Track Layout at Princes Risborough, from Beeching to more recent

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From Hyde Park How - from 9 months ago but as it's about older times it's still valid.

The bizarre track layout at Princes Risborough! When you thought British Railways planning couldn?t get any worse, here's a particular example of its backwards philosophy. Its not like Seaton Junction where an entire station was left in situ with just one plain track through it which didn?t matter because the station had been closed! In the case of Princes Risborough it was a case of trying to shoehorn a main line onto one platform. That in some ways made a tiny bit of sense because this was the main entrance from the town itself and also the cross platform interchange for the Aylesbury branch.

That is of course something that is often done all over the world these days ? switch a train across to the most convenient platform where possible. But unlike these other examples where there is at least plenty of other trackage and platforms for maximum flexibility ? at Prince Risborough it wasn't 'where possible' ? it was mandatory! And that?s where the crux of the problems lie.

It strikes me as some similarity with Swindon where everything stopping to to cross over to the remaining platform off to one side of the main lines - excerpt the main lines went as well.

I suspect we have one or two members who can widen then information to older times and to current times.

[Oxonhutch]

The 'crazy' layout at Princes Risborough between the post-Beeching cuts and the improvements of Chiltern's Evergreen programme has to be seen in the light of the withdrawal of all expresses on the Chiltern mainline - all locals either terminating at Risborough, or going through to Aylesbury, and only a limited passenger service north of Risborough stopping at Banbury North only - all other local stations having been closed. Passenger trains could not cross at Banbury as the up loop was not against a platform!

The lines in solid red shown on his diagram were never closed, but served only limited goods traffic to Chinnor and Thame with the odd weekend engineering diversion continuing on north through Banbury non-stop. Cement and coal traffic to Chinnor ceased in 1989 and oil traffic to Thame in 1991 thus when the 1991 photos were taken, very little traffic used the through routes and all passenger trains stopped at the up and down platform 2. The footbridge was demolished and the old down platform abutted only the siding seen disconnected in the photos. When Chiltern Trains reinstated a new down platform - now platform 3 - they did so by building a prefabricated structure over the top of the disused old siding which for many years could be seen under platform 3.

The new footbridge at PRR^▸ (Princes Risborough) was built by M40 Trains/Chiltern Railways and belongs to them - not Network Rail. For passenger access to their new platform 4 at Risborough, the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway had to enter an access agreement with the bridge's owners as well as a lease with Network Rail for the land on the west side of the station and South Sidings. The CPRR also lease the old Princes Risborough North Signalbox seen in some of the photos.

I will see if I can find some various layouts in the public domain. I have some, but they are copyright the Signalling Record Society.

Today's arrangements can be seen in the LNW (S) Sectional Appendix on page 209 - about two thirds of the way through an extremely long document.

[eightf48544]

Note page  209 is the actual page number not the one shown  on the download which is in my case iwas 354 of 569

Thank you II for drawing my attention to this document very useful to play train rally.

It's easy you start from a particualr station and take the Left L or  Right R at the next facing junction.Thus out of Padding it's L (OOU^▸ (out of use)), L, R, L, R, L, L, L, R R L and you end up in? There are some diabolical ones you can do around Birmingham. Something for the lighter side.