Lost stations and halts


Oxford towards Banbury and Worcester (GWR)

The railways north of Oxford continued to expand, and lines soon ran from the station in Botley Road not only towards Birmingham via Banbury, but also to Worcester, through Witney along the Fairford Branch from Yarnton Junction, and along the Woodstock Branch which left the Banbury line at Kidlington.

Wolvercot Platform
Taken from map revised in 1911 and published by the Ordnance Survey Office in 1914
Wolvercot Platform
Wolvercote Platform circa 1910
F.Snow, courtesy of Laurence Waters
Wolvercot Platform
Taken from map revised in 1911 and published by the Ordnance Survey Office in 1914
Wolvercot Platform
Wolvercote Platform circa 1910
Courtesy of Laurence Waters

Wolvercot Platform

Sited alongside the Oxford canal and on the northern side of the bridge carrying High Street above the railway, Wolvercot Halt opened on 1st February 1908 but was quickly renamed Wolvercot Platform to avoid confusion with the nearby L&NWR halt. It was closed a little later than the other halts on 1st January 1916. Although only a halt it had once been staffed, and during the First World War it had a Station Mistress, Margaret Elston sister of Mr A.H.Elsden who became Station Master at Birmingham Snow Hill. She married Frank Buckingham who was Station Master at Oxford Botley Road between 1927 and 1941.

This photograph was used by Laurence Waters in his book Railcentres: Oxford, which was originally published by Ian Allan Ltd. in 1986, and shows a GWR steam railmotor towing a very old looking four-wheel parcels coach. The third 'single track' line visible on the right ran alongside the main line basically from Oxford as far as Wolvercote Junction a little further on. It is a GWR line and is nothing to do with the L&NWR line to Bletchley which diverged some way before here.


Yarnton Junction
Taken from map revised in 1911 and published by the Ordnance Survey Office in 1914

Yarnton Junction

The Fairford Branch diverged from the Oxford to Worcester line at Yarnton Junction and a station was opened there on 14th November 1861. It had two platforms, with a wooden station building on the up platform. The up platform had a cast iron gentleman's toilet, joined in later years by a small wooden building which was provided when the station house was demolished. When first planned, the station was to have been much grander, but that is another story. Originally there were two signal boxes, Yarnton Witney Junction Box, situated to the southern end of the Down platform, and the second being Yarnton Oxford Road Junction Box. These were replaced by a new box built at the Oxford end of the down platform and came into operation on 13th June 1909. This signal box was unusual in that the timber cabin was noticeably wider than its double height brick base. Initially, it housed a pioneering McKenzie & Holland electric frame with 50 miniature levers, all powered by batteries. This new signal box was the subject of a four page articleGreat Western Railway Magazine
September 1909


Author's collection

Click or tap link to read the article in pdf format
in the September edition of the Great Western Railway Magazine of that year. A standard 51 lever mechanical frame was later installed, and the box ceased operation on 28th March 1971 following the closure of the Witney Branch the previous autumn. Yarnton Station was located well away from the village from which it took its name and, being simply an interchange station, could only be accessed by train or via a long path. It closed to passengers in 1962 and the buildings were demolished many years ago, but the public footpath still leads to the site.

~~~~~~ ooooooOOOoooooo ~~~~~~

Oxford to Bletchley line (L&NWR)

The Buckinghamshire Railway Company was formed to promote a line between Oxford and Bletchley with a connection to Banbury from a junction near Winslow. The line was constructed to the 'narrow gauge' (later the 'standard gauge') of 4' 8½" with Robert Stephenson as the chief engineer, and Thomas Brassey as the civil engineering contractor. Work started on the Oxford line in June 1848, and a 16 mile section between Bletchley and Islip opened for traffic on the 1st October 1850. The company had originally planned to form a junction with the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway just north of the city and run into the GWR station at Oxford, but GWR wouldn't allow this and a temporary terminus was opened on the outskirts of Oxford on 2nd December 1850. Land was aquired to build a line parallel to that of the GWR and the new terminus at Rewley Road was opened in May 1851. Initially single track, the last few miles of line into Oxford was doubled in 1854.

The Buckinghamshire Railway was worked by the London & North Western Railway right from the start. They went on to lease the line in 1851, and took it over fully in 1879 and it was possible to travel all the way by rail to Cambridge with the route becoming known as 'The Varsity Line'. Following Railway Grouping in 1923 the line became part of the London Midland & Scottish Railway. The line closed after the last day of service on 30th December 1967 and was mothballed but the section from Claydon Junction to Oxford remained in use as part of the freight line between Aylesbury and Oxford.

Chiltern Rail began services between Oxford and Marylebone on 12th December 2016 after the line had been specially rebuilt as far as the old Bicester London Road station, itself replaced by modern buildings and renamed Bicester Village. A new chord having also been built to connect to the Marylebone to Banbury line. At the time of writing, work is progressing to rebuild the line beyond Bicester Village and reconnect it to Bletchley Station with passenger services from Oxford to Blechley starting once more in 2025.


Oxford Rewley Road Station
Taken from map revised in 1911 and published by the Ordnance Survey Office in 1922

Platform inside Rewley Road Station in 1914
Photograph by Henry Taunt © The Francis Frith Collection

Oxford Rewley Road Station

Rewley Road Station opened as the terminus of the L&NWR line to Bletchley in May 1851. Contractors for the main building were Fox, Henderson, and Company who were completing The Crystal Palace at the same time and used some of the same components at Oxford. They had previously been responsible for many important station roofs including Liverpool Tithebarn Street, Bradford Exchange, Paddington and Birmingham New Street. There were two platform faces partly under a glass-roofed train shed which was replaced by one of different design in 1888 due to safety concerns with the original. There were also extensive sidings for coal and other freight traffic. Locomotive servicing facilities were located to the north of the navigable Sheepwash Channel which links the Oxford Canal and the River Thames, but all rail traffic into the passenger and goods facilities had to cross it by means of a manually operated swing bridge. In 1853, a railway engine toppled into the water after the driver failed to realise that the bridge had been opened to allow a boat to pass. The bridge was rebuilt in 1890 and most of the surviving structure dates from this period. When rail traffic across it finally ceased in 1984 the bridge was opened for one last time and then left to fall into disrepair. At the time of writing, grants have been awarded and work is progressing to refurbish and so preserve this historically important piece of railway history.


Oxford Rewley Road Station in 1914
Image © Crown copyright, Historic England Archive, Henry Taunt Collection cc54/00324

The Great Western Railway opened its station in 1852 on an adjacent site, the location of the current Oxford railway station, and the two stations came under joint management in 1933. Rewley Road was closed to passengers on 1st October 1951 and services transferred to the ex-GWR station. The goods yard remained in use until 5th April 1984 eventually being cleared in 1998 for use as a station car park. After the station closed to passengers the main building itself was used for various purposes including a tyre and exhaust centre before falling empty and into decay, although it had by now been Grade II* listed. To make room for the proposed Saïd Business School of the University of Oxford the station building components were carefully dismantled in 2000 and moved to the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre at Quainton Road railway station where they were refurbished and re-erected as a visitor centre and display building. This was formally opened in 2002, so it once again houses railway trains, albeit on static display. The Saïd Business School opened in 2001 and the site of the station is remembered by a commemorative plaque
Click or tap link to see a larger image of the plaque
set into the pavement in front of the main concourse.

During 1905/6 six new halts were opened by the LNWR between Oxford and Bicester - Port Meadow (renamed Summertown in 1907), Wolvercote, Oxford Road, Oddington, Charlton and Wendlebury. They were all unstaffed with tickets being sold by the guard on the train. The platforms were rather rudimentary, consisting of sleepers laid at rail level, the railmotor being accessed by fold-out steps operated by the guard. All six halts were withdrawn from service in January 1917 but were reopened in May 1919. The double whammy of the General Strike and increasing competition from local bus services saw them closed for good in late 1926.


Port Meadow Halt
Taken from map revised in 1911 and published by the Ordnance Survey Office in 1922
Port Meadow Halt
Port Meadow Halt with GWR tracks behind
Courtesy of Laurence Waters
Port Meadow Halt
Taken from map revised in 1911 and published by the Ordnance Survey Office in 1922
Port Meadow Halt
Courtesy of Laurence Waters

Summertown Halt/Port Meadow Halt

This halt was opened as Summertown Halt on 20th August 1906, a few months before the others on this line, and was renamed Port Meadow Halt in January 1907. Temporarily closing in January 1917, it reopened in May 1919 but was finally closed on 25th October 1926. The halt was located on the north side of the footbridge leading from Aristotle Lane into Port Meadow, close to an occupation crossing which also gave access to the up platform. Although the GWR line ran adjacent to it, the halt only served the L&NWR line. This photograph was used by Laurence Waters in his book Oxfordshire Railways in Old Photographs, which was published by Alan Sutton Publishing in 1989. The low wooden platforms, typical of others on this line, did not serve the GWR whose line can be seen in the background,


Wolvercote Halt
Taken from map revised in 1911 and published by the Ordnance Survey Office in 1914

Wolvercote Halt

This halt was situated on the southern side of the bridge taking the road known as First Turn over the railway, just after which is the short Wolvercote Tunnel. Opened on 9th October 1905 it was closed at same time as Port Meadow Halt in 1917. It also reopened in 1919 being finally closed on 25th October 1926. The location of the halt can still be made out by the widened formation by the bridge, but there is no public access.


Oxford Road Halt Click or tap to see where the new road bridge was built
Taken from map revised in 1936 and published by the Ordnance Survey Office in 1939

Oxford Road Halt

Whilst the line was being completed between Islip and their eventual station in Rewley Road, the Buckinghamshire Railway Company opened a temporary terminus where the railway met the Oxford Road from Banbury, about 2 miles north of Oxford, on 2nd December 1850. The road crossed the line by means of a level crossing which was given the name of Oxford Road Crossing. This temporary station closed when the line was opened into the newly completed station in May 1851

When the L&NWR opened the other halts on the line, the same site was used for the new Oxford Road Halt which was opened on 9th October 1906. This halt followed the same pattern of closing and reopening as the others on the line and, like them, closed for good on 25th October 1926. During the 1930s major road developments took place around Oxford and the crossing was closed in 1935 after the Oxford Road, now the A4165, had been straightened slightly and diverted over a new bridge immediately to the north of the old halt.

Click or tap on the thumbnail map to see where the new road bridge was built.

A siding and weighbridge on the north side of the crossing predated the halt. In 1935, when the crossing was closed and the bridge opened, a new weighbridge was built on its northern side serving a coal depot, roadstone terminal and a massive grain silo which was built in 1940. The silo stood derelict for many years after it closed in the 1980s. The old LMS weigh office that served the coal depot was still standing in 2005 but was later demolished.

The whole area was cleared and redeveloped as a large Park & Ride car park and a brand new station, Oxford Parkway, was opened by Chiltern Rail in October 2015. At the time of writing the station is served by by trains running between London Marylebone and Oxford but work is underway to reopen the line from Bicester to Bletchley and eventually re-establish a rail link between Oxford and Cambridge. All traces of the Oxford Road Halt have disappeared, but the site can be seen by looking under the road bridge when standing at the end of the modern platform.