Witney railway station (goods)

Witney (Goods)
Location
Place	Witney
Area	West Oxfordshire
Coordinates	51°46′38″N 1°28′50″W / 51.77722°N 1.48056°W / 51.77722; -1.48056Coordinates: 51°46′38″N 1°28′50″W / 51.77722°N 1.48056°W / 51.77722; -1.48056
Grid reference	SP357090
Operations
Original company	Witney Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway
Platforms	2
History
14 November 1861	Station opens
15 January 1873	Station closes to passengers
2 November 1970	Station closes to goods
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

Witney goods station served the Oxfordshire town of Witney on the Oxford, Witney and Fairford Railway. It consisted of seven sidings, a goods shed, a wooden parcel office and a cattle dock. It also had an engine shed, which was demolished early in the twentieth century. Following the opening of the East Gloucestershire Railway in 1873, the station became a goods depot, with passengers using the second station situated to the south. The original station remained open to goods traffic until 1970.

The station was opened by the Witney Railway on 4 November 1861 as the western terminus of its line from Yarnton. A single platform was provided in addition to a run-around loop and a carriage siding. A large stone goods shed was served by two sidings, one of which was accessed by a short spur from a wagon turntable. The station building was a small weather-boarded structure with a hipped roof and a platform canopy. At the end of the line stood a single-road engine shed and water tank. The shed, which lost its locomotive allocation when the new Witney station opened, was demolished during November 1905 after having been used for storage purposes.

When the East Gloucestershire Railway opened an extension of the line in 1873, a new passenger station was constructed on a different site to the south, opening on 15 January 1873. This left the old station on a spur line, and it became the town's goods depot on the same date. The directors of the Witney Railway had first been opposed to the downgrading of their station but the Great Western Railway, which was to work the new line, insisted that agreement would need to be reached between the East Gloucestershire and the Witney as to a new station which would be operated on a joint basis. Following its conversion to a goods depot, the station's basic layout remained essentially intact, so much so that it continued to resemble the old passenger station. The Great Western made several later additions including extensions to the goods shed, a stable block to accommodate the shunting and dray horses, a wood store, a corrugated iron warehouse and a stationmaster's house. The house is said to be the last to have been constructed by the Great Western before the Second World War. The station canopy was boarded in to increase the storage space for parcels.

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Wikipedia