Granborough Road railway station

Granborough Road
Station site in 2015
Granborough Road Location of Granborough Road in Buckinghamshire
Location	Granborough
Local authority	Buckinghamshire
Grid reference	SP745242
Number of platforms	2
Railway companies
Original company	Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway
Pre-grouping	Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway
Post-grouping	Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway
Key dates
23 September 1868 (1868-09-23)	Opened as Grandborough Road
6 October 1920	Renamed Granborough Road
6 July 1936 (1936-07-06)	Station closed
Other information
WGS84	51°54′42″N0°55′03″W / 51.9116°N 0.9176°W / 51.9116; -0.9176
London transportportal

Granborough Road railway station (initially Grandborough Road) was a station serving the village of Granborough, to the north of Quainton in Buckinghamshire, England. ^[1]

History

The station was opened by the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway (A&BR) on 23 September 1868 ^{[2] [3] [4]} as part of its 12.75-mile (20.52-kilometre) route from Aylesbury to Verney Junction where it joined the Buckinghamshire Railway's Oxford to Bletchley line. ^{[5] [6] [7]} The line was single track and worked from the start by the Great Western Railway, which provided a service of three trains each way daily. ^{[6] [8]} 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. ^{[7] [9] [10] [11]} 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; this continued until 6 July 1936 when the London Passenger Transport Board, which had taken over the Metropolitan in 1933, withdrew local passenger services as an economy measure. ^{[12] [10] [9] [13]} Through services ceased entirely on 7 September 1947 and the route closed. ^{[14] [12] [10] [15]}

Whilst open, this station was accessed via a branch line off the former Great Central Main Line with the junction being just to the north of Quainton Road. The branch line continued through Winslow Road and ended at a terminating platform at Verney Junction.

Today very little remains of this station, the permanent way between Quainton Road and Verney Junction having long ago been lifted. The site is now a farmer's field and although a bit of platform does remain, the track bed itself is now a route for pylons.

Despite being over 30 miles from London and not underground, the association with the Metropolitan line means this station is considered to be one of the closed London Underground stations. It is briefly referred to as such in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall when Bond spots the name embedded in a cypher. ^[16]

Routes

A 1911 Railway Clearing House Junction Diagram showing railways in the vicinity of Granborough Road (upper left; shown as Grandborough Road)

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Winslow Road		Metropolitan Railway Verney Junction Branch		Quainton Road

Notes

1. "Station Name: Granborough Road". Disused Stations. UK. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
2. Quick (2009), p. 415.
3. Butt (1995), p. 252.
4. Davies & Grant (1984), p. 84.
5. Simpson (1985), p. 8.
6. Oppitz (2000), p. 30.
7. Simpson (1994), p. 133.
8. Simpson (1985), p. 9.
9. Awdry (1990), p. 207.
10. Leleux (1984), p. 37.
11. Davies & Grant (1984), p. 85.
12. Davies & Grant (1984), p. 89.
13. Clinker (1978), p. 149.
14. Mitchell & Smith (2006), fig. 54.
15. Oppitz (2000), p. 38.
16. Curran, Kevin (2 December 2012). "Viewpoint: James Bond fails the tech test in Skyfall". BBC News . UK: BBC . Retrieved 17 May 2019.

References

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   1-8526-0049-7. OCLC   19514063. CN 8983.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN   978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC   60251199. OL   11956311M.
• Clinker, C. R. (October 1978). Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830–1977. Bristol: Avon-Anglia Publications & Services. ISBN   0-905466-19-5. OCLC   5726624.

• Davies, R.; Grant, M.D. (1984) [1975]. Forgotten Railways: Chilterns and Cotswolds. Newton Abbot, Devon: David St John Thomas. ISBN   0-946537-07-0.
• Leleux, Robin (1984) [1976]. A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: The East Midlands. Vol. 9. Newton Abbot, Devon: David St. John Thomas. ISBN   978-0-946537-06-8.
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (November 2006). Aylesbury to Rugby (Midland Main Lines). Midhurst, West Sussex: Middleton Press. ISBN   978-1-904474-91-3.
• Oppitz, Leslie (2000). Lost Railways of the Chilterns. Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. ISBN   978-1-84674-108-1.
• Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN   978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC   612226077.
• Simpson, Bill (1994) [1978]. Banbury to Verney Junction Branch. Banbury, Oxon: Lamplight Publications. ISBN   978-1-899246-00-7.
• Simpson, Bill (1985). The Brill Tramway including the Railway from Aylesbury to Verney Junction. Poole, Dorset: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN   0-86093-218-4.

External links

• London's Abandoned Tube Stations – Granborough Road
• Granborough Road at Disused Stations