The station opened to coal traffic on 27 July 1898 and to passengers on 15 March 1899. It was the terminus of the GCR's London extension main line – the last major railway line to be built into London until High Speed 1. The Great Central Railway linked London to stations in , , Rugby, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester. Local services from northwest Middlesex, High Wycombe and Aylesbury also terminated at Marylebone. The GCR moved its headquarters to Marylebone from Manchester in 1905.