MORE than 200 people packed into two carriages behind a little tank engine when the Watlington Flier made its final run.

The passenger service on the Princes Risborough to Watlington railway line served the two towns, the villages of Chinnor and Aston Rowant and other small communities at the foot of the Chiltern Hills for nearly a century.

And when British Railways decided the service was no longer viable, people turned out in their hundreds to say farewell.

The final train left Risborough on June 29, 1957, with driver William Thomas and fireman Brian Strickland on the footplate of steam locomotive No 4650.

The Oxford Mail reported: “The engine tooted cheerfully as the train pulled out. After that, it was a triumphal procession.

“In houses near the line, windows were filled with people who wanted to give the Flier and its crew a final wave. People in their gardens stopped work to cheer and even the animals in the fields near the line caught the excitement and galloped alongside the train.”

One resident said jokingly: “We shan’t know what the time is now that the Flier isn’t running.”

It was always a friendly line, with train crews on first name terms with many regular passengers.

In fact, it was so friendly that in the 1930s, according to author John Holden, in his book, The Watlington Branch, “It was customary practice for passengers and staff to check that all the regulars were present, a porter frequently being dispatched to the station gates to look if any latecomers could be sighted hurrying up the road”.

The branch line opened in August 1872 and when the owners ran into financial difficulties, it was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1883. In addition to stations at Chinnor and Aston Rowant, halts were opened at Bledlow Bridge, Kingston Crossing, Lewknor Bridge and Wainhill Crossing.

After the Second World War, passenger traffic declined and closure came after a five-year battle by parish councils and residents to save the line. The Watlington to Chinnor section was closed completely, but the Risborough to Chinnor part remained open for freight trains to serve Chinnor cement works.

When freight traffic ended on December 20, 1989, that wasn’t the end of the story. The Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway Association was formed to turn the line into a heritage railway.

Enthusiasts bought the trackbed, built a platform at Chinnor and ran its first public service to Wainhill Crossing on August 20, 1994.

Since then, Chinnor station has been rebuilt in the Victorian style and the line has been extended to Thame junction, just short of Princes Risborough station. Future plans include extending the line into Risborough station and at the other end, to Aston Rowant.

For more details of the railway, go to www.chinnorrailway.co.uk