Winslow Road railway station served the village of

East Claydon East Claydon is a village and is also a civil parish in the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England. It is about south-west of Winslow. The village name 'Claydon' is Anglo Saxon in origin, and derives from the ang, clægig + ''dun'' mea ...

near

Winslow Winslow may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Winslow, Buckinghamshire, England, a market town and civil parish * Winslow Rural District, Buckinghamshire, a rural district from 1894 to 1974 United States and Canada * Rural Municipality of Winslo ...

to the north of

Quainton Quainton (formerly Quainton Malet)Plea rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archives; CP 40/647; 7th entry, with "North" in the margin; the defendant, Richard Longe is of Quenton Malet is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, E ...

in Buckinghamshire,

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 ...

. It was the second station to serve the town after on the

Varsity Line The Varsity Line (or the Oxford to Cambridge railway line) was the main railway route that once linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway. During World War II the line was ...

History

The station was opened by the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway (A&BR) on 23 September 1868 as part of its route from to where it joined the

Buckinghamshire Railway The Buckinghamshire Railway was a railway company in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, England that constructed railway lines connecting Bletchley, Banbury and Oxford. Part of the route is still in use today as the Oxford to Bicester Line. His ...

's Oxford to Bletchley line. The line was

single track Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

and worked from the start by the Great Western Railway, which provided a service of three trains each way daily. The A&BR, which had for some time been in a parlous financial state, was absorbed by the Metropolitan Railway with effect from 1 July 1891. From 2 April 1906, all Metropolitan services north of Harrow South Junction to Verney Junction were run by the

Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway The Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway was a joint railway company that controlled a line extending from Harrow on the Hill in what is now north-western Greater London to Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, England. Owned by the Met ...

; this continued until 6 July 1936 when the

London Passenger Transport Board The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was Lond ...

, which had taken over the Metropolitan in 1933, withdrew local passenger services as an economy measure. Through services ceased entirely on 7 September 1947 and the route closed. The original A&BR station, which was situated to the north of a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...

over the East Claydon Road, had a single platform and lightweight flange-bolted flat-bottom rail. A small hut and cottage were provided for the gatekeeper who also served as the station's porter; a small signal box controlled access to a siding. The station was entirely rebuilt by the Metropolitan Railway which doubled the line and provided a Down platform which partially obstructed the line of sight from the signal box. Station Kennels - geograph

Winslow Road saw little passenger traffic, which may be attributed to its location a little over a mile from the village of

which it purported to serve and which had its own conveniently sited station on the Oxford to Bletchley line since May 1850. During 1939, work started on singling the line south of Winslow Road, with the double track left on a section from a pair of stops near the station to Verney Junction. The work was completed by 28 January 1940 and the line south of Winslow Road became effectively a long siding. Train crews operated the level crossing gates and all signalling was removed to make the route one section between two junctions. Freight traffic from the Oxford to Bletchley line was rerouted via a connecting spur near which was brought into use on 14 September 1940, thereby allowing trains to work south over the Great Central Main Line. After closure, the track was eventually lifted although the northern section of the route between Verney Junction and Winslow Road was retained until 1957 for the storage of condemned rolling stock, with the track finally being removed in 1961.

Present day

The site of Winslow Road has been reused for dog kennels. A brick pig sty was constructed between the platforms and this now forms part of the kennels. A fragment of the Up platform complete with blue bricks survives to the left of the former pig sty. Due to its association with the Metropolitan line, this station is considered to be one of the

Closed London Underground stations The London Underground is a public rapid transit system in the United Kingdom that serves a large part of Greater London and adjacent parts of the home counties of Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It has many closed stations, while other ...

although it is over from London and is not underground.

References

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External links