Great Marlow Railway

The Great Marlow Railway was the small company that built the branch from Bourne End, then called Marlow Road, to Marlow in Buckinghamshire. Local businessmen met in August 1867 to discuss a connection to the Great Western Railway Wycombe branch, and the Great Marlow Railway Act 1868 received royal assent on 13 July 1868 with authorised capital of 18,000 pounds, only about a third of it raised locally and the Great Western supplying the rest. The 2.75 mile line opened on 27 June 1873, and Marlow Road station was renamed Bourne End in 1874. The Marlow company maintained the line and supplied the station staff while the Great Western provided and operated the rolling stock; locomotive no. 522 was affectionately known as the Marlow Donkey, a nickname that survives for the branch train. Under an Act of 1897 the Great Western acquired the remaining capital and the ownership of the line, relieving the Marlow owners of its maintenance. The route is today part of the Marlow branch line from Maidenhead.