 As the line had not yet formally been approved for opening by the Railway Inspectorate , the MR requested that the local authorities not celebrate the event . However , public interest was high and schools closed for the day . Large crowds gathered around the station and along the line , and a banner reading " Long looked for , come at last " was hung across Chesham station . As the train pulled into Chesham , it was greeted by celebratory gunfire as it drew into the town , and a band at the station played See the Conquering Hero Comes . The party alighted at the newly built Chesham goods depot , which had been decorated as a banqueting hall for the occasion , and an opening ceremony was conducted outside by Edward Watkin and local dignitary and railway financier Ferdinand de Rothschild before the group entered the goods depot for a celebratory meal . Watkin gave a speech recollecting George Stephenson 's desire , fifty years earlier , to see the first mainline railway built along the route now being taken by the Metropolitan Railway , joked that he hoped the easy access to London would not lead to the rural nature of the area being displaced by " a sudden influx of <unk> " , and spoke of his desire to see the connection northwards to the LNWR completed . 
