Chesham

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Chesham station lies at the end of the Chesham branch of the Metropolitan line, and opened 8 July 1889 as the original northern terminus of the Metropolitan Railway from Baker Street. There is no station starter signal at Chesham. The branch has no intermediate stations and has the longest distance between adjacent stations on the network at 3.89 miles (6.26 km).

Chesham station is also the least used station on the Metropolitan Line at just 429,000 passengers per annum.

There are two 8-car through trains to Aldgate (during the morning rush hour) and two returning through trains in the evening rush hour but for most of the day a 4-car train operates as a shuttle service to and from Chalfont & Latimer station, on the main line to Amersham and Aylesbury. London Underground have proposed a two through trains to London per hour off-peak service. This could happen as early as May 2009, if passengers (from Amersham and Chesham) approve of the proposals.

Chesham is in Travelcard Zone 9 (previously zone D). It is situated 25 miles (40.2 km) north west of Charing Cross, making it the furthest station out from Central London anywhere on the London Underground network (using Charing Cross as a central point). It is also both the most northernmost and westernmost London Underground Station. Chesham replaced Ongar as the farthest station when the latter closed in 1994.

In June 2007, it was announced that Chesham station’s manned ticket office was to close, leading to renewed fears for the future of the station itself. However, in June 2008, Transport for London announced a consultation process which could lead to the introduction of two through trains from Chesham to central London per hour. 

History

There had been an intention to extend the branch onwards to Tring and make a connection to the LNWR Euston – Birmingham line. Land for the purpose was bought along the proposed line of route (for some time there was a gap in the houses along Victoria Road where the railway line was supposed to have run, and pieces of what appears to be concrete embankment are still visible today), but no further progress was made, and with the extension of the main line onwards from Chalfont and Latimer towards Amersham the idea was abandoned.

There was a goods yard beyond the current site of the station; this now serves as the car park for the station and the town’s Waitrose.

Because of the plans for extension the station and the presence of the goods yard, Chesham used to have no fewer than three tracks (though only two platforms) and all three tracks remained well into the seventies (long after the yard was closed) as rather useless sidings. This three track layout may be clearly seen (in the early seventies) at the end of the opening credits of Metro-land. Today there is only one platform and one track, the empty space that used to be platform one has now become a floral display (as visible in the picture).

Ticket barriers were installed in the late 1990s.