Woodford Halse railway station

Woodford Halse
Woodford Halse station in 1929
Location
Place	Woodford Halse
Area	Daventry
Grid reference	SP540525
Operations
Original company	Great Central Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Central Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway London Midland Region of British Railways
Platforms	3
History
15 March 1899	Opened (Woodford and Hinton)
1 November 1948	Renamed (Woodford Halse)
5 September 1966	Closed
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

Woodford Halse railway station stood on the Great Central Railway (GCR) main line, the last main line to be built from the north of England to London. The station opened with the line on 15 March 1899 under the name Woodford and Hinton and served the adjacent villages of Woodford Halse to the east and Hinton to the west, both in Northamptonshire. The station was renamed Woodford Halse on 1 November 1948.

The village of Woodford Halse became notable for the role it played as an important railway centre. Originally it had seemed destined not to have a railway at all, as the nearest stations were at Byfield (about two miles west), and Moreton Pinkney (three miles south-east), both on the East and West Junction Railway (later part of the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway), opened in July 1873, and no other lines seemed likely to be built in such a thinly populated area. However, in the late 1890s the village found itself on a major trunk route, the Great Central Railway's London Extension.

The station was a variation on the standard island platform design typical of the London Extension, here the less common "embankment" type reached from a roadway (Station Road), that passed beneath the line. It differed from the usual design in that since it served what was effectively a four-way junction, it was provided with a more extensive range of platform buildings and facilities beneath a longer awning.

The station was situated near Woodford Halse North Curve Junction linking the GCR with the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway (SMJ) route between Stratford-upon-Avon and Towcester, and a separate platform was provided on the west side for SMJ trains, a timber structure later replaced by a concrete slab construction although still referred to as the "wooden platform". Further south however was the more important Culworth Junction, divergence point for a stretch of line 8.25 miles (13.28 km) in length linking the GCR with the Great Western Railway at Banbury, enabling some extensive and varied cross-country workings to take place.