Compton railway station
Encyclopedia
Compton railway station served Compton
in the Berkshire Downs
. The station closed in 1962.
, East Ilsley
and Aldworth
. The station consisted of two platforms with the ticket offices and station buildings located on the Northbound platform. This was the only station with the exceptions of and Newbury
to have a footbridge linking the platforms. To the north of the station was a goods shed
plus cattle pens and three sidings which supported a busy coal trade and the loading of the products of the foundry. A signal box was located at the north end of the southbound platform and there was an unusual single-truck bay set into the northbound platform to facilitate the loading of a horse-box to the rear of a Didcot-bound train. The station received relatively large volumes of goods traffic for the area with Baker's Foundry being located in the nearby village. A link line to nearby East Ilsley was planned but never built, although certain parts of the proposed route were levelled and ballasted for reasons as yet unknown. There was a facility at Compton for incorporating the junction and for the stabling of a small locomotive to operate the route. The station house, booking hall and some outbuildings and the nearby overbridge are still in existence and a public right of way allows access to the platform side revealing evidence of the platforms and an enamel "Platform tickets to be given up on leaving platform" sign, although it is not known if this is original. The goods shed was demolished in 2001 to make way for a small business area.
Compton, Berkshire
Compton is a village and civil parish in the River Pang valley in the Berkshire Downs about south of Didcot. It has a population of 1,521. The Pang flows through the village as a winter bourne, a stream that only flows after periods of unusually high rainfall.-Parish church:The bell tower of the...
in the Berkshire Downs
Berkshire Downs
The Berkshire Downs are a range of chalk downland hills in southern England, part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
. The station closed in 1962.
History
Compton was the largest station between Newbury and Didcot, serving the villages of ComptonCompton, Berkshire
Compton is a village and civil parish in the River Pang valley in the Berkshire Downs about south of Didcot. It has a population of 1,521. The Pang flows through the village as a winter bourne, a stream that only flows after periods of unusually high rainfall.-Parish church:The bell tower of the...
, East Ilsley
East Ilsley
East Ilsley is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire.It is situated at in West Berkshire, north of Newbury very close to the A34 road which bypasses the village....
and Aldworth
Aldworth
Aldworth is a small village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, close to the modern northern county boundary with Oxfordshire. It is in the rural area between Reading, Newbury and Streatley. The parish includes the neighbouring hamlet of Westridge Green.Aldworth is on the high...
. The station consisted of two platforms with the ticket offices and station buildings located on the Northbound platform. This was the only station with the exceptions of and Newbury
Newbury railway station
Newbury railway station is a railway station in the centre of Newbury, Berkshire, England. It was opened on 21 December 1847 by the Great Western Railway...
to have a footbridge linking the platforms. To the north of the station was a goods shed
Goods shed
A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train.A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built alongside a track with possibly just a canopy over the door...
plus cattle pens and three sidings which supported a busy coal trade and the loading of the products of the foundry. A signal box was located at the north end of the southbound platform and there was an unusual single-truck bay set into the northbound platform to facilitate the loading of a horse-box to the rear of a Didcot-bound train. The station received relatively large volumes of goods traffic for the area with Baker's Foundry being located in the nearby village. A link line to nearby East Ilsley was planned but never built, although certain parts of the proposed route were levelled and ballasted for reasons as yet unknown. There was a facility at Compton for incorporating the junction and for the stabling of a small locomotive to operate the route. The station house, booking hall and some outbuildings and the nearby overbridge are still in existence and a public right of way allows access to the platform side revealing evidence of the platforms and an enamel "Platform tickets to be given up on leaving platform" sign, although it is not known if this is original. The goods shed was demolished in 2001 to make way for a small business area.