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Witney railway station (goods)

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Coordinates: 51°46′38″N 1°28′50″W / 51.77722°N 1.48056°W / 51.77722; -1.48056
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Witney (Goods)
General information
LocationWitney, West Oxfordshire
England
Coordinates51°46′38″N 1°28′50″W / 51.77722°N 1.48056°W / 51.77722; -1.48056
Grid referenceSP357090
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyWitney Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
14 November 1861Station opens
15 January 1873Station closes to passengers
2 November 1970Station closes to goods

Witney goods station served the Oxfordshire town of Witney on the Oxford, Witney and Fairford Railway. It consisted of seven sidings, a goods shed, a wooden parcel office and a cattle dock. It also had an engine shed, which was demolished early in the twentieth century. Following the opening of the East Gloucestershire Railway in 1873, the station became a goods depot, with passengers using the second station situated to the south. The original station remained open to goods traffic until 1970.

History

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The station was opened by the Witney Railway on 4 November 1861 as the western terminus of its line from Yarnton.[1][2] A single platform was provided in addition to a run-around loop and a carriage siding.[3] A large stone goods shed was served by two sidings, one of which was accessed by a short spur from a wagon turntable.[3] The station building was a small weather-boarded structure with a hipped roof and a platform canopy.[3] At the end of the line stood a single-road engine shed and water tank.[4][5][6][7] The shed, which lost its locomotive allocation when the new Witney station opened, was demolished during November 1905 after having been used for storage purposes.[8][6]

When the East Gloucestershire Railway opened an extension of the line in 1873,[9] a new passenger station was constructed on a different site to the south,[10] opening on 15 January 1873.[1][2][11][12][13][14] This left the old station on a spur line, and it became the town's goods depot on the same date.[1][2][15] The directors of the Witney Railway had first been opposed to the downgrading of their station but the Great Western Railway, which was to work the new line,[16] insisted that agreement would need to be reached between the East Gloucestershire and the Witney as to a new station which would be operated on a joint basis.[17][12] Following its conversion to a goods depot, the station's basic layout remained essentially intact, so much so that it continued to resemble the old passenger station.[8] The Great Western made several later additions including extensions to the goods shed, a stable block to accommodate the shunting and dray horses, a wood store, a corrugated iron warehouse and a stationmaster's house.[8][18] The house is said to be the last to have been constructed by the Great Western before the Second World War.[8][19] The station canopy was boarded in to increase the storage space for parcels.[7]

The station remained busy right up until the later years of the line.[20] In 1957, over 44,000 tons of goods were handled as well as 66,000 parcels.[20] 99,000 bales of blankets were dispatched by rail every year,[20] the main source of traffic.[14] After the withdrawal of services on the East Gloucestershire Railway, British Railways began deliberately running down the Witney Railway to ensure its closure; it offered the Witney Blanket Company a cheaper rate if it agreed to transfer its goods to road.[21][22] Staff at the station was reduced to a single person as the service was cut back to a coal train on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and subsequently only Tuesdays and Fridays.[21] The sidings in the goods yard were lifted in Winter 1968, leaving the large goods shed and siding to fall derelict.[21] The remaining traffic was dealt with behind the station building or in the coal sidings.[21]

Witney goods station was closed along with the Witney Railway on 2 November 1970.[1][2][23] The last train to traverse the line was the "Witney Wanderer" on 31 October, but this did not actually enter the Witney terminus.[24][22]


Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Terminus   Great Western Railway
Witney Railway
   South Leigh
Line and station closed

Present day

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The station building survived into the 1980s engulfed by an industrial estate constructed on the site of the former goods depot.[25] It was accidentally damaged in 1980 when a chimney stack was brought down after a tractor-mounted loading shovel became caught up in an electric cable attached to the chimney.[26] The station building was subsequently moved to Wallingford on the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway.[27][28] The goods yard, weighbridge and parcel shed continued to be used by Marriott's coal merchants until May 1995 when they were demolished and subsequently replaced by a Sainsbury's supermarket.[29][30][23]

The former goods shed was converted into a club known as "Sidings" which used a 1955 British Railways Mark 1 coach as its entrance.[31] Both the goods shed and the stationmaster's house remain.[23]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d Butt (1995), p. 253.
  2. ^ a b c d Quick (2009), p. 416.
  3. ^ a b c Jenkins (1985), p. 17.
  4. ^ Jenkins (1985), pp. 91–92.
  5. ^ Simpson (1997), p. 175.
  6. ^ a b Waters (1986), p. 25.
  7. ^ a b Mitchell, Smith & Lingard (1988), fig. 48.
  8. ^ a b c d Jenkins (1985), p. 92.
  9. ^ "Witney Junction". The Fairford Branch Line. Martin Loader. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  10. ^ Simpson (1997), p. 177.
  11. ^ Simpson (1997), p. 172.
  12. ^ a b Clark (1976), p. 176.
  13. ^ Clinker (1988), p. 177, note 3795.
  14. ^ a b Mitchell, Smith & Lingard (1988), fig. 44.
  15. ^ Jenkins (1985), p. 32.
  16. ^ Awdry (1990), p. 25.
  17. ^ Jenkins (1985), p. 34.
  18. ^ Mitchell, Smith & Lingard (1988), figs. 50-51.
  19. ^ Mitchell, Smith & Lingard (1988), fig. 52.
  20. ^ a b c Jenkins (1985), p. 109.
  21. ^ a b c d Jenkins (1985), p. 115.
  22. ^ a b Waters (1986), p. 28.
  23. ^ a b c "Closure". The Witney & East Gloucestershire Railway. David M Howse. 11 February 2007. para. 2. Archived from the original on 1 February 2012. Retrieved 21 June 2009.
  24. ^ Jenkins (1985), p. 119.
  25. ^ Jenkins (1985), p. 147.
  26. ^ Mitchell, Smith & Lingard (1988), fig. 54.
  27. ^ Simpson (1997), p. 176.
  28. ^ Stretton (2006), p. 86.
  29. ^ Mitchell, Smith & Lingard (1988), fig. 49.
  30. ^ Waters & Doyle (1992), p. 97.
  31. ^ Mitchell, Smith & Lingard (1988), fig. 53.

Sources

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