Kidlington railway station
Encyclopedia
Kidlington railway station opened in 1852 on the Oxford and Rugby Railway
to serve the adjacent Oxfordshire
village of Kidlington
, and act as a railhead for the town of Woodstock
, 2.5 miles (4 km) away. It became a junction station in 1890 upon the opening of the Blenheim and Woodstock Branch Line
, and served the area for over 100 years before falling victim to the programme of closures initiated by the Beeching Report in 1964. Following many proposals for its reopening, a new station to serve Kidlington is due to open in 2013 at on the Oxford to Bicester Line
.
opened in 1850, it was a further five years before the Brunelian
station building was completed. Originally named Woodstock Road, the station was inconveniently-sited at the northern end of Kidlington
, around 20 minutes walk from the village centre. The station, a conventional two-platform stopping place with modest goods facilities, defied the railway convention that station buildings were usually sited on the platform nearest the settlement that they were purporting to serve. In this case, Kidlington village was to the east, whereas the station buildings were constructed on the western side, leaving the station effectively back-to-front. This can apparently be explained by the fact that the station was opened to serve Woodstock
and not Kidlington, then a small village of around 2,400 inhabitants clustered around a church located over 1 miles (1.6 km) away from the station.
had been installed: one to serve the loading dock
to the rear of the down platform, and one connected to a goods shed
of typical Great Western Railway
design. The 57 feet (17.4 m) by 40 feet (12.2 m) shed was constructed out of yellowish brickwork and had five bays with brick pilaster
s.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the goods yard siding was extended across the station approach to serve a timber yard which had opened to the west of the station. This arrangement not only blocked passengers' access to the ticket office when wagons were being shunted, but also blocked all means of entry to the timber yard. An additional siding was therefore laid to provide a bypass for the shed which effectively put it on a short loop. Another siding was laid across the road in 1923 when Oxford Farmers Ltd opened a bacon factory.
Built in 1855, Kidlington was one of a group of six stations constructed during this period (the others being , , , and Aynho
) whose architectural features appeared to distinguish them from other GWR stations. However, upon closer inspection they all were constructed with Cotswold
rather than Italianate
features. Kidlington resembled on the Cornish Main Line
, but its hipped roof
and larger canopy made it seem at first glance very different.
Substantial station buildings constructed out of local oolitic limestone were provided on both platforms. The larger of the two was the down building, crowned by three tall Italianate chimneys, which comprised a waiting room, ladies' waiting room and ladies' toilet. The up building was much smaller but similar in size and contained a large waiting room, the booking hall, a parcels office, the stationmaster's office, a porter's room and a gents' toilet. A canopied passenger footbridge was added at the turn of the 19th century. Both platforms had picturesque gardens, complete with rustic arches and flower baskets.
When Kidlington became a junction station in 1890 upon the opening of the 4 miles (6.4 km) Blenheim and Woodstock Branch Line
, a bay platform
was constructed alongside the country end of the down platform on the alignment of a former goods siding. The down platform itself was extended north towards the Banbury Road bridge to allow sufficient room for terminating branch services. The station was also renamed Kidlington to avoid confusion with the new station.
. Passenger numbers had fallen from 23,000 in the 1930s to less than 9,000 in 1952, with each train carrying on average 5 to 6 passengers, and sometimes even running empty. In Kidlington, due to the inconvenient siting of the station, villagers preferred the more convenient bus services to Oxford.
British Rail
ways closed the Woodstock branch line in 1952, leaving Kidlington to survive for a further ten years with a service of around six trains a day. The new housing developments in the village were situated on its southern side and the new occupants also preferred local bus services to Oxford rather than walk the 2 miles (3.2 km) to the station. It was therefore no surprise when Kidlington was listed for closure in the Beeching Report together with , , and indeed almost all remaining stations in Oxfordshire
. A change of government saved Hanborough, but Kidlington closed in November 1964, despite it being the largest village on the Cherwell Valley Line
between Oxford and Banbury
. Interestingly, the much smaller village of Tackley
, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the north, retained its station.
and the booking office had become a denture repairers. The signal box
was demolished in 1970. The passenger footbridge was taken down and re-erected near Didcot North Junction where it replaced a similar bridge which had been badly damaged following a derailment.
The goods shed was demolished in 1984 and most of the surrounding goods yard is now occupied by an industrial estate known as The Station Field. The connection with the former Woodstock branch has been obscured by deep ballasting on the main line.
facility for local commuters. The new station should, it was proposed, be reopened on a site closer to the village centre, such as Roundham Lane Crossing. The idea was enthusiastically received by British Rail, which called for the scheme to be backed by financial contributions from local authorities. These were not forthcoming and the land earmarked for the station was redeveloped, leaving insufficient room for an approach road and car park.
Since the 1980s, Oxfordshire County Council
has advocated a new Kidlington station on the Cherwell Valley Line on land beside Lyne Road between Flatford Place and Thorne Close.
Train operating company
Chiltern Railways
has proposed a new station on the Oxford to Bicester Line
just south of Kidlington as part of its Project Evergreen 3 development programme. It would be located at , near the site of the former .
Cherwell Valley Line
The Cherwell Valley Line is the railway line between Didcot and Banbury via Oxford. It links the Great Western Main Line and the south to the Chiltern Main Line and the Midlands...
to serve the adjacent Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
village of Kidlington
Kidlington
Kidlington is a large village and civil parish between the River Cherwell and the Oxford Canal, north of Oxford and southwest of Bicester.-History:...
, and act as a railhead for the town of Woodstock
Woodstock, Oxfordshire
Woodstock is a small town northwest of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. It is the location of Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace in 1874 and is buried in the nearby village of Bladon....
, 2.5 miles (4 km) away. It became a junction station in 1890 upon the opening of the Blenheim and Woodstock Branch Line
Blenheim and Woodstock Branch Line
The Blenheim and Woodstock Branch Line was a long railway branch line that ran from Kidlington railway station along the Cherwell Valley Line north to Shipton-on-Cherwell where the line branched off west past towards Woodstock....
, and served the area for over 100 years before falling victim to the programme of closures initiated by the Beeching Report in 1964. Following many proposals for its reopening, a new station to serve Kidlington is due to open in 2013 at on the Oxford to Bicester Line
Oxford to Bicester Line
The Oxford to Bicester Line is a branch line linking Oxford and Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.-History:The line was opened in 1850 as part of the Buckinghamshire Railway, which in 1879 became part of the London and North Western Railway...
.
Opening
Although the Oxford and Rugby RailwayCherwell Valley Line
The Cherwell Valley Line is the railway line between Didcot and Banbury via Oxford. It links the Great Western Main Line and the south to the Chiltern Main Line and the Midlands...
opened in 1850, it was a further five years before the Brunelian
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
station building was completed. Originally named Woodstock Road, the station was inconveniently-sited at the northern end of Kidlington
Kidlington
Kidlington is a large village and civil parish between the River Cherwell and the Oxford Canal, north of Oxford and southwest of Bicester.-History:...
, around 20 minutes walk from the village centre. The station, a conventional two-platform stopping place with modest goods facilities, defied the railway convention that station buildings were usually sited on the platform nearest the settlement that they were purporting to serve. In this case, Kidlington village was to the east, whereas the station buildings were constructed on the western side, leaving the station effectively back-to-front. This can apparently be explained by the fact that the station was opened to serve Woodstock
Woodstock, Oxfordshire
Woodstock is a small town northwest of Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. It is the location of Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.Winston Churchill was born in Blenheim Palace in 1874 and is buried in the nearby village of Bladon....
and not Kidlington, then a small village of around 2,400 inhabitants clustered around a church located over 1 miles (1.6 km) away from the station.
Goods facilities
When originally opened, the station was provided with a small goods yard and run-round loop for goods traffic on the down side. In addition, it was likely that two sidingsRail siding
A siding, in rail terminology, is a low-speed track section distinct from a running line or through route such as a main line or branch line or spur. It may connect to through track or to other sidings at either end...
had been installed: one to serve the loading dock
Loading dock
A loading dock is a recessed bay in a building or facility where trucks are loaded and unloaded. They are commonly found on commercial and industrial buildings, and warehouses in particular....
to the rear of the down platform, and one connected to 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...
of typical Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
design. The 57 feet (17.4 m) by 40 feet (12.2 m) shed was constructed out of yellowish brickwork and had five bays with brick pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the goods yard siding was extended across the station approach to serve a timber yard which had opened to the west of the station. This arrangement not only blocked passengers' access to the ticket office when wagons were being shunted, but also blocked all means of entry to the timber yard. An additional siding was therefore laid to provide a bypass for the shed which effectively put it on a short loop. Another siding was laid across the road in 1923 when Oxford Farmers Ltd opened a bacon factory.
Passenger facilities
Aynho for Deddington railway station
Aynho for Deddington railway station was a railway station serving the village of Aynho in Northamptonshire, England. It was on what is now known as the Cherwell Valley Line.-History:...
) whose architectural features appeared to distinguish them from other GWR stations. However, upon closer inspection they all were constructed with Cotswold
Cotswold stone
Cotswold stone is a yellow oolitic limestone quarried in many places in the Cotswold Hills in the south midlands of England. When weathered, the colour of buildings made or faced with this stone is often described as 'honey' or 'golden'....
rather than Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
features. Kidlington resembled on the Cornish Main Line
Cornish Main Line
The Cornish Main Line is a railway line in the United Kingdom, which forms the backbone for rail services in Cornwall, as well as providing a direct line to London.- History :...
, but its hipped roof
Hipped roof
Hipped roof can refer to:*A hip roof, a type of roof where all sides are sloped*A tented roof, a conical style of roof seen in Russian architecture...
and larger canopy made it seem at first glance very different.
Substantial station buildings constructed out of local oolitic limestone were provided on both platforms. The larger of the two was the down building, crowned by three tall Italianate chimneys, which comprised a waiting room, ladies' waiting room and ladies' toilet. The up building was much smaller but similar in size and contained a large waiting room, the booking hall, a parcels office, the stationmaster's office, a porter's room and a gents' toilet. A canopied passenger footbridge was added at the turn of the 19th century. Both platforms had picturesque gardens, complete with rustic arches and flower baskets.
When Kidlington became a junction station in 1890 upon the opening of the 4 miles (6.4 km) Blenheim and Woodstock Branch Line
Blenheim and Woodstock Branch Line
The Blenheim and Woodstock Branch Line was a long railway branch line that ran from Kidlington railway station along the Cherwell Valley Line north to Shipton-on-Cherwell where the line branched off west past towards Woodstock....
, a bay platform
Bay platform
Bay platform is a railway-related term commonly used in the UK and Australia to describe a dead-end platform at a railway station that has through lines...
was constructed alongside the country end of the down platform on the alignment of a former goods siding. The down platform itself was extended north towards the Banbury Road bridge to allow sufficient room for terminating branch services. The station was also renamed Kidlington to avoid confusion with the new station.
Decline and closure
By the 1950s, rationalisation and cuts in the frequency of services led to passengers alighting at Kidlington having to wait two hours for a connecting train to OxfordOxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. Passenger numbers had fallen from 23,000 in the 1930s to less than 9,000 in 1952, with each train carrying on average 5 to 6 passengers, and sometimes even running empty. In Kidlington, due to the inconvenient siting of the station, villagers preferred the more convenient bus services to Oxford.
British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
ways closed the Woodstock branch line in 1952, leaving Kidlington to survive for a further ten years with a service of around six trains a day. The new housing developments in the village were situated on its southern side and the new occupants also preferred local bus services to Oxford rather than walk the 2 miles (3.2 km) to the station. It was therefore no surprise when Kidlington was listed for closure in the Beeching Report together with , , and indeed almost all remaining stations in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. A change of government saved Hanborough, but Kidlington closed in November 1964, despite it being the largest village on the Cherwell Valley Line
Cherwell Valley Line
The Cherwell Valley Line is the railway line between Didcot and Banbury via Oxford. It links the Great Western Main Line and the south to the Chiltern Main Line and the Midlands...
between Oxford and Banbury
Banbury
Banbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
. Interestingly, the much smaller village of Tackley
Tackley
Tackley is a village and civil parish beside the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, England. It is about west of Bicester and north of Kidlington. The village consists of two neighbourhoods: Tackley itself, and Nethercott.-Archaeology:...
, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) to the north, retained its station.
Remains
After closure, Kidlington station was used by a printing firm although the up buildings and platform were demolished. By 1973, all that remained was the down building and goods shed. The shed was at that time occupied by a plastics firm, whilst the parcels office was an antique shopAntique shop
An antique shop is a retail store specializing in the selling of antiques. Antiques shops can be located either locally and with the advent of the Internet found online...
and the booking office had become a denture repairers. The signal box
Signal box
On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetable...
was demolished in 1970. The passenger footbridge was taken down and re-erected near Didcot North Junction where it replaced a similar bridge which had been badly damaged following a derailment.
The goods shed was demolished in 1984 and most of the surrounding goods yard is now occupied by an industrial estate known as The Station Field. The connection with the former Woodstock branch has been obscured by deep ballasting on the main line.
Proposed new stations
There have been calls since the 1970s for the reopening of Kidlington station as a Park and ridePark and ride
Park and ride facilities are car parks with connections to public transport that allow commuters and other people wishing to travel into city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system , or carpool for the rest of their trip...
facility for local commuters. The new station should, it was proposed, be reopened on a site closer to the village centre, such as Roundham Lane Crossing. The idea was enthusiastically received by British Rail, which called for the scheme to be backed by financial contributions from local authorities. These were not forthcoming and the land earmarked for the station was redeveloped, leaving insufficient room for an approach road and car park.
Since the 1980s, Oxfordshire County Council
Oxfordshire County Council
Oxfordshire County Council, established in 1889, is the county council, or upper-tier local authority, for the non-metropolitan county of Oxfordshire, in the South East of England, an elected body responsible for the most strategic local government services in the county.-History:County Councils...
has advocated a new Kidlington station on the Cherwell Valley Line on land beside Lyne Road between Flatford Place and Thorne Close.
Train operating company
Train operating company
The term train operating company is used in the United Kingdom to describe the various businesses operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand...
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways is a British train operating company. It was set up at the privatisation of British Rail in 1996, and operates local passenger trains from Marylebone station in London to Aylesbury and main-line trains on the Chiltern Main Line to Birmingham Snow Hill with its associated branches...
has proposed a new station on the Oxford to Bicester Line
Oxford to Bicester Line
The Oxford to Bicester Line is a branch line linking Oxford and Bicester in Oxfordshire, England.-History:The line was opened in 1850 as part of the Buckinghamshire Railway, which in 1879 became part of the London and North Western Railway...
just south of Kidlington as part of its Project Evergreen 3 development programme. It would be located at , near the site of the former .