The station was originally named Marlow Road station. In 1874 Marlow Road station was renamed Bourne End to obviate confusion with the newly opened Marlow station. The station was opened in 1854 as part of the Wycombe Railway Company line between station and. To reach Bourne End, a wooden viaduct was built across Cockmarsh and a wooden bridge was built across the River Thames. In 1873 a line linking Bourne End with Marlow was opened to the public, with 1700 tickets being sold in the first week. Originally the branch line was served by a third platform on the west side of the station. The service on the branch line is known locally as the "Marlow Donkey", which is commemorated by a local pub of the same name, although the origin of the term is unclear. The ‘small’ waiting room building from Bourne End Station lives on at Bourne Again Junction on the Fawley Hill Railway, home of the late Sir William McAlpine. A camping coach was positioned here by the Western Region in 1960.
Partial closure
closed the line between Bourne End and High Wycombe in May 1970 but trains still run between Maidenhead and Marlow. There was local opposition to the creation of a community rail partnership because of fears that this would isolate the line from the main railway network.
Services
Bourne End is a terminus but effectively acts as a through station, with the driver having to change ends to continue to the next station. During peak hours service frequency is increased by having two trains work the line, each using Bourne End as the terminus: one runs Marlow – Bourne End and one Maidenhead – Bourne End, with passengers changing trains at Bourne End. This service pattern is needed to meet peak-time demand, as the platforms at Bourne End are not long enough to accommodate longer trains and there is no passing loop on the branch line to allow two trains to run the full route between Marlow and Maidenhead. While Bourne End has two platforms, platform 2 is only accessible from Maidenhead and not from Marlow, and so cannot be used as a passing loop. Previously, there were four trains per weekday going direct from Bourne End to London Paddington, however these services stopped in May 2017, now requiring passengers to change at Maidenhead in order to continue to Paddington. The basic daytime service runs hourly each way to Maidenhead & Marlow seven days a week, with the additional peak services operating Monday to Friday only.
