Wotton Tramway Oxford Extension Scheme
With the MR extension to Aylesbury approved, in March 1883 the Duke of Buckingham announced his own scheme to extend the Wotton Tramway to Oxford. The turntable at Quainton Road would be removed, and replaced with a junction to the south of the existing turntable to allow through running of trains. The existing stretch from Quainton Road to Brill would be straightened and improved to main line standards, and the little-used stations at Waddesdon Road and Wood Siding would be closed. From Brill, the line would pass in a 1,650-yard (1,510 m) tunnel through Muswell Hill to the south of Brill, and on via Boarstall before crossing from Buckinghamshire into Oxfordshire at Stanton St. John. From Stanton St. John the line would next stop on the outskirts of Oxford at Headington, before terminating at a station to be built in the back garden of 12 High Street, St Clement's, near Magdalen Bridge.
At 23 miles (37 km) the line would have been by far the shortest route between Oxford and Aylesbury, compared with 28 miles (45 km) via the Great Western Railway (GWR), which had absorbed the Wycombe Railway, and 34 miles (55 km) via the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway and the LNWR. The Act of Parliament authorising the scheme received Royal Assent on 20 August 1883, and the new Oxford, Aylesbury and Metropolitan Junction Railway Company, including the Duke of Buckingham, Ferdinand de Rothschild and Harry Verney among its directors, was created. The scheme caught the attention of the expansionist Metropolitan Railway, who paid for the survey to be conducted. Despite the scheme's powerful backers, the expensive Muswell Hill tunnel deterred investors and the company found it difficult to raise capital. Ferdinand de Rothschild promised to lend money for the scheme in return for guarantees that the rebuilt line would include a passenger station at Westcott, and that the Duke would press the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway into opening a station at the nearest point to Waddesdon Manor on their line. Waddesdon Manor railway station was duly opened on 1 January 1897.
Read more about this topic: Quainton Road Railway Station
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