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The London to Aylesbury Line is the main railway line between London (Marylebone) and Aylesbury, going via the Chiltern Hills; it is operated by Chiltern Railways. The line includes a section where National Rail trains use track that is owned by London Underground. This section is approximately : the total length of the passenger section of the line is about , meaning nearly half of the line is owned by London Underground between Harrow on the Hill and the property boundary north of Amersham, near Weedonhill Wood (sometimes erroneously referred to as Mantles Wood).〔(The myth of Mantles Wood Metropolitan Line and Network Rail boundary and Mantles Wood myth ) - METADYNE〕 The line operates modified timetables during autumn, as trains need to take more time to brake due to the leaves that fall on the line in the heavily wooded section between Amersham and Rickmansworth.〔(New train simulator helps drivers deal with autumn leaf fall ) - Chiltern Railways〕 The line is part of the former trunk route, the Great Central Main Line. ==History== The route towards Aylesbury opened in stages between 1868 and 1899: # The Metropolitan & St. John’s Wood Railway (later part of the Metropolitan Railway) opened from Baker Street to Swiss Cottage in 1868. # The Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway connected Verney Junction with Aylesbury in 1868. The route would become part of the Met in 1891. # In 1879 the Met was extended from Swiss Cottage to Willesden Green. # In 1880 to Harrow-on-the-Hill. # In 1885 to Pinner. # In 1887 to Rickmansworth. # In 1889 to Chesham. # Then in September 1892 the Metropolitan connected to Aylesbury via Amersham, making the Chesham route a branch line. The Great Central Railway (GCR) decided to build a main line called the ''London Extension'' from Annesley Junction north of Nottingham to London via the Metropolitan Railway. It was the last main line to be built in Britain until High Speed 1. The line was completed in 1899. In 1903 the line between Harrow and Canfield Place (near Finchley Road) was built, thus bypassing this part of the Metropolitan tracks. The route was a major trunk route with many prestigious trains, such as ''The Master Cutler'' and ''The South Yorkshireman''. The line beyond Aylesbury Vale Parkway is currently closed to almost all passenger services: the Metropolitan line service north of Aylesbury to Verney Junction and Brill was withdrawn in 1936 as London Transport (LT) wanted to focus more closely on London. The permanent way is now lost. The line north west from Harrow was electrified in stages. In 1925, four rail electrification reached Rickmansworth and Watford, and the Metropolitan Railway planned to electrify the line as far as Aylesbury by 1935. However, when the Met was absorbed into LT the plans were put on hold. Electrification of the final leg of the Met finally got under way in the late 1950s, but LT decided later to electrify only up to Amersham. The original intention to electrify further is evidenced by the colour light signalling which was fully installed as far as Aylesbury and by platform extensions up to Stoke Mandeville. In 1961 LT withdrew the Metropolitan line from Aylesbury and since then it goes only as far as Amersham. Following the end of steam-hauled Metropolitan line trains in 1961 the service was provided by British Rail Class 115 diesel multiple units until 1992 (which were then replaced by the line's current rolling stock) - along with Metropolitan line electric multiple units south of Amersham. Responsibility for the line north of Amersham was transferred from London Transport to British Railways on 11 September 1961; London Underground signage at the stations on this section was gradually replaced by those of British Railways. The mainline services north of Aylesbury (via Woodford Halse, Rugby and Loughborough to Nottingham Victoria and beyond) were withdrawn in 1966 as the Great Central Main Line was seen by Dr Beeching as a duplicate of the Midland Main Line. Now only freight services to Calvert and specials to and from Quainton run (the specials only run on certain Bank Holidays). The track remains ''in situ'' from Calvert west to Bicester Town and intermittently east to Bletchley. Intercity 125 trains were used on the line, albeit rarely, during the 1980s.〔(Track Sharing & Route Sharing )〕 Also in the 1980s, there were passenger specials north to Milton Keynes from Marylebone via Aylesbury and High Wycombe, which picked up passengers at Quainton Road and the disused Winslow railway station.〔()〕 On 14 December 2008, Chiltern Railways opened a new station, Aylesbury Vale Parkway. This station is situated two miles NW of Aylesbury station. 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「London to Aylesbury Line」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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