Great Missenden railway station serves the village of

Great Missenden Great Missenden is an affluent village with approximately 2,000 residents in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover, with direct rail connections to London Mary ...

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 and the neighbouring villages of

Prestwood Prestwood is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, about two miles west of Great Missenden and six miles north of High Wycombe. History Early history and creation of parish The village name is Anglo Sax ...

, Little Hampden and

Little Missenden Little Missenden is a village and civil parish on the River Misbourne in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about southeast of Great Missenden and west of Amersham. The village lies on the River Misbourne in the Misbourne v ...

. The station lies on the London Marylebone - 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

Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. ...

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 railway was extended from Chalfont Road to Aylesbury Town. The

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

served the station from 1899, linking the station with

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 Great Missenden 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). Responsibility for the station (and the railway north of Amersham to Aylesbury) was transferred from London Transport to British Railways on 11 September 1961; British Railways signage gradually replaced that of the London Underground. In 1966 as a result of '' The Reshaping of British Railways'' report,

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 ...

ways closed the line north of Aylesbury and the station is now only served by local commuter services. British Rail ran services 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 Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the netwo ...

refurbished the station and the "up" (London) platform canopy was shortened slightly. A Metropolitan Railway signal box used to stand at the south end of the down platform. It ended service in 1984, and was finally removed in 2010 to be used at the Mid Hants Railway as an exhibit. Many

Prime Ministers A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

have used the station when travelling to and from their weekend residence,

Chequers Chequers ( ), or Chequers Court, is the country house of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. A 16th-century manor house in origin, it is located near the village of Ellesborough, halfway between Princes Risborough and Wendover in Bucking ...

Services

At peak times there are up to four trains per hour to London in the morning, and returning from London (towards Aylesbury) in the evening. Some are express services that omit the stops shared with the Metropolitan line nearer London. Journeys to Marylebone take about 45 minutes (35 minutes for express trains). Journeys to Aylesbury take about 15 minutes. The normal 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

Buses operate from the station to

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, south-southeast of Ayl ...

and an infrequent service to

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordsh ...

(twice per week), 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 ...

Cultural use

*The station is used in television or film from time to time, as its typical South-East English decor and easily removable name signs mean it can be adapted without too much difficulty. *An advert for the BBC's ''

Great Britons ''100 Greatest Britons'' is a television series that was broadcast by the BBC in 2002. It was based on a television poll conducted to determine who the British people at that time considered the greatest Britons in history. The series included ...

'' TV programme showed

Mo Mowlam Dr Marjorie "Mo" Mowlam (18 September 1949 – 19 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician. She was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Redcar from 1987 to 2001 and served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Minis ...

standing beneath the name sign asking "Why is Great Missenden Great?"

References

External links

Chiltern Railways website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Missenden Railway Station 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 Great Missenden