Denham Golf Club

This stop is located on what is today known as the Chiltern Main Line, situated in-between Gerrards Cross and Denham stations, 17-route-miles from Marylebone. The section of line that runs through Northolt, Ruislip, Gerrards Cross, and Beaconsfield, upon which Denham Golf Club station sits, was originally opened passenger traffic on Monday, 2nd April 1906 (ref: Bucks Herald, 7th April 1906) under the auspices of the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway, a collaboration between Great Western and Great Central Railways.

In the 8th March 1912 edition of the Railway Gazette magazine, it was reported that a halt was under construction on the Joint Line at Denham, for convenience of members of the adjacent golf club, comprising platforms of 300-foot in length, complete with shelters. The halt's inception meant that golf club members would no longer have to walk a mile to and from the nearest station at Denham (ref: The Bucks Herald, 30th March 1912). It was proposed for a frequent rail motor service to call at the halt (ref: Railway Gazette, 8th March 1912).

Senior Inspecting Officer of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade, Colonel Yorke, inspected the then new halt at Denham Golf Club on the morning of Friday, 28th August 1912 (ref: The Globe newspaper, 28th August 1912). In the 28th September 1912 edition of The Middlesex County Times, a then new timetable was reported, effective 1st October of that year, on the suspension of the summer service. As part of the then new schedule, a Saturdays-only train was timetabled to depart Paddington at 2:43 PM for Gerrards Cross, calling at Ealing Broadway, Ealing West, and Denham Golf Club Platform; a Paddington-bound service would also depart Gerrards Cross at 5:01 PM, calling at Denham Golf Club Platform (5:05 PM), Denham (5:08 PM), and Ealing Broadway (5:27 PM). Your author presumes that, given the above, 1st October 1912 was the day Denham Golf Club Platform (as the halt first appeared in timetables as) opened.

The platforms were staggered, "up" and "down" sides being situated west and east of an underpass respectively, and were of timber construction (ref: Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Gazette, 21st September 1951). During World War I, the halt was used extensively by a nearby camp of the King's Royal Rifles (ref: Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Gazette, 6th April 1956). In period publications going back as far as when the station originally opened, the naming is inconsistent: some refer to the site as Denham Golf Club Platform; others Denham Golf Club Halt.

In March 1950, the local council received a letter from British Railways (BR), which suggested changing the name of Denham Golf Club Platform to either Denham Higher or Denham West, with or without the additional words For Denham Golf Club (ref: Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Gazette, 17th March 1950). The Council's Chairman, Major Tindall, remarked at the time that the station had originally been erected at the request of the Golf Club, on the condition that they could guarantee a certain level of patronage (ref: Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Gazette, 17th March 1950). Protests against the name change, including from the Golf Club, were received by the Council, and the latter endorsed these objections when responding to BR (ref: Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Gazette, 17th March 1950).

In September 1951, a then new "up" platform was completed at Denham Golf Club, which was directly opposite the original "down" platform and was of concrete construction, complete with a corrugated "Pagoda" waiting shelter (ref: Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Gazette, 21st September 1951). The then new "up" platform, although completed (except for the installation of name boards), was left unused for a series of weeks, due to a dispute between BR and the County Council over a road waiting bay and exit in connection with the new build (ref: Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Gazette, 21st September 1951). In the 26th April 1956 edition of The Evening News (London), it was reported that firemen had put out a blaze on the wooden "down" platform of Denham Golf Club — perhaps it was at this time that the "down" side was provided with a concrete platform.

As mentioned earlier, the naming of the station in period publications is inconsistent. In an official timetable advert posted by BR in the 2nd October 1953 edition of the Buckinghamshire Advertiser and Gazette, the station name is suffixed Halt; however, in the same publication on 5th February of the following year, BR listed the station as Denham Golf Club Platform.

An eight-week station enhancement programme was initiated by Railtrack in February 1999, at a cost of £675,000, encompassing sites at Denham, Denham Golf Club, West Ruislip, Little Kimble, Great Missenden, and Saunderton (ref: Amersham Advertiser, 10th February 1999). The scheme involved relaying platform surfaces with bright yellow raised strips at their edges, to assist poor-sighted passengers, and work was scheduled to take place overnight and on Sundays (ref: Amersham Advertiser, 10th February 1999).

On 16th March 2015, Denham Golf Club station closed temporarily to allow Network Rail to renew the platforms, with a scheduled reopening date of 20th June of the same year (ref: RCTS' The Railway Observer, May 2015). However, the work took a week longer than envisaged, the station reopening to traffic on 27th June (ref: RCTS' The Railway Observer, August 2015).

10th May 1987

Rebuilt Merchant Navy Class No. 35028 "Clan Line" is seen passing through Denham Golf Club with the "Shakespeare Limited", heading a return trip from Marylebone to Stratford-upon-Avon. Behind No. 35028 is former Class 25 No. 25310, by that time renumbered ADB97250 and converted to a mobile generator van to supply power and heating to the carriages (ref: The Railway Magazine, October 1983). © David Glasspool Collection

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