 Between 1793 and 1800 the Grand Junction Canal canal was built , connecting London to the Midlands . The canal followed the course of the River Bulbourne through the Chilterns , and included a branch to Aylesbury . For the first time the coal and industrial products of northern England and London could be cheaply supplied to Buckinghamshire , and grain and timber from Buckinghamshire 's farms could easily be shipped to market . The route taken by the Grand Junction Canal ran through the east of the county , leaving the Chiltern towns of southern Buckinghamshire isolated . When Robert Stephenson 's London and Birmingham Railway opened in 1838 it paralleled the route of the canal through Buckinghamshire . Although the short 1839 Aylesbury Railway linked Aylesbury to the London and Birmingham Railway , the rest of central Buckinghamshire remained unconnected to the railway and canal networks . 
