Stoke Mandeville railway station serves the village of

Stoke Mandeville Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located three miles (4.9 km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil p ...

, south of

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The station is on the London - Aylesbury line and is served by

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Railw ...

trains. It is between and stations. Both station platforms have step-free access.

History

The station was opened on 1 September 1892, by the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

(Met), when its main line was extended from

Chalfont Road Chalfont Road is a road in Walton Manor, North Oxford, England. Location The road runs north–south between Frenchay Road to the north and Polstead Road to the south. To the west is Hayfield Road and to the east is Woodstock Road (Oxford), Wo ...

to Aylesbury Town. The Great Central Railway served the station from 1899, connecting the station to

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. When

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the line i ...

(the successor of the Met) was fully electrified in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a decision was made to run only as far as Amersham. This meant that Stoke Mandeville was henceforth now only served by main line services; following the end of steam-hauled Metropolitan line trains in 1961 the service was provided by

British Rail Class 115 The British Rail Class 115 diesel multiple units were 41 high-density sets which operated the outer-suburban services from Marylebone usually to destinations such as High Wycombe, Aylesbury and Banbury which are on the Chiltern Main Line and G ...

diesel multiple units until 1992 (which were then replaced by the line's current rolling stock which, at this station, mainly consists of Class 165 and Class 168 rolling stock). Responsibility for the station (and the railway north of Amersham to Aylesbury) was transferred from London Transport to British Railways on 11 September 1961;The Railway Magazine, August 2013 edition (page 47), ISSN 0033-8923 British Railways signage gradually replaced that of the London Underground. In 1966 as a result of the ''

Reshaping of British Railways The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

'' report, the line north of Aylesbury was closed and the station is now only served by local commuter services. Services were run by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

until privatisation in 1996, when

took over the franchise. During the modernisation of the Met in the 1950s, the down (Aylesbury) platform buildings were demolished. In 1989-90 BR's Network SouthEast refurbished the station and the "up" (London) platform canopy was shortened slightly. The lawn at the station front features several sculptures including a statue of a former employee.

Services

At peak times there are up to 4 trains per hour to London in the morning, and from London (to Aylesbury) in the evening. Some are express services, which omit the stops shared with the Metropolitan line nearer to London. Journeys to Marylebone take about 55 minutes or 45 minutes for express trains, of which there is one per day. Journeys to Aylesbury take about 5 minutes. The off-peak service pattern is as follows: *2 trains per hour to Aylesbury **1 train per hour continues on to Aylesbury Vale Parkway *2 trains per hour to London Marylebone

Onward connections

For Stoke Mandeville Hospital, rail passengers should alight at Aylesbury and take the Red Route 9 or No 300 (Aylesbury to High Wycombe) bus from Aylesbury Bus Station which is located 300yds from the railway station at Aylesbury. Buses run by

Arriva Shires & Essex Arriva Shires & Essex is a bus operator providing services in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire, with services extending to Oxfordshire and Greater London. Until 2002 its operations included Colchester. It is a subsidiary o ...

link Stoke Mandeville station with

and

Leighton Buzzard Leighton Buzzard ( ) is a market town in Bedfordshire, England, in the southwest of the county and close to the Buckinghamshire border. It lies between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton/Dunstable and Milton Keynes, near the Chiltern Hills. It is northwes ...

References

External links

Chiltern Railways

{{Closed London Underground stations Metropolitan line stations Railway stations in Buckinghamshire Former Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1892 Railway stations served by Chiltern Railways

Railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...