Wallingford railway station (England)

Wallingford railway station is a railway station serving the town of Wallingford. It is now part of a preserved railway.

Wallingford
Station on heritage railway
General information
LocationWallingford, South Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire
England
Coordinates51°35′52″N 1°08′07″W / 51.5978°N 1.1352°W / 51.5978; -1.1352
Grid referenceSU600891
Platforms1
History
Original companyWallingford & Watlington Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGreat Western Railway
Western Region of British Railways
Cholsey and Wallingford Railway
Key dates
1866Opened
1959Passenger services ceased
1965Goods services ceased
1969demolished
1985Reopened as heritage railway station 500m south of original location
Auto-train and (detached) 0-4-2T in 1959

History

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On 2 July 1866, the Wallingford railway branch line was opened by the Wallingford and Watlington Railway from a junction with the Great Western Railway (GWR) main line at Moulsford (known as Wallingford Road until that date) to Wallingford, where a station was constructed on the south side of Wantage Road (now Station Road), at grid reference SU602895 (51°36′06″N 1°07′55″W / 51.6017°N 1.1320°W / 51.6017; -1.1320 (Wallingford railway station (original))). The line never proceeded beyond, so did not reach the second-named town in its title.[1]

For such a short line and a small station, the location was well patronised by commercial freight customers. The original Wallingford creamery was taken over by the Co-op Wholesale Society,[2] and had its own private siding access from the goods yard to allow access for milk trains, which then took product to London until the late 1950s. There was also a Malting plant with rail access.

Passenger services were withdrawn in 1959 and general freight services finished in 1965. In 1969 the line was shortened by 500 metres (1,600 ft), back to the location of the malting plant on Hithercroft Road, which was the only remaining goods customer. When traffic from the maltings stopped in 1981 the line was closed and British Rail removed the junction at Cholsey.

A new Wallingford station was built on the south side of St. Johns Road, at grid reference SU600891, when the line reopened as a heritage railway.[3]

Services

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Preceding station    Heritage railways Following station
Terminus   Cholsey and Wallingford Railway
Occasional service
  Cholsey
Disused railways
Terminus   British Rail
Western Region

Wallingford Branch Line
  Cholsey
Line and station open

Notes

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  1. ^ MacDermot vol. II, pp.42-43
  2. ^ Antony Ewart Smith (1960). "The CWS Creamery on Borough Road circa 1960". geograph.org.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  3. ^ Cholsey and Wallingford Railway History

References

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