended period of time. Stations also exist where the station buildings are above the tracks. An example of this

13992-477: The station frequently set up a jointly owned terminal railroad to own and operate the station and its associated tracks and switching operations. During a journey, the term station stop may be used in announcements, to differentiate halts during which passengers may alight and halts for another reasons, such as a locomotive change . While a junction or interlocking usually divides two or more lines or routes, and thus has remotely or locally operated signals ,

14124-561: The station location, or the alignment of the tracks. Examples include staggered platforms, such as at Tutbury and Hatton railway station on the Crewe–Derby line , and curved platforms, such as Cheadle Hulme railway station on the Macclesfield to Manchester Line. Stations at junctions can also have unusual shapes – a Keilbahnhof (or "wedge-shaped" station) is sited where two lines split. Triangular stations also exist where two lines form

14256-557: The street to underground rapid-transit urban rail stations. In many African, South American, and Asian countries, stations are also used as a place for public markets and other informal businesses. This is especially true on tourist routes or stations near tourist destinations . As well as providing services for passengers and loading facilities for goods, stations can sometimes have locomotive and rolling stock depots, usually with facilities for storing and refuelling rolling stock and carrying out minor repairs. The basic configuration of

14388-421: The stroke of midnight, the rails connecting the Tramway to the main line were ceremonially severed. Quainton Road remained open, but with the closure of the Brill Tramway it was no longer a significant junction. A connection between the GCR and the former Buckinghamshire Railway at Calvert was opened in 1942, leaving the A&B route to Verney Junction with no purpose other than as a diversionary route . It

14520-442: The train down to stop it, hence the name " flag stops " or "flag stations". Accessibility for disabled people is mandated by law in some countries. Considerations include: In the United Kingdom, rail operators will arrange alternative transport (typically a taxi ) at no extra cost to the ticket holder if the station they intend to travel to or from is inaccessible. Goods or freight stations deal exclusively or predominantly with

14652-411: The train ran to Brill, where the passengers posed for a photograph. Late that evening, a two-coach staff train pulled out of Brill, accompanied by a band bearing a white flag and playing Auld Lang Syne . The train stopped at each station, picking up the staff, documents and valuables from each. At 11.45 pm the train arrived at Quainton Road, greeted by hundreds of locals and railway enthusiasts. At

14784-411: The tramway linked to a spur from the A&B. This spur ran behind a goods shed, joining the A&B line to the northwest of the road. The Tramway had no buildings at Quainton Road, using the A&B's facilities when necessary. As the tramway ran on the east side of the road, opposite the station, the spur line had its own level crossing to reach the main line. In 1871 permission was granted to build

14916-549: The world was Crown Street railway station in Liverpool, England , built in 1830, on the locomotive-hauled Liverpool to Manchester line. The station was slightly older than the still extant Liverpool Road railway station terminal in Manchester. The station was the first to incorporate a train shed . Crown Street station was demolished in 1836, as the Liverpool terminal station moved to Lime Street railway station . Crown Street station

15048-575: Was The Mount in Swansea , Wales, on the Oystermouth (later the Swansea and Mumbles ) Railway. The world's oldest station for engined trains was at Heighington , on the Stockton and Darlington railway in north-east England built by George Stephenson in the early 19th century, operated by locomotive Locomotion No. 1 . The station opened in 1827 and was in use until the 1970s. The building, Grade II*-listed ,

15180-472: Was appointed chairman of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) on 27 May 1857. On the death of his father on 29 July 1861 he became the 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, and resigned from the chairmanship of the LNWR, returning to Wotton House to manage the family's remaining estates. On 6 August 1860 the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway (A&B), with the 3rd Duke (then still Marquess of Chandos) as chairman and Sir Harry Verney as deputy chairman,

15312-402: Was appointed its chairman. A director of many railway companies, he had a vision of unifying a string of railways to create a single line from Manchester via London to an intended Channel Tunnel and on to France. In 1873 Watkin entered negotiations to take control of the A&B and the section of the former Buckinghamshire Railway north from Verney Junction to Buckingham. He planned to extend

15444-410: Was built as cheaply as possible, using the cheapest available materials and winding around hills wherever feasible to avoid expensive earthworks. The station platforms were crude earth banks 6 inches (150 mm) high, held in place by wooden planks. As the Duke intended that the line be worked by horses , it was built with longitudinal sleepers to reduce the risk of them tripping. On 1 April 1871

15576-438: Was by far the busiest of the MR's rural passenger stations north of Aylesbury. Verney Junction railway station saw only 943 passenger journeys in the same year, and the five other stations on the Brill Tramway had a combined passenger total of 7,761. Following Watkin's retirement relations between the GCR and the MR deteriorated badly. The GCR route to London ran over the MR from Quainton Road to London, and to reduce reliance on

15708-526: Was called a "rail motor stopping place" (RMSP). Usually situated near a level crossing , it was often designated solely by a sign beside the railway. The passenger could hail the driver to stop, and could buy a ticket from the train guard or conductor. In South Australia, such facilities were called "provisional stopping places". They were often placed on routes on which "school trains" (services conveying children from rural localities to and from school) operated. In West Malaysia , halts are commonplace along

15840-495: Was cleared in 1998. After the station closed to passengers the main building was put to commercial use. The station was described by various names. The station nameboards and official timetables simply stated "Oxford"; however, the name "Oxford Rooley Road" is shown in Bradshaw timetables of June 1869 and September 1885, whilst those of July 1906, June 1920 and January 1944 show "Oxford Rewley Road". Plans to construct new premises for

15972-431: Was closed to passengers on 6 July 1936. London Transport passenger services beyond Aylesbury were withdrawn, leaving the former GCR (part of the London and North Eastern Railway after 1923) as the only passenger services to Quainton Road. London Transport reduced the A&B route between Quainton Road and Verney Junction to a single track in 1939–40. LT continued to operate freight services until 6 September 1947, when

16104-457: Was commonly known as the "Brill Tramway" from its opening to passengers until closure. The new terminus of Brill opened in March 1872. With horses unable to cope with the loads being carried, the Tramway was upgraded for locomotive use. The lightly laid track with longitudinal sleepers limited the locomotive weight to a maximum of nine tons, lighter than almost all locomotives then available, so it

16236-405: Was connected to the Wycombe Railway's Aylesbury station, and joined the existing Buckinghamshire Railway lines at the point where the Oxford–Bletchley line and the line to Buckingham already met. Verney Junction railway station was built at the point where the lines joined, named after Sir Harry who owned the land on which it was built, since there was no nearby town. Aylesbury now had railways to

16368-623: Was converted to a goods station terminal. The first stations had little in the way of buildings or amenities. The first stations in the modern sense were on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway , opened in 1830. Manchester's Liverpool Road Station , the second oldest terminal station in the world, is preserved as part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester . It resembles a row of Georgian houses. Early stations were sometimes built with both passenger and freight facilities, though some railway lines were goods-only or passenger-only, and if

16500-502: Was duly opened on 1 January 1897. The new company was unable to raise sufficient investment to begin construction of the Oxford extension, and had been given only five years by Parliament to build it. On 7 August 1888, less than two weeks before the authorisation was due to expire, the directors of the Oxford, Aylesbury and Metropolitan Junction Railway Company received the Royal Assent for a revised and much cheaper version. To be called

16632-422: Was fully restored and reopened as a museum, the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre . In addition to the locomotives, stock, and original station buildings, the museum has also acquired the former Oxford Rewley Road railway station and a London Transport building from Wembley Park , both of which have been reassembled on the site. Although no scheduled trains pass through Quainton Road, the station remains connected to

16764-450: Was heavily used for the shipment of bricks from the brickworks around Brill, and of cattle and milk from the dairy farms on the Wotton estate. By 1875 the line was carrying around 40,000 gallons (180,000 L; 48,000 US gal) of milk each year. Delivery of linseed cake to the dairy farms and of coal to the area's buildings were also important uses of the line. The line also began to carry large quantities of manure from London to

16896-514: Was in bad condition, but was restored in 1984 as an inn. The inn closed in 2017; in 2024 there were plans to renovate the derelict station in time for the 200th anniversary of the opening of the railway line. The two-storey Mount Clare station in Baltimore , Maryland , United States, which survives as a museum, first saw passenger service as the terminus of the horse-drawn Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on 22 May 1830. The oldest terminal station in

17028-501: Was incorporated by Act of Parliament with the object of connecting the Buckinghamshire Railway (by now operated by the LNWR) to Aylesbury. The 2nd Duke used his influence to ensure the new route would run via Quainton , near his remaining estates around Wotton, instead of the intended more direct route via Pitchcott . Beset by financial difficulties, the line took over eight years to build, eventually opening on 23 September 1868. The new line

17160-744: Was nicknamed "the Greatest Debtor in the World". Over 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) of the family's 55,000-acre (22,000 ha) estates, and their London home at Buckingham House , were sold to meet debts, and the family seat of Stowe House was seized by bailiffs as security and its contents sold. The only property remaining in the control of the Grenville family was the family's relatively small ancestral home of Wotton House , and its associated lands around Wotton Underwood in Buckinghamshire. Deeply in debt,

17292-484: Was not possible to use standard locomotives. Two traction engines converted for railway use were bought from Aveling and Porter at a cost of £398 (about £44,900 as of 2024) each. The locomotives were chosen on grounds of weight and reliability, and had a top speed on the level of only 8 miles per hour (13 km/h), taking 95–98 minutes to travel the six miles (10 km) between Brill and Quainton Road, an average speed of 4 miles per hour (6.4 km/h). The line

17424-436: Was sought from Parliament. Parliament did not share the enthusiasm of Watkin and the Duke, and in 1875 the Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire Union Railway Bill was rejected. Watkin did, however, receive consent in 1881 to extend the MR to Aylesbury. With the MR extension to Aylesbury approved, in March 1883 the Duke announced his own scheme to extend the Tramway to Oxford. The turntable at Quainton Road would be replaced by

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