This railway opened as a small private branch line from the Great Western station at Princes Risborough through rural Oxfordshire to the town of Watlington in 1872.  There were two intermediate stations at Chinnor and Aston Rowant.  The line almost immediately ran into financial difficulties, and finally in 1883 it was acquired by the Great Western.  They upgraded the line and opened some additional halts along the route.  After the Second World War, passenger traffic dropped away, and the last passenger service ran in June 1957.  Goods trains continued along the whole route until December 1960, when the tracks were lifted between Chinnor and Watlington.  The section between Chinnor and Princes Risborough remained for goods traffic from Chinnor cement works.  However, the station buildings and platform at Chinnor were demolished.  

The cement traffic continued until the end of 1989, when maintenance of the line was taken over by the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway Association.  They bought the track bed outright in 1994.  Short passenger trips were begun later that year, and gradually the service was extended from Chinnor, reaching Thame Junction in 1996.  

Work on the reconstruction of the Victorian station at Chinnor was begun in 1998 and completed in 2002.  Currently the passenger service runs from Chinnor for 3½ miles to Thame Junction, just short of Princes Risborough.  At Thame Junction there is no station, so passengers remain seated.  A run-round loop enables the locomotive to re-attach at the front of the train for a return trip to Chinnor.

Future plans include an extension into Princes Risborough station with full passenger facilities; and an eventual rebuilding of the line from Chinnor southwards to Aston Rowant.  Both these projects will require much effort and money, and may take some years to realise.

These photographs were taken on Sunday 24th April 2011.