Verney Junction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Verney Junction is a hamlet in the parish of Middle Claydon in north Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the railway line near Claydon House.
The stone cottages that make up the hamlet were largely constructed to provide houses for workers for the railway in the early Victorian era. The hamlet is named after Lord Verney of Claydon House. A quick look at Ordnance Survey maps for the area shows that a railway line once ran from this point, through Buckingham and Brackley, to Banbury.
Until 1936 Verney Junction station was the northern outpost of the Metropolitan Railway from Baker Street. It was the junction of that line with the "Varsity Line" from Oxford to Cambridge, and legend has it that it was so called because the then isolation of the area meant that the only obvious name was that of the local landowner.
The permanent way from Quainton Road to here has been closed and lifted and although one single track of the Varsity Line remains, this is rusted and overgrown far beyond use (even so, there are modern signs in place about watching out for trains before crossing the line).
Of the station itself, the building remains (it is now a private house) as do the platforms (though these are in a very poor state). The trackbed that would have served the Metropolitan Railway is now taken up with the house's garden.
The station is considered among one of London's disused underground stations, though it is a long way from London itself and isn't underground.
| Preceding station | Underground Lines | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winslow Road | Metropolitan Line | Terminus | ||
