Banbury–Verney Junction branch line

The original service provided four up and down trains, all worked by the LNWR, which had leased the line for 999 years from 1 July 1851, finally absorbing it in 1879.[5] Most services from Bletchley to Oxford carried coaches for Banbury, although in some years the service terminated at Brackley.[13] One or two services generally ran on Sundays, but these were not usually part of an Oxford service. From 1905, four services were running from Bletchley to Banbury, with one additional train terminating at Brackley. By 1920, an additional Brackley service had been laid on.[13] Between 1901 and 1916 a through service from Euston operated, which slipped a coach at Bletchley in the down direction.[14] This practice was restored after the 1923 grouping, though initially the coach slipped only ran as far as Buckingham.[15]

Farthinghoe became a junction station on 1 June 1872 with the opening of the Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway, which joined the branch at Cockley Brake and allowed connections to Towcester, Blisworth and Stratford.[16] The 5.5 mi (8.9 km) section from Banbury to Cockley Brake was to become the busiest part of the line.[17] New stations opened at Padbury in March 1878[18] and Fulwell & Westbury in August 1879.[19]

Passenger traffic was relatively light and peaked just before the First World War, although the LNWR tried to develop with specials and excursion trains.[20] In 1889, a special service ran to Quainton Road from Buckingham upon the death of the third Duke of Buckingham for mourners to attend the funeral at Wotton. Another was operated in 1894 upon the death of the Comte de Paris who had rented Stowe House.[21] Stowe House was later to bring new traffic to the line when it became Stowe School in 1923 and special trains brought the boys to and from the school.[22] In the same year, the LNWR became a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway upon the railway grouping.

Freight consisted mainly of agricultural produce, milk and cattle for Banbury where there was a market next to Merton Street station. Ironstone was also carried from Wroxton via the Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway and the GWR's Banbury station; coal and building materials were also transported.[21]

The single-track branch line from Banbury to Verney Junction possessed none of the strategic advantages of the east–west link between Oxford and Cambridge and even though efforts were made to save it, closure was inevitable.[17] The line's principal objective was Buckingham, which had declined steeply since a disastrous fire in 1725 and the collapse of the wool trade.[23] The first Duke of Buckingham altered the course of Buckingham's history when he opposed the proposed route of the London and Birmingham Railway through the town,[24] with the result that it failed to attract early development and was overtaken by Aylesbury.[17] Neither Buckingham nor Brackley benefited significantly from the railway, and population levels of both remained less than 2,500. Banbury by contrast did expand, but was better served by the GWR's main line from 1852.[23]

Passenger receipts were never high after 1923[25] and the coming of the motor vehicle had made serious inroads into traffic between the two wars, which was halted by the Second World War. The end of the war saw the railways nationalised and the line becoming part of the London Midland Region of British Railways. With the end of fuel rationing, passenger numbers began to decline again and the line's future was called into question from the mid-1950s after the ASLEF strike of 1955 when much of the milk traffic was lost.[26] Sunday passenger services were withdrawn in the late 1940s and by now only four trains in each direction ran on weekdays.[26] The first threat to the line came in 1952 when BR, having closed the line from Cockley Brake to Towcester from 2 July 1951,[27] reduced services to three trains each way.[20] The demise of the Towcester line resulted in the closure of Farthinghoe on 3 November 1952.[28] By this time, the line was hanging by a thread, with a reported £14,000 annual deficit (equivalent to £370,000 in 2021) and monthly receipts of no more than £50.[29]

M79900 on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

In 1956, the branch was chosen for a pilot single-car diesel multiple unit scheme as part of the Modernisation Plan. Two experimental olive green British Rail Derby Lightweight units nos. M79900 and M79901 entered service on 13 August and operated a service between Banbury and Buckingham, connecting with a steam push-pull service to Bletchley.[30] Eighteen months after their introduction, the need to change at Buckingham was eliminated when the units ran straight through to Bletchley.[31] Two new halts were opened at Radclive[32] and Water Stratford[33] and Merton Street received a facelift.[34] The units, which had a seating capacity of 52 (M79900) and 61 (M79901), resulted in a reported traffic increase of 400%.[20] Such was their popularity that both were operated in tandem on Banbury market days (Thursdays) and Saturdays.[34] In 1958–59, seven up trains and eight down ran on weekdays, with two extra evening services each way on Saturdays. The journey time to Verney Junction was 41 minutes, with a further 17 minutes to Bletchley.[35]

In 1959, British Railways announced that although the units were well-patronised at peak times, they tended to be empty during other periods. There was demand for the service from Buckingham, Fulwell and Westbury and Brackley, and almost none at Banbury where some people thought that the line had already closed.[35] The units had increased passenger receipts by £250-£300 per month and reduced operating costs by £300, but this still resulted in an annual deficit of £4,700 (equivalent to £120,000).[29]

Closure notices were published in December 1959 with the final date of service given as 2 January 1960, but this was delayed due to failure to agree subsidy terms with Midland Red which was to provide a replacement bus service.[36] The agreement reached would see two buses a day ply the route: one at 07.25 and the other at 15.31.[37]

The last service between Banbury and Buckingham ran on 31 December 1960,[29] with official closure of the section coming on 2 January 1961.[23] Goods facilities were withdrawn from 2 December 1963 and passenger services on the truncated Buckingham branch continued until 7 September 1964.[38] The line to Buckingham was visited by the Queen on 4 April, when the Royal Train was stabled overnight at Padbury.[39] Her father had previously visited Brackley station in May 1950 en route to the first British Grand Prix at Silverstone.[40] The freight service to Buckingham was withdrawn on 5 December 1966 and the line was abandoned. Track lifting was undertaken in 1967.