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Buckinghamshire Railway Centre

View along the main line towards Quainton Road, showing the two sides of the centre, taken from the footbridge. Main buildings, from left-right: Ministry of Food Buffer-Depot; Brill Tramway platform; Quainton Road; the former building of Oxford Rewley Road
Established	1969
Coordinates	51°51′54″N 0°55′44″W / 51.865°N 0.929°W / 51.865; -0.929Coordinates: 51°51′54″N 0°55′44″W / 51.865°N 0.929°W / 51.865; -0.929
Type	Operational railway museum
Key holdings	Metropolitan Railway E Class No.1 GWR 4073 Class No.5080 Defiant GWR 6959 Class No.6989 Wightwick Hall South African Class 25NC 4-8-4 No.3405
Owner	Quainton Railway Society (Some land leased from Network Rail)
Public transit access	Quainton Road or Aylesbury
Website	BucksRailCentre.org

Buckinghamshire Railway Centre is a railway museum operated by the Quainton Railway Society Ltd. at Quainton Road railway station, about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. The site is divided into two halves which are joined by two foot-bridges, one of which provides wheelchair access. Each side has a demonstration line with various workshop buildings as well as museum buildings.

History

The curved Brill platform at Quainton Road. The short stretch of rail from this platform is the only surviving part of the Brill Tramway.

In 1962, the London Railway Preservation Society was formed. It bought a series of former London Underground vehicles and collectables, and holds the largest collection of London and North Western Railway memorabilia.^[1] These were held at various sites around London, mainly two government depots at Luton and Bishop's Stortford,^[2] making both access, restoration and preservation difficult.^[1]

While other closed stations on the former MR lines north of Aylesbury were generally demolished or sold,^[3] in 1969 the Quainton Railway Society was formed to operate a working museum at the station.^[4] On 24 April 1971 the society absorbed the London Railway Preservation Society, taking custody of its collection of historic railway equipment.^[5]

Restoration

The station was maintained in working order, used as a bookshop and ticket office.^[6] The extensive sidings were still intact, and although disconnected from the mainline in 1967,^[7] were used for locomotive restoration work.^[4] The Society eventually restored the main station building to its 1900 appearance, renaming the site the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.^[8] A smaller building on the former Brill platform, once a shelter for passengers waiting for Brill and down trains, was used first as a store then as a shop for a number of years before its current use to house an exhibit on the history of the Brill Tramway. A former London Transport building from Wembley Park was dismantled and re-erected at Quainton Road to serve as a maintenance shed.^[9]

Mainline services

Chiltern Railways Class 121 'Bubble Car' diesel unit at Buckinghamshire Railway Centre on a shuttle service from Aylesbury on 3 May 2010

Although the BRC's trains are run on the former station sidings, the station still has a working Network Rail line passing through it. This connects Aylesbury with the Bletchley to Oxford cross-country route at Claydon (LNE) Junction. Regular landfill freight trains traverse the line from waste transfer depots in Greater London to the former brick pits at Calvert.^[10]

From 1984 until 1990, the station briefly came back into passenger use, when special Christmas shopping services between Aylesbury and Bletchley were operated by British Rail Network SouthEast on Saturdays only, and stopped at Quainton Road.^[11] From August Bank Holiday 1971 until the 1987 season, and again from August Bank Holiday 2001 the station has had special passenger trains from Aylesbury in connection with events at the Centre - these shuttles now run regularly each Spring and August Bank Holiday weekend.

Present

With an extensively redeveloped site on both sides of the working mainline, BRC houses around 170 items of locomotives and rolling stock, in buildings dating from 1874 to the 1960s. The adjacent World War II warehouses of the Ministry of Food Buffer Depot in the former downside yard have been taken over to display many items awaiting restoration, whilst the Society have added a members' reference library.

Rewley Road

The former Oxford Rewley Road station building following its reconstruction at Quainton Road

Rewley Road, the Oxford terminus of Harry Verney's Buckinghamshire Railway and of the Oxford to Cambridge Line, closed to passengers on 1 October 1951 with trains diverted to the former GWR Oxford General, the current Oxford station. In co-operation with the Science Museum, Rewley Road was dismantled in 1999. The main station building and part of the platform canopy were then moved to BRC and re-erected in 2002 at the north-west corner of the site, now providing improved visitor facilities and the main offices of the QRS.^[12]

Media

As one of the best-preserved period railway stations in England, Quainton Road is regularly used as a filming location for period drama, and programmes such as The Jewel in the Crown, the Doctor Who serial Black Orchid and Midsomer Murders have been filmed there.^[7]

Future developments

As of 2010^[update] the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre is negotiating for a reconnection of the link between its sidings and the main line to allow their locomotives to run to Aylesbury when the line is not in use by freight trains, and to rebuild part of the Brill Tramway between Quainton Road and Waddesdon Road.^[13][14]

High Speed 2's planned route passes immediately to the west of the site, not impacting the centre directly, although it will preclude any restoration of the Brill Tramway.^[15]

Collection

The collection includes locomotives, carriages, and assorted rolling stock, plus a large amount of memorabilia and documents.^[16]

Locomotives

Sortable table

Class	Number ( and name)	Chassis	Status	Notes	Image
Metropolitan Railway E Class	No.1 (London Transport L44)	0-4-4T	Operational	Built 1898. Operational and a regular on passenger trains. On loan to the Epping Ongar Railway. Boiler ticket expires in 2022.
LSWR 0298 Class	314 (British Railways 30585)	2-4-0WT	Static Display	Built 1874. Boiler ticket expired in 2016.
Peckett and Sons	No.1159 Annie	0-4-0ST	Under Overhaul	Built 1908. Arrived in April 2018 from the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Steam Railway. Part way through a major overhaul.
Peckett and Sons	No.2105 Rokeby	0-4-0ST	Static Display	Built 1951. Mainly used on goods/vintage trains.
North British Locomotive Company	Coventry No.1	0-6-0T	Static Display	Built 1939. Previously acted as Thomas the Tank Engine on "Thomas" days. On Static display after her Boiler certificate expired.
Hudswell Clarke	No.1742 Millom	0-4-0ST	Operational	Built 1946. Used on goods and vintage trains. Boiler ticket expires in 2027.
GWR 9400 Class	9466	0-6-0PT	Operational	Built 1952, mainline certified. Boiler ticket expires in 2026.
Aveling and Porter	No.3587 Sydenham	0-4-0WT	Under Overhaul	Built 1895
GWR 6959 Class	6989 Wightwick Hall	4-6-0	Under Restoration.	Built 1948. To be in service for the 2019 May Bank Holiday Gala. Restoration is basically complete as of November 2018.
GWR 7200 Class	7200	2-8-2T	Under Restoration	Built in 1934
Hunslet Austerity 0-6-0ST	No.3890 NCB 66	0-6-0ST	Operational	Last Hunslet Austerity built. in 1964. Boiler ticket expires in 2024
Peckett and Sons	No.1900	0-4-0ST	Under Overhaul	Built 1936. Britain's smallest standard-gauge steam locomotive.
Andrew Barclay	No.699 Swanscombe	0-4-0ST	Operational	Built 1891. Boiler ticket expires in 2023. The oldest surviving Barclay. Repainted in July 2013 into pseudo-Metropolitan Railway livery as Brill No. 1.
Bagnall	No.2469 Scott	0-4-0ST	Operational	Built 1932. Boiler ticket expires in 2024. mainly used on goods trains
Andrew Barclay	No.1477	0-4-0F	Static Display	Built 1916. Fireless
Andrew Barclay	No.2243	0-4-0F	Static Display	Built 1948. Fireless
Aveling and Porter	No.807 Brill	0-4-0T	Static Display	Built 1872. Brill Tramway No.1
GWR 5700 Class	7715 (London Transport L99)	0-6-0PT	Static Display	Built 1930. Bought by London Transport in 1963, their L.99 until 1969. Out of service from December 2011 with a cracked boiler foundation ring
Hawthorn Leslie	No.3717 Swanscombe No.3	0-4-0ST	Static Display	Built 1928
Hawthorn Leslie	No.3718 Swanscombe No.4	0-4-0ST	Operational	Built 1928. Arrived in 2018 near the end of a major overhaul. She entered service in August 2018. Boiler ticket expires 2028
Hudswell Clarke	No.1334 Sir Thomas	0-6-0T	Static Display	Built 1918
Hunslet	No.3782 Arthur	0-6-0ST	Under Overhaul	Built 1953
LNWR	3020 Cornwall	2-2-2	Static Display	Built 1847. On display inside the Rewley Road visitor centre. On loan from the National Railway Museum
South African Class 25NC	3405	4-8-4	Static Display	Built 1953. 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge
Sentinel Waggon Works	No.6515 Isebrook	4wd	Under Overhaul	Built 1945
Sentinel Waggon Works	No.9366 Cynthia	4wd	Operational	Built 1945. Returned to steam in late 2017 after a major overhaul. Boiler ticket expires in 2027
Yorkshire Engine Company	No.2498 Chislet	0-6-0ST	Static Display	Built 1951
British Rail Class 04	D2298	0-6-0DM	Under Restoration	Built 1960 under restoration after suffering an engine failure at The East Lancashire railway.
John Fowler	No.20067 Osram	0-4-0DM	Static Display
F.C. Hibberd "Planet"	No.3765	0-4-0DM	Operational
F.C. Hibberd	No.2102	0-4-0DM	Static Display
F.C. Hibberd	No.3271 Walrus	0-4-0DM	Static Display
Hunslet	K4428 Redland	0-4-0DM	Static Display
Hunslet	No.2067	0-4-0DM	Operational
Ruston & Hornsby	No.425477	0-4-0DM	Operational
Ruston & Hornsby	No.463153 Hilsea	0-4-0DM	Under Overhaul	Ex-British Gas

Diesel multiple units

• BR Class 115 unit 51886+59761+51889 "Aylesbury College Silver Jubilee 1987"^{[citation needed]}
  

Electric multiple units

1930 Stock Car No. 803 at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre

• 
  Post Office Railway (London) 1930 Stock No. 803 ^[17]
  


• 
  London Underground CO/CP Stock unit 53028+013063+54233 [3][4][5]
  


• New York Subway Car No. 1144, an R6, converted into a cafeteria for the museum.^[18]
  

Carriages and vans

• BR Mk 1 TPO sorting van no. 80394


• London Transport brake vans nos. B557 and FB578

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.

• Buckinghamshire Railway Centre website.


• Buckinghamshire Railway Centre Stockbook