Marylebone station
Encyclopedia
Marylebone station also known as London Marylebone, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground
complex. It stands midway between the mainline stations at Euston
and Paddington
, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from each. Originally the London terminus of the ill-fated Great Central Main Line
, it now serves as the terminus of the Chiltern Main Line
route.
Opened in 1899, it is the youngest of London's mainline terminal stations, and also one of the smallest, having opened with half the number of platforms originally planned. It is also the only terminal station in London to host only diesel trains, having no electrified lines. From 1967 for many years it was served only by diesel multiple-unit trains (DMUs). Occasionally special trains hauled by diesel or steam locomotives also visit Marylebone.
Two new platforms have been added recently to cope with an increase in services and a growing number of passengers. Marylebone is in Travelcard Zone 1
.
, a major thoroughfare in the Marylebone
area of central London
. Nearby attractions include Regents Park, Lord's Cricket Ground
, Baker Street
and Madame Tussauds
.
(replaced by the terminus at St Pancras Station, which opened in November 2007) it remains the newest. It is the only non-electrified terminal in London. Marylebone is operated by Chiltern Railways
, making it the only London terminal station not to be managed by Network Rail
(a distinction previously shared with , managed by First Capital Connect
, the work at Blackfriars in connection with the Thameslink Programme
having removed the terminal platforms).
Train services into the station are run by Chiltern Railways
which serves the Chiltern Main Line
and London to Aylesbury Line
routes to High Wycombe
, Aylesbury
, Bicester
, Banbury
, Leamington Spa
, Stratford-upon-Avon
, Birmingham
(Snow Hill
), and Kidderminster
.
Around 11.6 million passengers passed through Marylebone between 2006/2007, an increase of 4.8 million since 2005/2006, a 70% rise in just a year. This makes it London's fastest-growing passenger rail terminal by percentage growth rate.
The station was opened on 15 March 1899 and was the terminus of the Great Central Railway
's new London extension
main line — the last major railway line to be built into London until High Speed 1. The designer was Henry William Braddock, a civil engineer for the Great Central Railway. The design is in a modest, uninflated domestic version of the "Wrenaissance" revival style
that owed some of its popularity to work by Norman Shaw; it harmonises with the residential surroundings with Dutch gable
s, employing warm brick and cream-coloured stone.
Originally Marylebone is said to have been planned as a ten-platform station, but the cost of building the GCR was far higher than expected and nearly bankrupted the company, causing the station to be scaled back to just four platforms, three within the train shed and one west of the train shed (platform 4). The concourse is unusually long and, for some 50 years, had only three walls, the northern wall being missing, as the GCR anticipated that the other six platforms, under an extended train shed, would be built later on. The cost of the London Extension also meant that the Great Central Hotel was built outside the station complex and by a different company.
The Great Central Railway linked London to High Wycombe
, Aylesbury
, Rugby
, Leicester
, Nottingham
, Sheffield
and Manchester
.
Local services from northwest Middlesex
, High Wycombe and Aylesbury also terminated at Marylebone.
Passenger traffic on the GCR was never heavy, perhaps because it was the last main line to be built, which meant it had difficulty competing against longer-established rivals (especially the Midland Railway
and its terminal St Pancras) for the lucrative intercity passenger business. Furthermore, for 40 miles between Aylesbury and Rugby the line traversed thinly-populated countryside, thus attracting little passenger business at intermediate stations. The GCR also struggled to compete with the Metropolitan Railway
for 2nd- and 3rd-class traffic from nearby towns such as Harrow
, Chesham
and Aylesbury
. However, the GCR had the upper hand on 1st-class travel between these towns, being quick, reliable and luxurious compared to the Met. Due to low passenger traffic, Marylebone was considered the quietest and most pleasant of London's termini, qualities underlined by the present rail operator (Chiltern Railways).
While passenger traffic was sparse, the line was heavily used for freight, especially coal, and goods trains ran from the north and East Midlands to the former Marylebone freight depot which used to adjoin the station.
The heyday of the line was between 1923, when the GCR was absorbed into the LNER and 1948, when the LNER was nationalised to form the BR Eastern Region. As a result many prestigious locomotives, such as Flying Scotsman
, Sir Nigel Gresley
, and Mallard
which ran on the East Coast Main Line
, were also frequent visitors to the line. Special trains also ran on the line to destinations such as Scotland.
to the London Midland Region
(although Marylebone itself, and the first few miles of its route, had belonged to the Western Region
since 1950), as the former Great Central Main Line
was regarded as a duplicate of the Midland Main Line
. Meanwhile the Master Cutler
, the line's daily crack London-Sheffield express, was diverted to and thenceforth ran via the East Coast Main Line. By 1960 there were no daytime trains running to destinations north of Nottingham, although a few still ran at night, and many express services were cut. By 1963, local stopping services beyond Aylesbury and most intermediate stations had closed, and in 1965 freight services were curtailed. Between 1960 and 1966 only a few long-distance "semi-fast" services remained, mainly steam-hauled by LMR 'Black 5s' - the days of the Great Central as a true main line were over. In 1966 the former Great Central Main Line was closed between Aylesbury
and Rugby as part of the Beeching axe
. This meant that Marylebone was now the terminus for local services to Aylesbury and High Wycombe only. The GCR's closure was the largest single railway closure of the Beeching era.
After the 1960s, lack of investment meant that the local services and the station itself became increasingly run down. Marylebone became the best place in London to see heritage trains. In the early 1980s there was a proposal to close Marylebone, divert British Rail services via High Wycombe into nearby Paddington
, and extend the Metropolitan Line
to Aylesbury, so London trains via Amersham would be routed to Baker Street
. Marylebone was to be converted into a coach station with the tracks converted to a road for coaches only. However these plans were deemed impractical and quietly dropped.
A major turnaround in the station's fortunes occurred in the late 1980s, when British Rail
decided to divert many services from overcrowded Paddington station into Marylebone. The station was given a multi-million-pound facelift, financed by selling off the redundant adjacent goods yard and some land previously used by the platform beside the train shed (platform 2 in 1899, platform 4 after the present 2 and 3 were built on the site of the carriage road). The ageing fleet of trains (Class 115
) on the local services was replaced by a fleet of state-of-the-art Class 165 Turbo
trains.
Upon rail privatisation in 1996, the station was given an even bigger boost when Chiltern Railways
took over the rail services. Chiltern trains made the station the terminus for a new interurban service to . To cope with Chiltern Railways' success over the last ten years and with increased passenger numbers, a new platform (platform 6) was inaugurated in May 2006. This was part of Chiltern's £70-million project Evergreen 2. Platform 5 and the shortened platform 4 opened in September 2006. The canopies on platforms 5 & 6 were built in a similar style to the canopy on the original platform 4, which was demolished in the 1980s. Additionally, a new depot has recently opened near Wembley Stadium railway station
to compensate for the closure of Marylebone's station sidings and to make way for the new platforms. Some services from Marylebone have also now been extended beyond Birmingham to Kidderminster
. Marylebone now serves more passengers than use the purely domestic services at St Pancras.
In late January 2006, a new company was formed called Wrexham & Shropshire. In September 2007, the Office of Rail Regulation
granted the company permission to operate services from Wrexham
(in North Wales) via , Telford
and the West Midlands
to Marylebone, which started in early 2008. This restored direct London services to Wrexham and Shropshire
, with five return trips per day on weekdays. This was reduced to four trains a day in March 2009. The services ceased following the last departure on 28 January 2011.
The main line leads out of the station northwards, immediately passing under Rossmore Road (from which the carriage road used to descend); over the Regent's Canal; and into a long series of cut-and-cover tunnels, crossing the LNWR main line from Euston at right angles and eventually turning sharply north-west to emerge at the south side of the West Hampstead rail complex.
Chiltern Railways has suggested that it has a long-term aspiration to reopen the Great Central Main Line
between Aylesbury and Rugby and, if successful, Leicester. The possibility of reopening the line between Princes Risborough
and Oxford
has also been examined but rejected. Chiltern Railways has confirmed that instead its connection to Oxford will be by building a short connection at Bicester to link the Chiltern Main Line with the Varsity Line
. In February 2009 consultation and planning stages started with a firm commitment made to progress the scheme despite the recent economic downturn. In January 2010 it was announced that the project would certainly go ahead. The public enquiry is expected to reach a recommendation on the transport and works order and a decision made in 2011. At the same time (2010–2013), line speeds have been and will be increased from Marylebone to Birmingham: £250 million is being invested.
In December 2008, a proposal was made for the return of direct services between Aberystwyth
in mid-Wales and London, which last ran in 1991, with Marylebone proposed as the London terminus. Arriva Trains Wales
announced a consultation for two services a day, following the route of the WSMR connecting with the Cambrian line
at Shrewsbury. This idea has now been abandoned following objections by Wrexham & Shropshire.
It is possible that in the future a new station may be constructed on the main line out of Marylebone. There is currently a large gap north of Marylebone until trains reach either Wembley Stadium
or Harrow-on-the-Hill
. The new station is most likely to be at West Hampstead
. It could be made an interchange with the Metropolitan line
, which also has a large gap between stations.
and WH Smiths.
There are also four cashpoints
, a barber
, a flower shop and a public house
called the Victoria & Albert.
Toilet facilities have recently been refurbished and, as of July 2009, these cost 30p to use.
. It is between Baker Street
and Edgware Road
stations and is in Travelcard Zone 1
. Access is via a set of escalator
s from the mainline station concourse, which also houses the underground station's ticket office.
Compared to some of the other London termini, the mainline station's Underground links are poor. This is because the mainline station was opened thirty-six years after the Metropolitan Railway
constructed the first part of what is now the northern section of the Circle Line which by passes the station to the south.
For mainline passengers wishing to use services on the Circle, Hammersmith and City or Metropolitan
Lines, it may often be quicker to walk the short distance to nearby Baker Street station, than to make the journey on the Bakerloo Line and change trains there: especially since the Bakerloo is further underground than the Circle, Metropolitan and H&C lines.
The underground station is accessed through a separate set of ticket barriers to the main line platforms.
under the name Great Central (following a change from the originally-intended name Lisson Grove), and was renamed Marylebone on 15 April 1917. The original name still appears in places on the platform wall tiling, although the tiling scheme is a replacement designed to reflect the original scheme.
The present entrance opened in 1943 following the introduction of the escalators and wartime damage to the original station building that stood to the west, at the junction of Harewood Avenue and Harewood Row. This building, designed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
's architect, Leslie Green
, had used lifts to access the platforms. It was demolished in 1971 and the site is now occupied by a budget hotel.
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
complex. It stands midway between the mainline stations at Euston
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...
and Paddington
Paddington station
Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...
, about 1 mile (1.6 km) from each. Originally the London terminus of the ill-fated Great Central Main Line
Great Central Main Line
The Great Central Main Line , also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway , is a former railway line which opened in 1899 linking Sheffield with Marylebone Station in London via Nottingham and Leicester.The GCML was the last main line railway built in...
, it now serves as the terminus of the Chiltern Main Line
Chiltern Main Line
The Chiltern Main Line is an inter-urban, regional and commuter railway, part of the British railway system. It links London and Birmingham on a 112-mile route via the towns of High Wycombe, Banbury, and Leamington Spa...
route.
Opened in 1899, it is the youngest of London's mainline terminal stations, and also one of the smallest, having opened with half the number of platforms originally planned. It is also the only terminal station in London to host only diesel trains, having no electrified lines. From 1967 for many years it was served only by diesel multiple-unit trains (DMUs). Occasionally special trains hauled by diesel or steam locomotives also visit Marylebone.
Two new platforms have been added recently to cope with an increase in services and a growing number of passengers. Marylebone is in Travelcard Zone 1
Travelcard Zone 1
Fare zone 1 is the central zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. For most tickets, travel through the zone is charged...
.
Location
The station stands just off Marylebone RoadMarylebone Road
Marylebone Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, within the City of Westminster. It runs east-west from the Euston Road at Regent's Park to the A40 Westway at Paddington...
, a major thoroughfare in the Marylebone
Marylebone
Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
area of central London
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...
. Nearby attractions include Regents Park, Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
, Baker Street
Baker Street
Baker Street is a street in the Marylebone district of the City of Westminster in London. It is named after builder William Baker, who laid the street out in the 18th century. The street is most famous for its connection to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, who lived at a fictional 221B...
and Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds
Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud and was formerly known as "Madame Tussaud's", but the apostrophe is no longer used...
.
National Rail
The mainline station has six platforms; two originally built in 1899, two inserted into the former carriage road, and two built in September 2006. The latter addition made Marylebone no longer the smallest railway terminal in London, although apart from the now defunct Waterloo InternationalWaterloo International railway station
Waterloo International station was the London terminus of the Eurostar international rail service from its opening on 14 November 1994 until 13 November 2007. It stands on the western side of Waterloo railway station, London...
(replaced by the terminus at St Pancras Station, which opened in November 2007) it remains the newest. It is the only non-electrified terminal in London. Marylebone is operated by Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways is a British train operating company. It was set up at the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, and operates local passenger trains from Marylebone station in London to Aylesbury and main-line trains on the Chiltern Main Line to Birmingham Snow Hill with its associated branches...
, making it the only London terminal station not to be managed by Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
(a distinction previously shared with , managed by First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...
, the work at Blackfriars in connection with the Thameslink Programme
Thameslink Programme
The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, is a £6 billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the south of London without requiring passengers to change...
having removed the terminal platforms).
Train services into the station are run by Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways is a British train operating company. It was set up at the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, and operates local passenger trains from Marylebone station in London to Aylesbury and main-line trains on the Chiltern Main Line to Birmingham Snow Hill with its associated branches...
which serves the Chiltern Main Line
Chiltern Main Line
The Chiltern Main Line is an inter-urban, regional and commuter railway, part of the British railway system. It links London and Birmingham on a 112-mile route via the towns of High Wycombe, Banbury, and Leamington Spa...
and London to Aylesbury Line
London to Aylesbury Line
The London to Aylesbury Line is the main railway line between London and Aylesbury, going via the Chiltern Hills; it is operated by Chiltern Railways. The line includes the only route where National Rail trains use track that is utilized by London Underground services...
routes to High Wycombe
High Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
, Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
, Bicester
Bicester
Bicester is a town and civil parish in the Cherwell district of northeastern Oxfordshire in England.This historic market centre is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxfordshire Development has been favoured by its proximity to junction 9 of the M40 motorway linking it to London, Birmingham and...
, Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
, Leamington Spa
Leamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington or Leam to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe...
, Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
(Snow Hill
Birmingham Snow Hill station
Birmingham Snow Hill is a railway station and tram stop in the centre of Birmingham, England, on the site of an earlier, much larger station built by the former Great Western Railway . It is the second most important railway station in the city, after Birmingham New Street station...
), and Kidderminster
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a town, in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately seventeen miles south-west of Birmingham city centre and approximately fifteen miles north of Worcester city centre. The 2001 census recorded a population of 55,182 in the town...
.
Around 11.6 million passengers passed through Marylebone between 2006/2007, an increase of 4.8 million since 2005/2006, a 70% rise in just a year. This makes it London's fastest-growing passenger rail terminal by percentage growth rate.
Pre 1958 - GCR and LNER
Great Central Railway
The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...
's new London extension
Great Central Main Line
The Great Central Main Line , also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway , is a former railway line which opened in 1899 linking Sheffield with Marylebone Station in London via Nottingham and Leicester.The GCML was the last main line railway built in...
main line — the last major railway line to be built into London until High Speed 1. The designer was Henry William Braddock, a civil engineer for the Great Central Railway. The design is in a modest, uninflated domestic version of the "Wrenaissance" revival style
Edwardian Baroque architecture
The term Edwardian Baroque refers to the Neo-Baroque architectural style of many public buildings built in the British Empire during the Edwardian era ....
that owed some of its popularity to work by Norman Shaw; it harmonises with the residential surroundings with Dutch gable
Dutch gable
A Dutch gable or Flemish gable is a gable whose sides have a shape made up of one or more curves and has a pediment at the top. The gable may be an entirely decorative projection above a flat section of roof line, or may be the termination of a roof, like a normal gable...
s, employing warm brick and cream-coloured stone.
Originally Marylebone is said to have been planned as a ten-platform station, but the cost of building the GCR was far higher than expected and nearly bankrupted the company, causing the station to be scaled back to just four platforms, three within the train shed and one west of the train shed (platform 4). The concourse is unusually long and, for some 50 years, had only three walls, the northern wall being missing, as the GCR anticipated that the other six platforms, under an extended train shed, would be built later on. The cost of the London Extension also meant that the Great Central Hotel was built outside the station complex and by a different company.
The Great Central Railway linked London to High Wycombe
High Wycombe
High Wycombe , commonly known as Wycombe and formally called Chepping Wycombe or Chipping Wycombe until 1946,is a large town in Buckinghamshire, England. It is west-north-west of Charing Cross in London; this figure is engraved on the Corn Market building in the centre of the town...
, Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
, Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...
, Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...
, Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
and Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
.
Local services from northwest Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
, High Wycombe and Aylesbury also terminated at Marylebone.
Passenger traffic on the GCR was never heavy, perhaps because it was the last main line to be built, which meant it had difficulty competing against longer-established rivals (especially the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....
and its terminal St Pancras) for the lucrative intercity passenger business. Furthermore, for 40 miles between Aylesbury and Rugby the line traversed thinly-populated countryside, thus attracting little passenger business at intermediate stations. The GCR also struggled to compete with the Metropolitan Railway
Metropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
for 2nd- and 3rd-class traffic from nearby towns such as Harrow
Harrow, London
Harrow is an area in the London Borough of Harrow, northwest London, United Kingdom. It is a suburban area and is situated 12.2 miles northwest of Charing Cross...
, Chesham
Chesham
Chesham is a market town in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, England. It is located 11 miles south-east of the county town of Aylesbury. Chesham is also a civil parish designated a town council within Chiltern district. It is situated in the Chess Valley and surrounded by farmland, as well as...
and Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
. However, the GCR had the upper hand on 1st-class travel between these towns, being quick, reliable and luxurious compared to the Met. Due to low passenger traffic, Marylebone was considered the quietest and most pleasant of London's termini, qualities underlined by the present rail operator (Chiltern Railways).
While passenger traffic was sparse, the line was heavily used for freight, especially coal, and goods trains ran from the north and East Midlands to the former Marylebone freight depot which used to adjoin the station.
The heyday of the line was between 1923, when the GCR was absorbed into the LNER and 1948, when the LNER was nationalised to form the BR Eastern Region. As a result many prestigious locomotives, such as Flying Scotsman
LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman
The LNER Class A3 Pacific locomotive No. 4472 Flying Scotsman was built in 1923 for the London and North Eastern Railway at Doncaster Works to a design of H.N. Gresley...
, Sir Nigel Gresley
LNER Class A4 4498 Sir Nigel Gresley
London and North Eastern Railway A4 Class number 4498 , 7 and 60007 , namedSir Nigel Gresley is a preserved British steam locomotive.-Liveries:...
, and Mallard
LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard
Number 4468 Mallard is a London and North Eastern Railway Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive built at Doncaster, England in 1938. While in other respects a relatively typical member of its class, it is historically significant for being the holder of the official world speed record for steam...
which ran on the East Coast Main Line
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...
, were also frequent visitors to the line. Special trains also ran on the line to destinations such as Scotland.
1958 to 1980s - the cuts
Long-distance trains from Marylebone began to be scaled back from 1958 after their transfer from BR's Eastern RegionEastern Region of British Railways
The Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992...
to the London Midland Region
London Midland Region of British Railways
The London Midland Region was one of the six regions created on the formation of the nationalised British Railways and consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway lines in England and Wales. The region was managed first from buildings adjacent to Euston Station and later from Stanier...
(although Marylebone itself, and the first few miles of its route, had belonged to the Western Region
Western Region of British Railways
The Western Region was a region of British Railways from 1948. The region ceased to be an operating unit in its own right in the 1980s and was wound up at the end of 1992...
since 1950), as the former Great Central Main Line
Great Central Main Line
The Great Central Main Line , also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway , is a former railway line which opened in 1899 linking Sheffield with Marylebone Station in London via Nottingham and Leicester.The GCML was the last main line railway built in...
was regarded as a duplicate of the Midland Main Line
Midland Main Line
The Midland Main Line is a major railway route in the United Kingdom, part of the British railway system.The present-day line links London St...
. Meanwhile the Master Cutler
Master Cutler (train)
The Master Cutler is a British named express passenger train that operates on the National Rail network from Sheffield to London and return...
, the line's daily crack London-Sheffield express, was diverted to and thenceforth ran via the East Coast Main Line. By 1960 there were no daytime trains running to destinations north of Nottingham, although a few still ran at night, and many express services were cut. By 1963, local stopping services beyond Aylesbury and most intermediate stations had closed, and in 1965 freight services were curtailed. Between 1960 and 1966 only a few long-distance "semi-fast" services remained, mainly steam-hauled by LMR 'Black 5s' - the days of the Great Central as a true main line were over. In 1966 the former Great Central Main Line was closed between Aylesbury
Aylesbury
Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...
and Rugby as part of the Beeching axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
. This meant that Marylebone was now the terminus for local services to Aylesbury and High Wycombe only. The GCR's closure was the largest single railway closure of the Beeching era.
After the 1960s, lack of investment meant that the local services and the station itself became increasingly run down. Marylebone became the best place in London to see heritage trains. In the early 1980s there was a proposal to close Marylebone, divert British Rail services via High Wycombe into nearby Paddington
Paddington station
Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...
, and extend the Metropolitan Line
Metropolitan Line
The Metropolitan line is part of the London Underground. It is coloured in Transport for London's Corporate Magenta on the Tube map and in other branding. It was the first underground railway in the world, opening as the Metropolitan Railway on 10 January 1863...
to Aylesbury, so London trains via Amersham would be routed to Baker Street
Baker Street tube station
Baker Street tube station is a station on the London Underground at the junction of Baker Street and the Marylebone Road. The station lies in Travelcard Zone 1 and is served by five different lines...
. Marylebone was to be converted into a coach station with the tracks converted to a road for coaches only. However these plans were deemed impractical and quietly dropped.
1980s onwards - success
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
decided to divert many services from overcrowded Paddington station into Marylebone. The station was given a multi-million-pound facelift, financed by selling off the redundant adjacent goods yard and some land previously used by the platform beside the train shed (platform 2 in 1899, platform 4 after the present 2 and 3 were built on the site of the carriage road). The ageing fleet of trains (Class 115
British Rail Class 115
The British Rail Class 115 diesel multiple units were 41 high density sets which operated the outer-suburban services from Marylebone usually to destinations such as High Wycombe, Aylesbury and Banbury which are on the Chiltern Main Line and Great Central Main Line...
) on the local services was replaced by a fleet of state-of-the-art Class 165 Turbo
British Rail Class 165
The British Rail Class 165 Turbo is a fleet of suburban diesel multiple units , originally specified by and built for British Rail, the then United Kingdom state owned railway operator. They were built by BREL at York Works between 1990 and 1992...
trains.
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways is a British train operating company. It was set up at the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, and operates local passenger trains from Marylebone station in London to Aylesbury and main-line trains on the Chiltern Main Line to Birmingham Snow Hill with its associated branches...
took over the rail services. Chiltern trains made the station the terminus for a new interurban service to . To cope with Chiltern Railways' success over the last ten years and with increased passenger numbers, a new platform (platform 6) was inaugurated in May 2006. This was part of Chiltern's £70-million project Evergreen 2. Platform 5 and the shortened platform 4 opened in September 2006. The canopies on platforms 5 & 6 were built in a similar style to the canopy on the original platform 4, which was demolished in the 1980s. Additionally, a new depot has recently opened near Wembley Stadium railway station
Wembley Stadium railway station
Wembley Stadium railway station is a Network Rail station in Wembley, Greater London on the Chiltern Main Line. At a quarter of a mile south west of the sports venue it is the nearest station to Wembley Stadium.- First Wembley Stadium station:...
to compensate for the closure of Marylebone's station sidings and to make way for the new platforms. Some services from Marylebone have also now been extended beyond Birmingham to Kidderminster
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a town, in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately seventeen miles south-west of Birmingham city centre and approximately fifteen miles north of Worcester city centre. The 2001 census recorded a population of 55,182 in the town...
. Marylebone now serves more passengers than use the purely domestic services at St Pancras.
In late January 2006, a new company was formed called Wrexham & Shropshire. In September 2007, the Office of Rail Regulation
Office of Rail Regulation
The Office of Rail Regulation is a statutory board which is the combined economic and safety regulatory authority for Great Britain's railway network. It was established on 5 July 2004 by the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, replacing the Rail Regulator...
granted the company permission to operate services from Wrexham
Wrexham General railway station
Wrexham General railway station is a main line railway station and the main railway station serving Wrexham, north-east Wales. It is currently operated by Arriva Trains Wales, but services are also provided by Virgin Trains who operate a service to London Euston...
(in North Wales) via , Telford
Telford Central railway station
Telford Central railway station serves the new town of Telford, England. It is situated close to the town centre, the main commercial district of the town...
and the West Midlands
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
to Marylebone, which started in early 2008. This restored direct London services to Wrexham and Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, with five return trips per day on weekdays. This was reduced to four trains a day in March 2009. The services ceased following the last departure on 28 January 2011.
The main line leads out of the station northwards, immediately passing under Rossmore Road (from which the carriage road used to descend); over the Regent's Canal; and into a long series of cut-and-cover tunnels, crossing the LNWR main line from Euston at right angles and eventually turning sharply north-west to emerge at the south side of the West Hampstead rail complex.
Future
Chiltern Railways has suggested that it has a long-term aspiration to reopen the Great Central Main Line
Great Central Main Line
The Great Central Main Line , also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway , is a former railway line which opened in 1899 linking Sheffield with Marylebone Station in London via Nottingham and Leicester.The GCML was the last main line railway built in...
between Aylesbury and Rugby and, if successful, Leicester. The possibility of reopening the line between Princes Risborough
Princes Risborough
Princes Risborough is a small town in Buckinghamshire, England, about 9 miles south of Aylesbury and 8 miles north west of High Wycombe. Bledlow lies to the west and Monks Risborough to the east. It lies at the foot of the Chiltern Hills, at the north end of a gap or pass through the Chilterns,...
and Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
has also been examined but rejected. Chiltern Railways has confirmed that instead its connection to Oxford will be by building a short connection at Bicester to link the Chiltern Main Line with the Varsity Line
Varsity Line
The Varsity Line is an informal name for the railway route that formerly linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated successively by the London and North Western Railway, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and British Railways...
. In February 2009 consultation and planning stages started with a firm commitment made to progress the scheme despite the recent economic downturn. In January 2010 it was announced that the project would certainly go ahead. The public enquiry is expected to reach a recommendation on the transport and works order and a decision made in 2011. At the same time (2010–2013), line speeds have been and will be increased from Marylebone to Birmingham: £250 million is being invested.
In December 2008, a proposal was made for the return of direct services between Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth
Aberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....
in mid-Wales and London, which last ran in 1991, with Marylebone proposed as the London terminus. Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales
Arriva Trains Wales is a train operating company, owned by Arriva, that operates urban and inter urban passenger services in Wales and the Welsh Marches...
announced a consultation for two services a day, following the route of the WSMR connecting with the Cambrian line
Cambrian Line
The Cambrian Line is a railway from Shrewsbury to Welshpool, Aberystwyth and Pwllheli. The railway runs first through the central part of Wales and then along the coast of Cardigan Bay....
at Shrewsbury. This idea has now been abandoned following objections by Wrexham & Shropshire.
It is possible that in the future a new station may be constructed on the main line out of Marylebone. There is currently a large gap north of Marylebone until trains reach either Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium railway station
Wembley Stadium railway station is a Network Rail station in Wembley, Greater London on the Chiltern Main Line. At a quarter of a mile south west of the sports venue it is the nearest station to Wembley Stadium.- First Wembley Stadium station:...
or Harrow-on-the-Hill
Harrow-on-the-Hill station
Harrow-on-the-Hill station is a London Underground station served by National Rail and London Underground trains. It is located between College Road and Lowlands Road in the Greenhill area of Harrow, about half a mile north of the locality from which it takes its name.-Railway geography:The...
. The new station is most likely to be at West Hampstead
West Hampstead tube station
West Hampstead tube station is a London Underground Jubilee line station in West Hampstead. It is on West End Lane between Broadhurst Gardens and Blackburn Road and is in Travelcard Zone 2. It lies between Kilburn and Finchley Road tube stations...
. It could be made an interchange with the Metropolitan line
Metropolitan Line
The Metropolitan line is part of the London Underground. It is coloured in Transport for London's Corporate Magenta on the Tube map and in other branding. It was the first underground railway in the world, opening as the Metropolitan Railway on 10 January 1863...
, which also has a large gap between stations.
Services
Monday-Friday (off-peak)- 2 trains per hour (tph) to/from Aylesbury (via Amersham). One of these services in each hour continues on to serve Aylesbury Vale Parkway
- 2tph to/from Birmingham (one fast, first stop Bicester North, and one semi-fast, first stop High Wycombe)
- 2tph to/from High Wycombe (stopping service)
- 1tph to/from Bicester, Banbury or Stratford-upon-Avon (semi-fast, first stop Gerrards Cross)
- 1tph to/from Princes Risborough or Bicester (semi-fast, first stop Gerrards Cross)
- 4tpd to/from Kidderminster via Banbury and Birmingham Snow Hill
Station facilities
The station concourse contains a small selection of shops, notable examples being Marks and Spencer, Burger KingBurger King
Burger King, often abbreviated as BK, is a global chain of hamburger fast food restaurants headquartered in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. The company began in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacksonville, Florida-based restaurant chain...
and WH Smiths.
There are also four cashpoints
Automated teller machine
An automated teller machine or automatic teller machine, also known as a Cashpoint , cash machine or sometimes a hole in the wall in British English, is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients of a financial institution with access to financial transactions in a public...
, a barber
Barber
A barber is someone whose occupation is to cut any type of hair, and to shave or trim the beards of men. The place of work of a barber is generally called a barbershop....
, a flower shop and a public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
called the Victoria & Albert.
Toilet facilities have recently been refurbished and, as of July 2009, these cost 30p to use.
London Underground
The underground station is served by the Bakerloo LineBakerloo Line
The Bakerloo line is a line of the London Underground, coloured brown on the Tube map. It runs partly on the surface and partly at deep level, from Elephant and Castle in the south-east to Harrow & Wealdstone in the north-west of London. The line serves 25 stations, of which 15 are underground...
. It is between Baker Street
Baker Street tube station
Baker Street tube station is a station on the London Underground at the junction of Baker Street and the Marylebone Road. The station lies in Travelcard Zone 1 and is served by five different lines...
and Edgware Road
Edgware Road tube station (Bakerloo Line)
Edgware Road is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster. It is served by the Bakerloo line and is between Paddington and Marylebone stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. The station is located on the north-east corner of the junction of Edgware Road, Harrow Road and Marylebone Road...
stations and is in Travelcard Zone 1
Travelcard Zone 1
Fare zone 1 is the central zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used for calculating the price of tickets for travel on the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and, since 2007, on National Rail services. For most tickets, travel through the zone is charged...
. Access is via a set of escalator
Escalator
An escalator is a moving staircase – a conveyor transport device for carrying people between floors of a building. The device consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal.Escalators are used around the...
s from the mainline station concourse, which also houses the underground station's ticket office.
Compared to some of the other London termini, the mainline station's Underground links are poor. This is because the mainline station was opened thirty-six years after the Metropolitan Railway
Metropolitan railway
Metropolitan Railway can refer to:* Metropolitan line, part of the London Underground* Metropolitan Railway, the first underground railway to be built in London...
constructed the first part of what is now the northern section of the Circle Line which by passes the station to the south.
For mainline passengers wishing to use services on the Circle, Hammersmith and City or Metropolitan
Metropolitan Line
The Metropolitan line is part of the London Underground. It is coloured in Transport for London's Corporate Magenta on the Tube map and in other branding. It was the first underground railway in the world, opening as the Metropolitan Railway on 10 January 1863...
Lines, it may often be quicker to walk the short distance to nearby Baker Street station, than to make the journey on the Bakerloo Line and change trains there: especially since the Bakerloo is further underground than the Circle, Metropolitan and H&C lines.
The underground station is accessed through a separate set of ticket barriers to the main line platforms.
History
The underground station was opened on 27 March 1907 by the Baker Street and Waterloo RailwayBaker Street and Waterloo Railway
The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway , also known as the Bakerloo tube, was a railway company established in 1893 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London...
under the name Great Central (following a change from the originally-intended name Lisson Grove), and was renamed Marylebone on 15 April 1917. The original name still appears in places on the platform wall tiling, although the tiling scheme is a replacement designed to reflect the original scheme.
The present entrance opened in 1943 following the introduction of the escalators and wartime damage to the original station building that stood to the west, at the junction of Harewood Avenue and Harewood Row. This building, designed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London
Underground Electric Railways Company of London
The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited , known operationally as The Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an underground railway constructed in a circular tunnel by the use...
's architect, Leslie Green
Leslie Green
Leslie William Green was an English architect known especially for his design of iconic stations constructed on the London Underground railway system in central London during the first decade of the 20th century....
, had used lifts to access the platforms. It was demolished in 1971 and the site is now occupied by a budget hotel.
In popular culture
- In 1964 several scenes in The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
film A Hard Day's NightA Hard Day's Night (film)A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists...
were filmed at Marylebone station. - The station appeared in an episode of Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I.Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
when the series was filmed around London. - The station appeared in the opening scene of the 1965 film of The IPCRESS FileThe Ipcress File (film)The Ipcress File is a 1965 British espionage film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Michael Caine, Guy Doleman, and Nigel Green. The screenplay by Bill Canaway and James Doran was based on Len Deighton's 1962 novel, The IPCRESS File. It has won critical acclaim and a BAFTA award for best...
. - The station appeared in the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's spy drama SpooksSpooksSpooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...
, season 4, episode 1. The script pretended that it was Paddington. - Similarly Marylebone masqueraded as Paddington in the 1987 television adaptation of Agatha Christie's 4.50 from Paddington4.50 From Paddington4.50 from PaddingtonThe article time reads: Four-fifty from Paddington. In the United Kingdom's time notation, hours and minutes may be separated by a dot rather than a colon sign...
- The station appeared in the hit BBC Comedy Gavin & StaceyGavin & StaceyGavin & Stacey is a British comedy television series. A romantic comedy-drama, the show follows the long-distance relationship of Gavin from Billericay in Essex, England, and Stacey from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The writers of the show, actors James Corden and Ruth Jones, also...
recently, branded as London Paddington. - The station appeared in the Dempsey & MakepeaceDempsey & MakepeaceDempsey & Makepeace is a British television crime drama made by London Weekend Television for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham...
episode 'Judgement'. - The station appeared in the final episode of series 2 of Green WingGreen WingGreen Wing is a British sitcom set in the fictional East Hampton Hospital. It was created by the same team behind the sketch show Smack the Pony, led by Victoria Pile, and stars Tamsin Greig, Stephen Mangan and Julian Rhind-Tutt....
. - The station was used as a location for an episode of Peep ShowPeep Show (TV series)Peep Show is a British sitcom starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. The television programme is written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, with additional material by Mitchell and Webb themselves, amongst others. It has been broadcast on Channel 4 since 2003. The show's seventh series makes it...
Series 4 - The station appeared in the Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
serial, Doctor Who and the SiluriansDoctor Who and the SiluriansDoctor Who and the Silurians is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in seven weekly parts from January 31 to March 14, 1970. The story is the first appearance of a recurring family of Earth-dwelling reptiles...
. - The station appeared in an ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
advert for the UEFAUEFAThe Union of European Football Associations , almost always referred to by its acronym UEFA is the administrative and controlling body for European association football, futsal and beach soccer....
Euro 2008 football championships. - The station appeared in the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's updated Reggie Perrin TV series, as London Waterloo station. - The station is a property on the British version of the MonopolyMonopoly (game)Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
board game.
External links
- Train times and station information for Marylebone railway station from National RailNational RailNational Rail is a title used by the Association of Train Operating Companies as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain...
(Station code: MYB) - Marylebone Station at Chiltern Railways