This is a history of the railways of Oxford, looking at the operations
and development of services, from the opening of the Oxford Railway by
the Great Western on 12 June 1844 through to the present day. This
volume covers the development of the railway locally, including the
London and North Western 'Buckinghamshire Railway' from Bletchley,
together with the five local branch lines.
The opening of the Great Western / Great Central joint line from
Culworth Junction to Banbury Junction in August 1900 resulted in the
growth of inter regional 'cross country' services passing through
Oxford.
The advent of the Second World War saw the construction of a new
junction at Oxford North giving for the first time a direct link from
the Great Western to the London Midland & Scottish Railway branch to
Bletchley and beyond.
The opening of these two new junctions saw a considerable increase in
both passenger and freight traffic which resulted in Oxford becoming a
major railway center. For many years one of the highlights was the
arrival and departure of locomotives on a daily basis from all of the
big four railway companies. Those days are long gone, but today Oxford
is as busy as ever, with passenger services to London operated by Great
Western Railway and Chiltern Trains, and by Cross Country Trains the
South and the North of England.
