 At 23 miles ( 37 km ) the line would have been by far the shortest route between Oxford and Aylesbury , compared with 28 miles ( 45 km ) via the Great Western Railway ( GWR ) , which had absorbed the Wycombe Railway , and 34 miles ( 55 km ) via the Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway and the LNWR . The Act of Parliament authorising the scheme received the Royal Assent on 20 August 1883 , and the new Oxford , Aylesbury and Metropolitan Junction Railway Company , including the Duke of Buckingham , Ferdinand de Rothschild and Harry Verney among its directors , was created . The scheme caught the attention of the expansionist Metropolitan Railway , who paid for the survey to be conducted . Despite the scheme 's powerful backers , the expensive Muswell Hill tunnel deterred investors and the company found it difficult to raise capital . De Rothschild promised to lend money for the scheme in return for guarantees that the line would include a passenger station at Westcott , and that the Duke would press the A & B into opening a station at the nearest point to Waddesdon Manor . Waddesdon Manor railway station was duly opened on 1 January 1897 . 
