Brackley Central railway station

Infobox UK disused station
name = Brackley Central
gridref = SP591380


caption =
manager = Great Central Railway
owner = London and North Eastern Railway
London Midland Region of British Railways
locale = Brackley
borough = South Northamptonshire
platforms = 2
years = 15 March 1899
events = Opened
years1 = 5 September 1966
events1 = Closed [Butt, R.V.J. (1995). "The Directory of Railway Stations", Patrick Stephens Ltd, Sparkford, ISBN 1-85260-508-1, p. 41.]

Brackley Central was a railway station on the former Great Central Main Line which ran from Manchester Piccadilly to London Marylebone. The station served the Northamptonshire town of Brackley and was the second station in the town when it opened in 1899. The GCML was a victim of the Beeching Axe as it was seen as a duplicate of the Midland Main Line. As a result, the section between Aylesbury and Rugby Central was shut, meaning the station was also closed in 1966.

Future

Chiltern Railways, the rail operator between London and Aylesbury have previously suggested that their long term ambition is to open up the GCML beyond Rugby. This would mean that Brackley Central would reopen. However, this maybe unlikely to happen until after 2022, as it is not a franchise commitment, and the large cost and scale of the work would make a private company unlikely to invest money into something they may not be reap the benefits from.

It must however be appreciated that the longer the wait in the lines revival the more decay will inevitably take place and costs of rebuilding will be forever rocketing skyward.

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References

* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nick.willis/history/time/1957.html GCR Timetables: 1957] : includes scans of the original