Charlbury railway station

Charlbury railway station is a railway station serving the town of Charlbury in Oxfordshire, England. This station and all trains serving it are operated by Great Western Railway. After almost 40 years as a single-platform station, the track through Charlbury station was redoubled with the recommissioning of a second platform on 6 June 2011 as part of the project to improve reliability and increase traffic capacity on the Cotswold Line.

Charlbury
LocationCharlbury, West Oxfordshire
England
Grid referenceSP352194
Managed byGreat Western Railway
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeCBY
ClassificationDfT category E
History
Original companyOxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGWR
Key dates
4 June 1853Opened
29 November 1971Line singled
6 June 2011Line redoubled
Passengers
2015/16 0.328 million
2016/17 0.295 million
2017/18 0.293 million
2018/19 0.286 million
2019/20 0.314 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History
Charlbury station on 9 January 2011, showing concrete sleepers newly laid for the restoration of double track and platform 2

The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway opened the station in 1853. It is notable for the original station building, a wooden chalet-type structure in the Italianate architectural style of Isambard Kingdom Brunel;[1][2] together with the early station nameboard this is a Grade II listed building restored in 1979. Until 1970 the station had a goods shed, a 30 cwt crane and a 34-lever signal box.[3] The signal box was demolished when the line through the station was singled on 29 November 1971.[3]

Sir Peter Parker (1924–2002), the former Chairman of the British Railways Board, was a regular user of the station.[4]

With the completion of the first stage of the redoubling of the Cotswold Line from Ascott-under-Wychwood to a point east of Charlbury, the second platform, decommissioned in 1971, was reinstated and returned to service on 6 June 2011.[5]

2018 Improvement Works

Charlbury and Kingham are two of the stations on the Cotswold Line that had their platforms lengthened to accommodate longer GWR Class 802 units, which are nine carriages long — one carriage longer than the longest trains that previously used the station.

Facilities

Charlbury station is one of the only two-platform stations on the Cotswold Line to have step-free access to both platforms. This has been achieved by installing a long set of ramps from the lower car park to both platforms.

Charlbury is one of the only stations in the area that has a user-operated ticket machine. Kingham and Finstock, the main stations on the either side of Charlbury, do not have such facilities. However, passengers travelling from either of these stations when the ticket office is closed can board the service and buy a ticket on the train.

Services
A Great Western Railway Class 802 with a service to London Paddington

Great Western Railway operate all services at Charlbury. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Ascott-under-Wychwood
(Shipton on Saturdays, Kingham on Sundays)		   Great Western Railway
Cotswold Line		   Finstock
(Hanborough on Saturdays and Sundays)

References
  1. Biddle, Gordon; Nock, O.S. (1983). The Railway Heritage of Britain. London: Michael Joseph. ISBN 0-7181-2355-7.
  2. Leigh, Chris (1981). GWR Country Stations. Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-1108-7.
  3. Stretton, John (2006). British Railways Past and Present: Oxfordshire; A Second Selection (No. 55). Kettering: Past & Present Publishing Ltd. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-85895-203-1.
  4. George, Rob (26 May 2018). "Line group call for improvements to be maintained". Evesham Observer.
  5. "Charlbury redoubling complete". Modern Railways. Ian Allan. 68 (754): 18. July 2011.
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