Steventon Station

Just a Hundred Years Ago

Half the Original Great Western Railway Opened
- The Transient Glory of Steventon

    WITHIN less than five years of the Great Western Railway Comany being incorperated and empowered to construct the railway between London and Bristol it was possible to open half the line for traffic.  As has already been recorded, there had been openings of sections from Paddington to Maidenhead Bridge (22½ miles) in June, 1838, and an extension to Twyford (8¼ miles) in July, 1839.  Heavy excavation work in Sonning Cutting and difficulties with contractors had somewhat delayed the opening of the five miles of railway between Twyford and Reading until March 30th, 1840, but only two months later, on June 1st, it was possible to open a further section on 20½ miles from Reading to Steventon, making 56¼ miles in all.
    The opening to Steventon may not at first sight appear to have much significance, for the section from Reading was through a sparsely populated and purely agricultural area.  The River Thames was crossed by bridges at Basildon and Moulsford, and there were but three intermediate stations at Pangbourne, Goring and Wallingford Road, the last being about three-quarters of a mile east of the existing Cholsey and Moulsford station.  Steventon, however, was only ten mile from Oxford on a main road, and until 1844, when the railway was constructed from Oxford to Didcot, Steventon was the railway station for the University city.  Eight coaches were run daily for passengers between Steventon and Oxford, and vice versa, and there was also a frequent waggon service for goods traffic.  Post Office night mails between London and Oxford were conveyed by this route for many years, and even to-day, a round century after the opening of the station, some of the mail arrangements still survive.  Three motor vans meet the mail train at Steventon at 2.44 a.m. nightly throughout the year (Boxing Day alone excepted) bringing in and taking away Oxford, Didcot, Wantage, Wallingford and Abingdon district mails.
    It may come as something of a surprise to those who to-day know Steventon as one of the quaintest and prettiest of Berkshire villages, with a unique "causeway" and several fine Tudor houses, that in 1842 - long before the travel habit had developed among the general public - about 18,000 passengers and nearly 13,000 tone of goods were dealt with at Steventon station.
    It will have been observed that when the section of line was opened from Reading to Steventon a hundred years ago no provision was made for a station at Didcot, which, by the way, was then known as Dudcot.  Although the matter is not mentioned in the offical history of the Company, and has not been fully authenticated, it has been stated that the original intention was to construct a line between Steventon and Oxford via Abingdon, where it was planned to locate the Company's chief industrial centre; in short, that Steventon was to take the place of Didcot Junction and Abingdon that of Swindon.  Opposition to the proposal is said to have come from the Abingdon tradesmen, who saw a danger of their shops being neglected for those of Oxford, while that city of learning did not then want the railway to come near it at any price.
    A century ago Steventon station was quite a pretentious one, covered in and equipped with extensive stabling accommodation for horses and vehicles, which, by the way, may still be seen near the present goods depot.  In those days, the locomotives were turned in the space in front of the existing station.  A portion of the original track (reduced in gauge, of course) is actually still in use at the station.

BROOK HOUSE, STEVENTON, WHERE SOME EARLY BOARD MEETINGS OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY WERE HELD
BROOK HOUSE, STEVENTON, WHERE SOME EARLY BOARD MEETINGS OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY WERE HELD     Being practically half way between Paddington and Bristol, Steventon was selected as a meeting-place for the Company's Directors when the separate London and Bristol Committees were abolished, and in the History of the Great Western Railway [by E.T.MacDermot, published by the GWR in 1927] it is stated that "Brunel was directed to prepre plans for the alteration of the rooms of the Superintendant's house at Steventon to accommodate the Board and Committees."  This building, nowknown as Brook House, is just outside the station.It contained other offices besides the Board Room and Brunel was often a visitor there.  The idea of a central meeting place did not prevail long, and the last Board Meeting was held there in January, 1843.
    There is a happy link between the opening of Steventon a hundred years ago and the present time.  At its opening a Mr. Beck was appointed to the position of station-master, an office which he continued to hold (with the exception of a short period at Wantage Road station, four mile away, opened in 1846) until 1876, i.e. a period of 36 years.
    In 1873 his son, Mr. G.A.Beck, joined the Company's service at Steventon, and three years later succeeded his father in the position of station-master, a position he held continuously until his retirement in 1920.  Thus, father and son were in charge of this station for an aggregate of 80 years, a record that is surely unique in the annals of the Great Western Railway.
    It is pleasing to add that Mr.G.A.Beck, now in his 87th year, is still enjoying well-earned retirement in one of the Company's houses at Steventon.
    In respect of this house, moreover, there is a further indication of the somewhat departed glory of Steventon, because it is a portion of a building which, in the early days of the station, was run by the Great Western Railway as a hotel and refreshment room.
    In the cellars of the building to this day are a number of bottles, dusty relics of long ago.  They are, however, all empty!
    Reverting to the theme of a hundred years ago it may be said that within seven weeks of the opening of the line to Steventon the railway was extended a further 7¼ miles to Faringdon Road station (now Challow), thus completing 63½ miles of railway open to the public.