Fairford railway station

Fairford
Fairford railway station in 1961
Location
Place	Fairford
Area	Cotswold
Coordinates	51°42′25″N 1°45′38″W / 51.70706°N 1.76059°W / 51.70706; -1.76059Coordinates: 51°42′25″N 1°45′38″W / 51.70706°N 1.76059°W / 51.70706; -1.76059
Grid reference	SP165009
Operations
Original company	East Gloucestershire Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Platforms	1
History
15 January 1873	Station opens
18 June 1962	Station closes
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

[ ] Oxford, Witney and Fairford Railway
OW&W (Worcester • Oxford ) Yarnton A40 road Cassington Halt River Evenlode Cassington Canal Eynsham South Leigh River Windrush Witney Goods Junction River Windrush Witney goods Witney A4095 road Brize Norton and Bampton Carterton Alvescot Kelmscott and Langford Little Faringdon crossing River Leach Lechlade A361 road A417 road Fairford

Fairford railway station served the town of Fairford in Gloucestershire. It was the western terminus of the Oxford, Witney and Fairford Railway between Oxford and Fairford. It had one platform, and a stone-built station building.

The station was opened on 15 January 1873 by the East Gloucestershire Railway (EGR). It was built in open fields beside the road to Lechlade, 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Fairford. As with the stations at Lechlade and Alvescot, Fairford was a simple, single-platform structure, built of honey-coloured local Cotswold stone which reflected the architecture of the nearby villages. There was also a standard Great Western Railway signalbox, a Pagoda Platform Shelter and a small permanent way shed which housed a motorised trolley. Near the engine shed was a water tank and an old horsebox used as a mess hut, while a spur led to a 45-foot (14 m) turntable and a coaling stage. The tank was driven by a steam supplied from locomotive injectors.

The station was not designed as a terminus: the line continued a further 500 yards (460 m) west of the station and doubled to form a run-around loop, finally ending at a buffer stop with a carriage siding on one side and a timber engine shed on the other. There were several attempts at extending the line beyond Fairford. The original scheme would have seen the line run from Cheltenham via Andoversford and the Coln Valley to Fairford and Lechlade where it would divide into two routes: an eastern branch to Witney and a southern line to join up with the Faringdon Railway. This was opposed by the Great Western Railway whose Cheltenham to Swindon line provided a shorter route to London and which was wary of proposals which might allow the London and North Western Railway to compete for its South Wales traffic. Agreement was reached with the Great Western for a modified route via Bourton-on-the-Water on the Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway but the Great Western withdrew its support following objections from shareholders who felt that the scheme was a risky and unnecessary proposition. Although the East Gloucestershire Railway obtained Parliamentary approval for its initial proposal via Andoversford, it could not finance it and decided to concentrate on the section between Fairford and Witney. The next attempt was made in 1890 when the Great Western offered to purchase the East Gloucestershire and Witney Railways, leading the directors of the East Gloucestershire to enquire with the Witney directors as to whether they would support an approach to the Midland and South Western Junction Railway for an extension to Cirencester. The Witney directors declined as they had received a good offer from the Great Western for their shares. In 1895, the Midland Railway, London and North Western Railway and Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway proposed a trunk route to South Wales via Fairford and Oxford. This was defeated by the Great Western by buying off the support of the Manchester company through certain concessions. Another proposal came in 1899 when a group of local businessmen and landowners put forward a scheme under the Light Railways Act 1896 for a line parallel to the A40 road which was backed by the Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire County Councils but did not secure the support of the government and was abandoned in 1903. Finally, during the Second World War, thought was given to connecting the Fairford branch with the Highworth Branch Line using a 6-mile (9.7 km) spur between Lechlade and Hannington. The upturn in fortunes meant that the proposal was not taken further.