The origins of the Marlow branch start with the incorporation of the Wycombe railway in July 1846. This originally broad-gauge line left the Great Western mainline at the original Maidenhead station and passed through Maidenhead (Wycombe branch), Cookham, Marlow Road (renamed Bourne End in 1874), Wooburn Green and Loudwater to arrive at High Wycombe station (originally on the site of the current down platform buildings). This line was subsequently extended to Princes Risborough, Oxford and Aylesbury (see Wycombe page).

The branch was converted to normal standard gauge in 1870 and three years later the short branch from Marlow Road (Bourne End) to Marlow itself was opened by the Great Marlow Railway Company, thus providing a direct connection to the GWR mainline for this prosperous town. A single line throughout, it was the first to be worked by the GWR using an electric token. Known to townsfolk as the "Marlow Donkey" the GMRC was absorbed fully into the GWR in 1897.

Marlow Station in 1951

Marlow Station Today

When the new mainline through High Wycombe was completed in 1906, the main branch became an important diversion route, although all these trains would have passed Marlow's little branch line by at Bourne End.

View of Wooburn Green Station from the cab

A flooded Marlow c1900

The Bourne End to High Wycombe section of the line was closed in 1970 and Bourne End became the reversing station for what is now simply the Marlow branch line.