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Bledlow railway station was an intermediate station on the Wycombe Railway which served the Buckinghamshire village of Bledlow from 1862 to 1963. It was one of two stations to serve the village, the other being on the Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway, which was to the south and closer to the village. The possibility of reopening the line through Bledlow, which is now part of a long-distance footpath, has been explored by Chiltern Railways, the franchise holder for the Chiltern Main Line which runs through . ==History== Parliamentary authority to extend the Wycombe Railway's single track line beyond to was given on 28 June 1861.〔Oppitz, 2000, pages 16-17〕 was reached by 31 July 1862 and a regular service from ''via'' began the next day. Four daily trains each way (one on Sundays) called at Thame, Bledlow, Princes Risborough, , and Maidenhead.〔Potts, 2004, page 45〕 Bledlow station was west of a level crossing on Sandpit Lane, from the village from which it took its name. A two-storey brick station building was built at Bledlow at a cost of £1,003-13s-6d.〔Potts, 2004, page 53〕 It included a booking office and accommodation for the station master. A by signal box with a 16-lever frame controlled traffic over the level crossing was next to the main station building. Electric train staff instruments were installed on the line to Thame in the 1890s.〔Simpson, 2001, page 87〕 Consequently, Bledlow box ceased to signal trains in 1902, but it remained in use to operate the crossing gates.〔Potts, 2004, page 107〕 A single siding equipped with a 2-ton yard crane handled goods traffic which consisted of watercress and English elm boles for trawling nets made locally in Longwick.〔 Figures from 1933 show that of goods were sent from the station, whilst tons of goods were received. In the same period 5,338 passenger tickets were issued and 6,529 parcels forwarded.〔Mitchell and Smith, 2003, plate 68〕 By 1957 freight had declined to only were forwarded and received.〔Potts, 2004, page 204〕 By November 1961 the line itself was carrying an average of 524 passengers per week.〔Potts, 2004, page 223〕 On the basis of an estimated saving of £34,372, British Railways withdrew passenger services between Oxford and Princes Risborough from January 1963. The line remained in use for freight traffic, carrying new cars from the BMC factory and oil traffic to . In September 1965 Bledlow level crossing was converted to automatic half-barriers〔Mitchell and Smith, 2003, plate 72〕 enabling the signal box to be closed.〔Potts, 2004, page 231〕 Freight traffic was withdrawn and British Rail closed the line between Thame and Princes Risborough in October 1991.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bledlow railway station」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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