page_title: Brackley
section_title: Railways
hierarchical_section_title: Brackley / Transport / Railways
caption_attribution_description: Route of High Speed 2 based on OpenStreetMap[1], which is in turn is based on the official GIS information published on data.gov.uk by the DfT on 19 January 2012.
context_page_description: Brackley is a market town in South Northamptonshire, England, on the borders with Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. 19 miles from Oxford and 22 miles from Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the intersecting trade routes between London, Birmingham and the Midlands and Cambridge and Oxford. Brackley is close to Silverstone and home to the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team.
context_section_description: The nearest railway station is Kings Sutton, about 6 miles (10 km) west of the town. Brackley had two railway stations of its own that were closed in the 1960s.
  Brackley's first station, known in its latter years as Brackley Town, opened in May 1850 as part of the Buckinghamshire Railway's Buckingham and Brackley Junction line between Verney Junction and Banbury Merton Street via Buckingham. The London and North Western Railway operated the line from the beginning and absorbed the Buckinghamshire Railway Company in 1879. British Railways withdrew passenger trains from the line through Brackley Town station in January 1961 and closed the line to freight in 1966.
  Brackley's second station was Brackley Central, opened in March 1899 on the Great Central Main Line, which was the last main line to be built between northern England and London. The GC Main Line included Brackley Viaduct across the Ouse Valley southeast of the town, which was 255 yards (233 m) in length, 62 feet (19 m) high, had 20 brick arches and two girder spans. British Railways withdrew passenger trains from the line through Brackley Central in September 1966. Brackley Viaduct was demolished in sections early in 1978.
  Chiltern Railways is said to want to restore services between London Marylebone and Rugby along the former Great Central Main Line. This would have Brackley Central railway station reopen with direct services to London, Aylesbury and Rugby. However, the Department for Transport has chosen part of the former Great Central route north-west of Brackley as part of the new High Speed 2 line between London and Birmingham. A station at Brackley is not currently proposed.
caption: Approximate route of the London-Birmingham section based on the official description, also available as KML. It would pass just south and west of Southam and through Brackley.
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