RAILS TO ABINGDON

by Peter Heath

On 2nd June 1856, the first passenger train pulled into Abingdon Station. Just over 107 years later, on 9th September 1963, the last passenger train left the town along the oldest local branch line. If events had turned out differently in the 1830s and 1860s, Abingdon might have become the county town of Berkshire and the sight of the Great Western Railway's carriage and wagon works which were eventually built at Swindon.

When Isambard Kingdom Brunel's plans for a broad gauge line from Bristol to London were proposed, the people of Abingdon thought that the railway might be routed through their town, but, when Royal Assent was gained in 1835, the line was to go via Steventon, although a line from Didcot to Oxford via the outskirts of Abingdon was mooted. Several influential landowners opposed this however, but Brunel subsequently decided to make a more direct route saving a couple of miles and time. The townsfolk of Abingdon then apparently lost interest in the railway, but so successful was it, when it reached its temporary terminus at Steventon from Bristol in 1840, that they tried, two years later, to get Abingdon 'on the map'; but, in 1844, the Didcot-Oxford line was built via Culham instead. Some years later, it was decided to lay a standard gauge track parallel to the existing broad gauge between Didcot and Oxford to provide a through north/south route, and in 1852 mixed gauge trains were arriving at Oxford from the north. The residents of Abingdon started to get interested in the railway again and decided to press for any kind of line to serve the town.

And so in 1856, the same year that standard gauge track was laid between Oxford and Didcot, a broad gauge single track branch line was built, from a new junction sited just north of the River Thames at Nuneham, into Abingdon, a distance of about 1.75 miles. Several properties had to be demolished in Abingdon in order that the station could be constructed, amongst them the Plough Inn, subsequently rebuilt, owned by Morrells Brewery. The station refreshment room was incidentally owned by the rival local brewery Morland & Co. The entrance to the station yard was gated, and, as all the buildings within the station area were on the Abingdon Railway Company's land, the various owners had to pay rent to the Company. Although the Great Western provided locos, staff and rolling stock to operate the line, the A.R.C. paid all rates and taxes and were liable for maintenance. Besides the normal station buildings, stables were provided for the railway delivery horses and subsequently a coal yard was installed, which remained in use until the branch finally closed in 1984. The original locomotive shed did not remain intact for many years because of an accident in 1869 involving a passenger train. The points had been incorrectly set as it left the station and it proceeded into the shed, demolishing it in the process and damaging the locomotive resting inside.

The original loco, "Eagle", worked on the branch for three years, whilst others of the same class, amongst them "Vulcan", "Atlas" and "Venus" were employed until 1872. In November of that year, the track was lifted and replaced with standard gauge rails, the job being completed in just one day. By the end of the year, all broad gauge track in the Oxford area had disappeared, and subsequently Abingdon Junction station was removed and the branch line re-routed alongside the main line to a new station at Radley, increasing its length to 2 miles 44 chains (2.55 miles or 4.73 km). The change to standard gauge track meant that coal could be conveyed from the Midlands to the south without being transferred to other trains at Oxford, and this in turn saw a reduction in its price. As a result, the gasworks at Abingdon were re-sited in 1866 next to the town station and, for almost 100 years until complete closure of the line in 1984, coal traffic was the mainstay of the line. Several coal merchants were represented and some of these, notably R.S.Langford & Son Ltd., John North & Son and Pemberton & Co., had their own Private Owner Wagons.

G.W.R. had taken over the line completely in 1904 and, despite promises to improve services and spend money on the station buildings, nothing much happened until 1908 when force of circumstances meant that the station had to be re-built. This arose because of a serious crash which occurred at approximately 7am on 22nd April.   A freight train comprising of 17 wagons, about half the usual load, departed from Radley at 6.45am and approached the station where it should have stopped at the points short of the platform in order to carry out shunting manoeuvres prior to departing with the 7.05am passenger train.  When the brakes were applied, however, the train carried on, presumably due to the rails having been made greasy by overnight rain. It crashed into the four carriages of the waiting passenger train. Although the locomotive was undamaged and the crew unhurt, the carriages were badly smashed, the one nearest to the station being hurled upwards into the roof of the waiting room. There were, happily, no injuries although, ironically, the duty signalman, Harry Goff, who was demoted as a result of the accident, was killed at Radley by a passenger train in 1924. The new station building and overall roof remained intact from 1909 until it was pulled down by British Railways in the early 1970s.

There had been a few minor incidents at Abingdon before this, with trains failing to stop, and one or two along the branch itself involving agricutural vehicles on farm crossings.  Although coal was the main traffic, as has already been mentioned, there was naturally other freight carried on the branch, such as grain for Associated British Maltsters, skins for the Pavlova Leather Company and cattle on market days. Then, in the late 1940s, the world-famous M.G. Car Company started using the railway to transport its sports cars, most of which were exported to the U.S.A. Passenger services were less well patronised and the line began to be run down during the next decade and eventually this side of the business came under the 'Beeching Axe' and closure came about on 9th September 1963. The branch itself was in no danger of closing due to the quantity of freight carried, and by the mid-1970s there were several car-trains each week, carrying up to 70 vehicles on each trip; drive-on ramps having been previously installed at the station. The future of the line seemed assured.

But suddenly, in 1980, came the news that was to change not only the railway, but Abingdon itself; the M.G. Car Co. was closing down. Shortly afterwards there was talk of a possible major new coal depot being built on the outskirts of the town, which would have undoubtedly saved the line, but this was in fact built elsewhere. For the next four years, the only traffic was the weekly coal train, and the Royal Train occasionally parked there overnight. By 1984, Charringtons' coal depot in the station yard was shut and the branch line was officially closed in June of that year. The oldest local branch, which existed for 128 years, was no more.