Hello all, 81F Adam here. You may know me from my previous release, the Tewkesbury Heritage Railway, and now I'm here to present my child: The Fairford Branch.
The Fairford Branch was a weird railway, the product of many fruitless attempts to get a railway from Oxford to Cheltenham via Witney. The first successful railway to reach witney, was the independent Witney Railway in 1861, formed by several local figures who were fed up with the constant politics which had been thwarting a railway at every turn for nearly 20 years. 12 years later, in 1873, the East Gloucestershire Railway made another attempt to get through to Cheltenham and got quite far, but ran out of money and only built the flat part of the line as far as Fairford. (The EGR had built a significant amount of earthworks at Andoversford in preparation, most of which were later reused by the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway. One section of embankment was never used and can still be seen today)
My representation of the route is set in the early 1950s when the line was at its peak post-WW2, and runs from Oxford all the way down to Fairford. I will be taking you all on a tour along the branch, starting at Yarnton Junction where it splits from the Oxford to Worcester mainline. Oxford itself is not quite ready to show off yet, so stay tuned.
Yarnton Junction
Yarnton Junction opened with the Witney Railway in 1861 and throughout its whole life remained a very rudimentary station, only ever being accessible by a small footpath from the village. The keen-eyed among you will notice the curious green-and-cream colour scheme on the buildings here, this is a holdover from the original company and in BR days was unique to this half of the branch line.
In 1944, along with many other locations on the line, Yarnton recieved extensive upgrades. A large marshalling yard and turntable were installed, to cope with the inter-region traffic going to and from the LNWR line to Bicester. Yarnton turntable also filled in for Oxford on occasion, with one particular incident where an engine fell into the pit resulting in all locos needing to run to Yarnton for turning.
Cassington Halt
Next station along from Yarnton, was Cassington Halt. Originally opened in 1935 on the opposite side of the A40 later moved to avoid people having to cross the increasingly busy road. The halt had a single short concrete platform, with oil lamps needing to be lit by the guard of passing trains as it was always unstaffed.
The line passed over the River Evenlode and Cassington Canal, under the shadow of Wytham Wood a stone's throw from the Thames before passing by the industrial sidings at this point used by the Colonial Development Corporation. These sidings were originally installed for a sugar beet drying factory in 1927 but this fell through with the sidings passing through several owners before being taken up in the mid 1950s.
Eynsham
The first proper station along the Branch is Eynsham. Opened in 1861 with the rest of the Witney railway it had a single platform and extended version of the standard Witney Railway station building until 1944 when a passing loop and second platform were added. the second platform is now preserved at Didcot.
South Leigh
Following Eynsham, the route passes South Leigh, the smallest station on the Witney Railway. There was a single platform and goods loop, extended during the war to serve a Ministry of Food warehouse. it was the smallest of the Witney Railway stations and unlike a lot of the stations on the branch was actually in the village it was supposed to serve.
The line next crosses the River Windrush before splitting at Witney Goods Junction. First, we will take the right arm of the line.
Each ground frame and signalbox has a 3D nameplate.
Witney Goods
The original terminus of the Witney Railway, was Witney Goods Station. After the opening of the East Gloucestershire extension, the original station lost its side extensions and had its canopy boxed in for extra storage. The siding layout was kept largely intact but gained extra throughout the years, and the goods shed also gained extensions. The long siding at the back was often used to stage photos of special blanket trains running from Witney to Paddington, put on by the mills in the town.
Witney Passenger
Going along the other arm at Witney Goods Junction brings us onto the EGR extension, and into Witney's passenger station.
Witney's EGR station was opened in 1873, and was by far the most important station on the whole line. Situated a short walk from the town centre which was also the largest town on the line, the station had two platforms tapering to a point under a characteristic EGR single track overbridge at the western end of the station. it was the only one of the EGR stations to feature a canopy on the station building, and also had a unique long and thin signalbox positioned on the platform. Watering facilities for locos were positioned at each end of the platforms, fed from a water tower on the other side of the bridge next to the loading dock. A detail I have included at all the relevant stations is the tunnel for the point rodding and signal wire under the platforms, a detail I don't believe anyone else has replicated for TSC (so far). I have chosen to depict Witney and the rest of the line in its earliest BR form, as I find it the most visually interesting with the brown trims on the canopy.
After Witney, the line passes under a number of the EGR's narrrow bridges, one of which I have chosen to depict a modern addition to with the stencilled number visible today.
Brize Norton and Bampton
Brize Norton and Bampton originally opened with the line as Bampton (Oxon) in 1873, and was later renamed to avoid confusion with the Bampton in Devon and to reflect the RAF base that borders the station and the next few miles of line. During 1936 there was a siding into the RAF base for construction, but this was not kept. Beyond the station the line crossed two taxiways on the level and due to this the signalbox was tied into the control tower. The ground frame hut at the far end of the yard has been preserved at the North Gloucestershire Railway in Toddington.
Carterton
Carterton was the most rubbish station on the whole GWR, as well as the last station opened on the branch. A cruel irony that it's the last surviving station, surviving as a riding stables. The signalbox has also been preserved at the Swindon and Cricklade Railway.
The overbridge at the eastern end of the station had access stairs for each platform.
Alvescot
Alvescot was unique among all Fairford branch stations in that its station building was constructed from brick, unlike all the others which were either wooden or local cotswold limestone.
Kelmscott and Langford
Kelmscott and Langford was opened in 1908 and was the most remote station on the line. It sits in the flat expanse of the Upper Thames Valley, and has a unique double length Pagoda station building, along with a small goods siding on the platform.
After Kelmscott and Langford, the line passed Little Faringdon Crossing, the only level crossing on the whole EGR section. The crossing keeper's cottage survives today.
Lechlade
Lechlade was the penultimate station on the line. It remained unchanged up until 1944 when the loop was extended and resignalled to allow for limited passing of trains.
Fairford
Finally, we arrive at Fairford. A pretty basic station that was clearly never intended as a terminus with its single through platform. It had a strange pentagonal signalbox to allow access to the loading dock, and a yard which was like all the other expansions on the line done during the war. Fairford station never had a direct siding for RAF Fairford, but did receive traffic through the goods yard.
At the back of the yard there was a 60ft single road engine shed, and a 55ft turntable. Crew mess facilities were provided by a grounded horse box next to the shed.
And with that, we've reached the end of the line. I hope this introduction to the route has answered many questions you may have had about the route, and I look forward to showing more progress as it's made.
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