European Railroad Discussion > Going back in time

Marylebone Station in Central London is one of the smallest London terminals, it's certainly the youngest having only been opened in 1899. For the first 67 years it despatched fast, but generally light long distance passenger trains from London to the East Midlands, South Yorkshire and NW England. In 1966 the axe fell on the mainline of the erstwhile Great Central Railway and Marylebone became a terminal of two commuter lines. From then until the early 1990s it vegetated; seldom visited by crowds, it's ridge and furrow roof hosting countless pigeons whilst every now and then a DMU would slink out from under the trainshed bound for Aylesbury (37 miles), High Wycombe (24 miles) or Banbury (68 miles). It was to get worse before it got better. A proposal first surfaced in the early 1980s to turn the lines from Harrow on the Hill and South Ruislip into Marylebone into guided busways, Aylesbury services from beyond Harrow would be turned over to London Transport and services from High Wycombe and Banbury would have been diverted into Paddington. Closure notices for Marylebone were even published (in 1984). Of course the catchment area of Marylebone included many captains of industry and the great and the good who commuted from the leafy Chiltern Hills. And then it was discovered that the tunnels leading into Marylebone would have required bespoke bus designs. The combination of righteous fury of members of the establishment and engineering obstacles saw the bustitution proposals hit a proverbial brick wall.

Today it couldn't be more different. Marylebone is the home of Chiltern Railways, one of the most enterprising of the franchises which were created in the 1990s. New and rebuilt rolling stock, including the loco hauled Silver Service trains, new stations, even new lines; the change has been immense, and passengers have responded. Today Marylebone buzzes at all times of the day, back in 1982 the buzzing would have been bees feasting on buddleia growing out of the walls.

At it's nadir the station saw three arrivals and three departures every hour
xx:10 stopping train to Aylesbury via Harrow on the Hill
xx:22 stopping train to High Wycombe
xx:52 semi-fast to High Wycombe (extended to Banbury on the odd hours)

Today off peak services look something like this
xx:07 to Oxford 
xx:10 to Birmingham Moor Street
xx:13 to Aylesbury (via Princes Risborough)
xx:17 to High Wycombe 
xx:27 to Aylesbury via Harrow on the Hill
xx:35 to Oxford
xx:40 to Birmingham Snow Hill
xx:43 to Banbury
xx:47 to Gerrards Cross
xx:57 to Aylesbury Vale Parkway via Harrow on the Hill

But back in Spring 1982 this was the scene, no apparent passengers, only one train and umpteen pigeons.

And the train? Just a single class 115 Derby built DMU which I was about to ride to Banbury. Derby built 41 of these four car units specially for lines in and out of Marylebone, they benefited from having a bit more oomph than most of their contemporaries thanks to the four 230 hp Leyland Albion engines they were equipped with. Coming late in the day for first generation DMUs their interiors had benefited from attention by the BR Design Panel, with superior seating but they suffered from the perennial Derby suburban design defects - rattling droplights in the door at every seating bay, no passage between cars so you had to be lucky to be in the Trailer Composite Lavatory (TCL), the only car with a washroom, rattling aluminium luggage racks adding to the din and a tendency of the bogie design to hunt at speed. And the Banbury trains certainly picked up their skirts once they were over the climbs through the Chiltern Hills. They covered the 18.75 miles from Princes Risborough to Bicester in 20 minutes and the 14 miles from Bicester to Banbury in 17 minutes, which included a 40 mph speed restriction over Aynho Junction. In those days it was single track from Princes Risborough and I recall sitting in the seat immediately behind the cab with a view of the line ahead. The hunting at 70 mph was very pronounced on any newly installed cwr, and there were a couple of really bad soft spots in Brill Tunnel. A great day out, not something I'm going to forget in a hurry.



 

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 Interesting photo and narrative. 
Great look back and story of
what goes around comes around.
ALLEN

Street Side

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Excellent post!