Kingham railway station

Kingham railway station in Oxfordshire, England, is between the Oxfordshire village of Kingham and the Gloucestershire village of Bledington, to which it is closer. It is also the closest station to the town of Chipping Norton.

Kingham
LocationKingham, West Oxfordshire
England
Grid referenceSP256227
Managed byGreat Western Railway
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeKGM
ClassificationDfT category E
History
Opened10 August 1855
Original companyOxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
4 June 1853Evesham to Oxford line opened
10 August 1855Chipping Norton Railway opened
Station opened as Chipping Norton Junction
1 March 1862Bourton-on-the-Water Railway opened
8 January 1906Flyover opened
1 May 1909Station renamed Kingham
Passengers
2015/16 0.184 million
2016/17 0.184 million
2017/18 0.184 million
2018/19 0.182 million
2019/20 0.191 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station is on the Cotswold Line and is served by Great Western Railway trains.

History

When the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway was extended from Evesham to Wolvercot Junction (north of Oxford) on 4 June 1853,[1] there was no station between Adlestrop and Shipton.[2] On 10 August 1855 a branch line to Chipping Norton was opened by the Chipping Norton Railway, and a station, known as Chipping Norton Junction, was opened at the junction of the branch with the OW&W; this branch was purchased by the OW&W in 1859.[3][4] The OW&W amalgamated with other railways on 1 July 1860 to form the West Midland Railway;[5][6] this in turn amalgamated with the Great Western Railway on 1 August 1863.[7][8] In the meantime, a second branch line from Chipping Norton Junction, the Bourton-on-the-Water railway, had opened on 1 March 1862;[4][9] that railway was absorbed by the GWR on 1 February 1874.[10]

On 1 June 1881 the first section of the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway was opened; this connected the Bourton-on-the-Water branch to the Cheltenham & Great Western Union line at Lansdown Junction, Cheltenham;[11] and on 6 April 1887 a second section was opened, connecting the Chipping Norton branch to the Oxford and Rugby Railway at King's Sutton.[12] The Great Western Railway took over the B&CDR on 1 July 1897,[13][14] but for nearly twenty years, through trains running between Banbury and Cheltenham Spa St. James needed to reverse at Chipping Norton Junction.

The reversal was inconvenient for trains which did not need to call at Chipping Norton Junction, so for their benefit the GWR built a bridge to carry through trains between Banbury and Cheltenham over the Oxford and Worcester line; it opened to goods trains on 8 January 1906 and to passenger trains on 1 May 1906.[15] The station was renamed Kingham on 1 May 1909.[3][16][17]

Upon the opening of this new link, a new express train service began to use the line, including the new flyover, once a day in each direction. This train, unofficially known as the Ports to Ports Express, was a collaboration between the North Eastern Railway, the Great Central Railway and the GWR, which from 1 May 1906 ran between Newcastle and Cardiff Central via York, Sheffield Victoria, Leicester Central, Banbury, Gloucester and Newport;[18] in August 1906 it was extended to serve Barry, via the Barry Railway; in July 1909 a through coach to and from Hull was introduced.[19] It ran non-stop between Banbury and Cheltenham South and Leckhampton, but even so, took 82 minutes for this 44.75-mile (72.02 km) stretch. It was suspended during the First World War, reinstated on 12 July 1919 and extended to Swansea in 1920;[20] on the outbreak of war in September 1939, the service was again suspended, but when reintroduced in October 1946, it used a different route between Banbury and Newport.[21][22]

In 1953, rationalisation was carried out which resulted in the closure of the East and West signal boxes and the singling of the line between them for working purposes.[23] The remaining track between the boxes formed the base of a self-contained triangle for turning engines.[23] By this time, the line to King's Sutton was only open for freight and a token passenger service operated to Chipping Norton.[23]

British Railways withdrew passenger services from Kingham to Cheltenham and Chipping Norton in 1962, and freight services in 1964. British Rail designated the Oxford and Worcester line "The Cotswold Line". Passenger traffic increased in the 1990s and 2000s.

In 2015, a car park extension was added with 100 car spaces. A new footbridge is being added, with provision for passenger lifts.

In 2020, the station featured in an episode of the BBC Three mockumentary series This Country.[24]

Locomotive depot

A small depot was constructed in 1881 for the Cheltenham extension; this was in the Chipping Norton branch fork, and had a 22-foot (6.7 m) turntable,[25] which was too small for a tender locomotive to be turned. This was replaced by a 44 ft 9 in (13.64 m) turntable early in the twentieth century, large enough for a "Dean Goods" 0-6-0 tender locomotive;[26] however, the depot closed in 1906. It was rebuilt, reopening again in 1913,[16] as a sub-shed of Worcester, but the turntable was later removed, and the depot finally closed in December 1962.[27]

Accidents and incidents
  • On 15 July 1966, an express passenger train was derailed due to an unsecured switch blade on a set of points. Eighteen people were injured.[28]

Services

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

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Moreton-in-Marsh   Great Western Railway
Cotswold Line		   Shipton
(Charlbury on Sundays)
  Historical railways  
Adlestrop
Line open, station closed		   Great Western Railway
Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway		   Shipton
Line and station open
Disused railways
Stow-on-the-Wold
Line and station closed		   Great Western Railway
Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway		   Sarsden Halt
Line and station closed

Bus services

Two bus routes serve the station. Pulham & Sons runs route 802 to Bourton-on-the-Water via Stow-on-the-Wold on behalf of Gloucestershire County Council and route X8 to Chipping Norton via Churchill on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council. Route 802 runs Monday to Saturday.[29] Route X8 runs Monday to Friday only, peak hours only.[30]

Notes
  1. MacDermot, Vol. I Part II, Chapter X The West Midland Railway, pp. 498, 867
  2. Jenkins & Quayle, pp. 34-36
  3. MacDermot, Vol. I Part II, p. 524
  4. Jenkins & Quayle, p. 60
  5. MacDermot, Vol. I Part II, p. 525
  6. Jenkins & Quayle, p. 63
  7. MacDermot, Vol. I Part II, p. 553
  8. Jenkins & Quayle, p. 66
  9. MacDermot, Vol. I Part II, pp. 551, 866
  10. Hemmings, Chapter Three The Bourton-on-the-Water Railway, p. 37
  11. MacDermot, Vol. II, Chapter IX Prosperity and Repose, pp. 338, 603
  12. MacDermot, Vol. II, pp. 365, 605
  13. Hemmings, Chapter Five The Era of the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway, p. 99
  14. MacDermot, Vol. II, p. 338
  15. MacDermot, Vol. II, Chapter XI The Great Awakening, pp. 432, 610
  16. Hemmings, Chapter Six Under the Great Western, p. 163
  17. Marks, Disused Railways website
  18. Hemmings, Chapter Six, pp. 138, 163
  19. Harris, Chapter Eight Cross Country Inter-Railway Services to 1922, pp. 106–107
  20. Harris, Chapter One Great Western Railway and South Wales Railways to 1922, pp. 12–13
  21. Allen, p. 101
  22. Harris, Chapter Fourteen Cross Country Inter-Railway Services 1923–47, p. 173
  23. Cooke, B. (November 1953). "Economy at Kingham". Trains Illustrated. VI (11): 421.
  24. This Country - Series 3: 5. The Station, retrieved 3 October 2020
  25. Hemmings, Chapter Six, p. 101
  26. Hemmings, Chapter Six, p. 125
  27. Lyons, Worcester Division, p. 168
  28. Vaughan (1989), pp 222-227
  29. "802 Bourton-on-the-Water, The Rissingtons, Stow-on-the-Wold, Kingham Railway Station" (PDF). Pulham & Sons. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  30. "X8 Chipping Norton, Churchill, Kingham, Kingham Station" (PDF). Pulham & Sons. Retrieved 6 September 2020.

References
  • Allen, Cecil J (1947) [1946]. Titled Trains of Great Britain (2nd ed.). London: Ian Allan Publishing.
  • Harris, Michael (1996). British Main Line Services in the Age of Steam. Yeovil: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0-86093-536-1.
  • Hemmings, William (2004). The Banbury & Cheltenham Railway. Volume One. Didcot: Wild Swan. ISBN 1-874103-88-7.
  • Jenkins, S.C.; Quayle, H.I. (1977). The Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway. The Oakwood Library of Railway History. Blandford: Oakwood Press.
  • Lyons, E.T. (1974) [1972]. An Historical Survey of Great Western Engine Sheds 1947 (2nd ed.). Risinghurst: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0-902888-16-1.
  • MacDermot, E.T. (1927). History of the Great Western Railway. I Part II (1st ed.). Paddington: Great Western Railway.
  • MacDermot, E.T. (1931). History of the Great Western Railway. II (1st ed.). Paddington: Great Western Railway.
  • Marks, Roger (26 March 2006). "Banbury to Cheltenham (GWR)". Disused Railways. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  • Russell, J.H. (1977). The Banbury and Cheltenham Railway 1887–1962. Headington: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0-902888-45-5.
  • Vaughan, Adrian (1989). Obstruction Danger. Wellingborough: Patrick Stephens Limited. ISBN 1-85260-055-1.

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