There four routes from London into Buckinghamshire, on the Metropolitan Line from Baker Street, from Euston, from Paddington but, from 1899 onwards the classic route starts at London's Marylebone Station.

Marylebone was the last of the major London termini to be built and was officially opened, together with the Great Central's London extension, on 9th March 1899.  The station became the headquarters for the Great Central Railway but, despite the grand visions of Sir Edward Watkin, the GCR's General Manager, the station never grew to rival its mainline rivals.  It was not until the British Empire Exhibition of 1924-25 that services reached the levels anticipated.  After this, large crowds were reserved for major occasions at Wembley like the FA Cup Final.

After World War Two, the hotel (which was never officially part of the station) was taken over by) became the headquarters of the new British Transport Commission, later British Railways.

Marylebone in 1902

Virtually the same view in 2001

With nationalisation things started to look up. Services to High Wycombe and Princes Risborough were concentrated on Marylebone rather than Paddington and a new express to Sheffield - the Master Cutler - was started, together with a number of other express services to South Yorkshire and the East Midlands.  However, these could never compete on time with the trains into St. Pancras and Kings Cross and were gradually downgraded to semi-fasts or moved to other lines.

Traffic declined to the extent that, in 1983, the station was threatened with closure with the lines north of there being converted into a high-speed busway out towards the suburbs and the M.25.  Three years and a lot of debate and legal arguments later, British Rail agreed to maintain services to Marylebone and, in a complete about face, decided to invest in the route with new signalling, upgraded track and station improvements.  The elderly DMUs used on the services would also be replaced with new Chiltern Turbos offering a higher level of service and reliability.

The transformation, with its regular service patterns on the High Wycombe and Aylsbury lines, produced a significant increase in business and services were extended northwards to serve Birmingham in 1993.

In 1996, operation of services passed to Chiltern Railways (owned by M40 Trains) who have continued to make improvements to services and the infrastructure.  Chiltern's franchise has recently been renewed and further improvements have been announced, including the expansion of  Marylebone to six platforms.  If only Edward Watkins could see his dream finally come true!

© All text and photographs  are copyright Ian Peacock and Bucksrail unless otherwise stated.
Last modified March 2002