Lechlade railway station

Lechlade railway station served the small town of Lechlade in Gloucestershire, England. The station was on the Oxford, Witney and Fairford Railway, between Oxford and Fairford,[1] it was built where the line crossed the road to Burford, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of Lechlade.[2]

Lechlade
Lechlade station, 1950
LocationLechlade, Cotswold
England
Coordinates51.70300°N 1.68513°W / 51.70300; -1.68513
Grid referenceSP218006
Platforms1
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyEast Gloucestershire Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Key dates
15 January 1873Station opens
18 June 1962Station closes

History

The station was opened on 15 January 1873 by the East Gloucestershire Railway.[3][4][5] It was a simple, single-platform station, built of honey-coloured local Cotswold stone which reflected the architecture of the nearby villages.[6] It had a goods shed served by a single siding.[7] By the late 1920s, a signalbox and a loading dock had been added.[8] The signalbox was a standard Great Western model with 17 levers and the only one on the line to have track-circuiting installed.[7][5] The goods yard contained a loop to allow trains to run-around but this was not signalled for use by passing trains.[9][10] In 1933, a ground frame locked by an electric interlocking lever from the signal box was installed at the eastern entrance to the loop and a new inner home signal was erected.[8] It was not until the Second World War, when the line was busy with traffic for RAF Fairford, that the Great Western Railway signalled and lengthened the loop to allow two goods trains or one passenger train and one goods service to cross.[7][11][5] A second goods siding was also added by October 1944, by which time the ground frame had been removed.[7][8][5]

Lechlade was the first station on the line in Gloucestershire and the only one on the East Gloucestershire Railway which was situated near the village which it was supposed to serve.[7] Until the opening of Kelmscott and Langford in 1907, Lechlade was the nearest station to Kelmscott and the residence of William Morris at Kelmscott Manor.[7] The station was used by Morris and other Pre-Raphaelites such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti when travelling to Kelmscott.[7][5] It was also the station to which Morris's body was brought by train from London following his death there on 3 October 1896.[7] The station was one of the busier ones on the line: 6,796 tickets were issued in 1903 and 5,860 in 1923, while 10,037 tons of goods traffic was handled in 1913 and 709 parcels were dispatched in 1923.[12]

The station was closed along with the East Gloucestershire Railway on 18 June 1962.[3][4][13][14][15]

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Fairford
Line and station closed		   Great Western Railway
East Gloucestershire Railway
   Kelmscott and Langford
Line and station closed

Present day

The station remained intact for a number of years after closure, but all trace had gone by 1978.[16][17] The site was used as a coal yard until the early 1980s.[18] A field adjoining the site became a gravel pit.[19] The site had houses built on it in 2017-2018 and the remains of the bridge over the road was flattened out to make the new road into the housing estate.

References

Notes
  1. Conolly (1976), p. 9, section F5.
  2. Mitchell, Smith & Lingard (1988), fig. 84.
  3. Butt (1995), p. 140.
  4. Quick (2009), p. 243.
  5. Simpson (1997), p. 183.
  6. Jenkins (1985), p. 33.
  7. Jenkins (1985), p. 102.
  8. Clark (1976), p. 107.
  9. Jenkins (1985), p. 101.
  10. Mitchell, Smith & Lingard (1988), fig. 87.
  11. Mitchell, Smith & Lingard (1988), figs. 87 and 88.
  12. Jenkins (1985), p. 52.
  13. Jenkins (1985), p. 112.
  14. Clinker (1988), p. 73.
  15. Waters (1986), p. 28.
  16. Waters & Doyle (1992), pp. 102-103.
  17. Jenkins (1985), p. 147.
  18. "Lechlade". The Fairford Branch Line. Martin Loader. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
  19. Waters & Doyle (1992), p. 102.

Sources
  • Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  • Clinker, C.R. (1988) [1978]. Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830–1980 (2nd ed.). Bristol: Avon-Anglia Publications & Services. ISBN 978-0-905466-91-0. OCLC 655703233.
  • Conolly, W. Philip (January 1976). British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer (5th ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0320-3. EX/0176.
  • Clark, R.H. (1976). An Historical Survey of Selected Great Western Stations: Layouts and Illustrations. 1. Headington: Oxford Publishing. ISBN 0-902888-29-3.
  • Jenkins, Stanley C. (1985) [1975]. The Fairford Branch. Headington: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-853613-16-8. LP86.
  • Mitchell, Victor E.; Smith, Keith; Lingard, Richard (April 1988). Branch Line to Fairford. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 0-906520-52-5.
  • Quick, Michael (2009) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.
  • Simpson, Bill (1997). A History of the Railways of Oxfordshire; Part 1: The North. Witney: Lamplight Publications. ISBN 978-1-89924-602-1.
  • Waters, Laurence; Doyle, Tony (1992). British Railways Past and Present: Oxfordshire. Wadenhoe: Silver Link Publishing. ISBN 978-0-94797-187-8. No. 15.
  • Waters, Laurence (1986). Rail Centres: Oxford. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-1590-6.
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