Abingdon
Abingdon station in the 1960s
General information
LocationAbingdon, Vale of White Horse
England
Coordinates51°40′20″N 1°16′48″W / 51.67223°N 1.28009°W / 51.67223; -1.28009
Grid referenceSU499973
Platforms1
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Opened2 June 1856 (1856-06-02) [1]
Closed
9 September 1963 (1963-09-09) (Passengers);
June 1984 (Goods)
Original companyAbingdon Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Western Railway
Post-groupingGWR
Key dates
November 1872Converted from broad to standard gauge.

Abingdon railway station was a station which served the town of Abingdon in Oxfordshire, England until 1963.[lower-alpha 1]

History

The station was built by the Abingdon Railway, a short branch line at which Abingdon was the terminus and only stop, although this was operated by the Great Western Railway (GWR) from opening on 2 June 1856. The station and yard were built to the broad gauge on land acquired from the Mayor and Aldermen of the Borough of Abingdon on 19 March 1856 at a cost of £472. Seven properties were demolished to make way for the station and yard, including the Plough Inn which was subsequently rebuilt at a different location. The approach to the station from Stert Street had gates and no public right of way was allowed.[2] Station facilities consisted of a single platform covered by a timber train shed.[2] A locomotive shed was built on land which was never formally conveyed to the railway, but later acquired by adverse possession.[2]

The Abingdon Railway was absorbed by the GWR on 15 August 1904.[3] The line passed on to the Western Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, and was then closed to passengers by the British Railways Board in 1963. The branch continued to be used by freight trains (notably for MG Cars) and sporadic passenger excursions, the last of which took place in June 1984. It was also sometimes pressed into service as an overnight stabling point for the Royal Train during royal visits to Oxfordshire, in connection with which the train is known to have stopped at Radley station on at least one occasion.[4]

The branch track was lifted in the late 1980s. A fraction of the former railway line is now used for a cyclepath, while the station and the adjoining part of the line near the town centre are now occupied by a Waitrose supermarket, parking and other development.

The station featured briefly in a 1963 documentary film made for cinematic release, "High, Wide and Faster" (from the Look at Life series), which examined contemporary developments in road, rail, and sea transport.[5]

Routes

Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Abingdon Junction
Station closed; Line open
before 1872		   Abingdon Railway
Great Western Railway
   Terminus
Radley
Station open; Line open
after 1872		   Abingdon Railway
Great Western Railway
  

Notes

  1. ↑ At that time the town lay within the county of Berkshire.

References

  1. ↑ "Opening of the Abingdon Station". Reading Mercury, Oxford Gazette, Newbury Herald, and Berks County Advertiser. 31 May 1856. p. 7.
  2. 1 2 3 Trippett & de Courtais 1985, p. 5.
  3. ↑ "Railway Companies Acquired by the GWR". The Great Western Archive. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  4. ↑ "Trains, Plain-clothes Men and Royal Visitors". Oxford Mail. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  5. ↑ "Information – High, Wide and Faster". British Film Institute. Retrieved 7 January 2021.

Bibliography

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