The railway came to Buckingham in 1850. It could have been here even earlier, complete with a large locomotive and carriage works if, as is generally believed, that plan hadn’t been scuppered by the First Duke of Buckingham & Chandos who would not allow the railway line to cross his estate at Stowe. So, instead the line went via Wolverton – how different Buckingham might have been if the original plan had gone ahead!
The line lasted until 1964 when passenger services were stopped. Final total closure took place in 1966 with the last train arriving on April 4th carrying Her Majesty the Queen who had come on a visit to Buckingham. That visit, along with other important events in the life of Buckingham’s railway, is celebrated in a new information board that has been installed by the Buckingham Society on the remains of the former station along the Railway Walk next to the University of Buckingham’s car park in Station Road.
Funded with the help of the Buckingham and Villages Community Board, the information board was unveiled by Franz Rothe, a lifelong Buckingham resident who first suggested the idea in a letter to the Advertiser a few years ago. The Buckingham Society hopes that people strolling along the Railway Walk, which follows the former railway line, will find the board of interest.
The picture shows Franz standing alongside the information board between Roger Edwards, Chair of the Buckingham Society, and James Tooley, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Buckingham.