Faringdon Road railway station

Challow
Challow station in 2007, with little remaining of the original station
Location
Place	West Challow
Area	District of Vale of White Horse
Grid reference	SU355905
Operations
Original company	Great Western Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	GWR Western Region of British Railways
Platforms	2
History
20 July 1840	Opened as Faringdon Road
1864	Renamed Challow
1932	Rebuilt
7 December 1964	Closed to passengers
29 March 1965	Closed to freight
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

Challow railway station is a former railway station about 2 miles (3 km) south of Stanford in the Vale on the A417 road between Wantage and Faringdon. It is named after the villages of West Challow and East Challow, which are 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and 2.5 miles (4 km) southeast of the former station.

When the Great Western Railway extended its main line from Reading through the Vale of White Horse in 1840 it opened the station as Faringdon Road station. After the Faringdon Railway between Uffington and Faringdon opened in 1864, the GWR renamed Faringdon Road "Challow" to avoid confusion.

The main station buildings and goods yard were on the up side of the line. A loading dock was provided. The line was originally double track. In 1932, the line was quadrupled between Challow and Wantage Road. The 1840-built timber station building on the up side was demolished, replaced by a new brick building. The 1873-built signal box on the down side of the line was also demolished and replaced by a new building. The down side platform was demolished and rebuilt to allow four tracks to run through the station, two fast straddled by two slow, designated Main and Relief. The station's platforms were on the slow lines, with the down platform having a "Pagoda" building, apparently for use as a waiting room. A loading dock was provided at the Uffington end of the down platform. In the goods yard, a grounded coach body served as a Methodist Church from the 1930s.