Toddington railway station
Encyclopedia
Toddington railway station serves the village of Toddington
in Gloucestershire
, England
. Since 1984 it has been the main base of operations for the heritage
Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
. The station is located on the Honeybourne Line which linked and and which was opened by the Great Western Railway
in 1906. The station was a centre of fruit and milk traffic, but receipts dwindled after a railwaymens' strike in 1954. The station closed to passengers in 1960, although the line itself remained open for freight and diversionary use until 1976; the track was lifted in 1979-80.
on 9 July 1859. The Great Western Railway
acquired the OW&W in 1883 with a view to combining it with the Birmingham to Stratford Line
to create a high-speed route from the Midlands
to the South West
.
Toddington was opened on 1 December 1904. It was built as a railhead for fruit traffic, with a fruit packing shed being provided in the goods yard in addition to the goods shed
. The shed was 60 ft (18.3 m) long and comprised a goods crane
. The goods yard was the largest on the line and accommodated three main sidings
which were each capable of holding 30 wagons. Two more sidings led into the fruit shed. The fruit was processed in a nearby trading estate established by T W Beach & Sons in 1883, where it was put into tins and shipped out again; coffee was also dealt with in a similar way.
A temporary 29-lever signal box
was brought into service to welcome the first train, the 06.43 from which arrived at 07.10. This was replaced in January 1905 at a cost of £236 (or £ as of ) for the extension of the line to . A footbridge was provided in 1912 to link the two 400 ft (121.9 m) platforms; the main station building stood on the up platform, behind which was a dock from which large quantities of milk were dispatched. Opposite the main building on the down platform was a small passenger waiting shelter and a large water tank
which drew its supply from the Stanway Estate. The station was lit by acetylene gas lamps
until 1917 when calcium carbide
became difficult to obtain.
The first through passenger excursions to call at Toddington began in August 1906 following the opening of the line through to Cheltenham
. Initially, they were a Mondays-only service from to and to , but became more regular following the opening of the North Warwickshire Line in July 1908. Nearby Stanway House
, the residence of the Earl of Wemyss
, attracted a number of visitors by rail, one the most famous of whom being J. M. Barrie
. Passenger tickets sold at Toddington fell from 11,580 in 1913 to 6,050 in 1933; during the same period goods forwarded and received dropped from 5414 tons to 1802 tons. Fruit traffic was badly affected by a 1954 strike by railwaymen, which turned fruit growers towards road transport.
Toddington closed to passenger traffic on 7 March 1960, leaving the goods yard in use until 2 September 1967 after which the weigh house and fruit packing shed were demolished. With the line remaining open to goods and diversionary traffic, the platforms were cut away by April 1968 to facilitate the out-of-gauge loads which used the route. Closure of the line along with the signal box at Toddington came on 22 October 1976 and the track was lifted in 1979-80.
took a lease of Toddington yard from 24 March 1981, with the first working party on site on 28 March. After site clearance, the first track was laid and a compound was built alongside the goods shed which was used by a small business. The signal box was included in the compound, although its lever frame
had been purchased and removed by the Gwili Railway
a few days earlier just as the lease negotiations were being finalised.
Toddington's first locomotive, a Hudswell Clarke
D615 0-6-0
diesel shunter
, was delivered on 30 May 1981, to be followed by GWR 2800 Class 2807
from Woodham Brothers on 20 June 1981. During the next four years, the station site was transformed with the thorough refurbishment of the station building, reinstatement of the platform and restoration of the signal box with a new frame from Earlswood Lakes
. Double track was laid through the station towards Stanway Viaduct to the north and extensive sidings were laid to accommodate a large collection of locomotives and rolling stock
. The goods shed was taken over and converted into a workshop and office, whilst a water tower
was brought in from Ashford.
The station was inspected by Major Rose of Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate
on 21 March 1984 and authorisation was given for operation of a 2-coach push and pull train over a ¼-mile section of track as far as Didbrook Bridge. The official reopening of the station took place on 22 April 1984 when Nicholas Ridley
, the local MP, cut the tape on Easter Sunday. By 2003, the line had been extended south to . In late-2005/early-2006, a start was made to relay track north towards Broadway
, and the first 2 miles of this section, as far as re-opened in 2011, with Broadway expected to re-open sometime around 2015 (expanding to a total of 15 miles in length).
Toddington, Gloucestershire
Toddington is a village and civil parish in north Gloucestershire in Tewkesbury Borough, located approx. 20 km north-east of Cheltenham with a population of around 300 people....
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Since 1984 it has been the main base of operations for the heritage
Heritage railway
thumb|right|the Historical [[Khyber train safari|Khyber Railway]] goes through the [[Khyber Pass]], [[Pakistan]]A heritage railway , preserved railway , tourist railway , or tourist railroad is a railway that is run as a tourist attraction, in some cases by volunteers, and...
Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is a volunteer-run heritage railway on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire/Warwickshire Borders that has reopened the closed railway line between Laverton Halt and Cheltenham Racecourse railway stations in Gloucestershire/Worcestershire., it currently...
. The station is located on the Honeybourne Line which linked and and which was opened by the 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...
in 1906. The station was a centre of fruit and milk traffic, but receipts dwindled after a railwaymens' strike in 1954. The station closed to passengers in 1960, although the line itself remained open for freight and diversionary use until 1976; the track was lifted in 1979-80.
History
The Honeybourne Line from to Cheltenham via was opened by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton RailwayOxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
The Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton railway was a company authorised on 4 August 1845 to construct a railway line from the Oxford and Rugby Railway at Wolvercot Junction to Worcester, Stourbridge, Dudley, and Wolverhampton, with a branch to the Grand Junction Railway at Bushbury...
on 9 July 1859. The 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...
acquired the OW&W in 1883 with a view to combining it with the Birmingham to Stratford Line
Birmingham to Stratford Line
The Birmingham to Stratford Line, also known as the North Warwickshire Line is a commuter railway line predominantly in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom...
to create a high-speed route from the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
to the South West
South West England
South West England is one of the regions of England defined by the Government of the United Kingdom for statistical and other purposes. It is the largest such region in area, covering and comprising Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. ...
.
Toddington was opened on 1 December 1904. It was built as a railhead for fruit traffic, with a fruit packing shed being provided in the goods yard in addition to the 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...
. The shed was 60 ft (18.3 m) long and comprised a goods crane
Crane (railroad)
A railroad crane, is a type of crane used on a railroad for one of three primary uses: freight handling in goods yards, permanent way maintenance, and accident recovery work...
. The goods yard was the largest on the line and accommodated three main sidings
Rail 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...
which were each capable of holding 30 wagons. Two more sidings led into the fruit shed. The fruit was processed in a nearby trading estate established by T W Beach & Sons in 1883, where it was put into tins and shipped out again; coffee was also dealt with in a similar way.
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 brought into service to welcome the first train, the 06.43 from which arrived at 07.10. This was replaced in January 1905 at a cost of £236 (or £ as of ) for the extension of the line to . A footbridge was provided in 1912 to link the two 400 ft (121.9 m) platforms; the main station building stood on the up platform, behind which was a dock from which large quantities of milk were dispatched. Opposite the main building on the down platform was a small passenger waiting shelter and a large water tank
Water tank
A Water tank is a container for storing water. The need for a water tank is as old as civilized man, providing storage of water for drinking water, irrigation agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural farming, both for plants and livestock, chemical manufacturing, food preparation as well as many...
which drew its supply from the Stanway Estate. The station was lit by acetylene gas lamps
Carbide lamp
Carbide lamps, properly known as acetylene gas lamps, are simple lamps that produce and burn acetylene which is created by the reaction of calcium carbide with water....
until 1917 when calcium carbide
Calcium carbide
thumb|right|Calcium carbide.Calcium carbide is a chemical compound with the chemical formula of CaC2. The pure material is colorless, however pieces of technical grade calcium carbide are grey or brown and consist of only 80-85% of CaC2 . Because of presence of PH3, NH3, and H2S it has a...
became difficult to obtain.
The first through passenger excursions to call at Toddington began in August 1906 following the opening of the line through to Cheltenham
Cheltenham Spa railway station
Cheltenham Spa railway station is in Gloucestershire, England, on the Bristol-Birmingham main line. It is managed by First Great Western and is about one mile from the town centre.-History:...
. Initially, they were a Mondays-only service from to and to , but became more regular following the opening of the North Warwickshire Line in July 1908. Nearby Stanway House
Stanway House
Stanway House is an example of a Jacobean manor house, located near Stanway, Gloucestershire. The manor was owned by Tewkesbury Abbey for 800 years then for 500 years by the Tracy family and their descendants, the Earls of Wemyss...
, the residence of the Earl of Wemyss
Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss
Hugo Richard Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss and 7th Earl of March , styled Lord Elcho from 1883 to 1914, was a Scottish Conservative politician....
, attracted a number of visitors by rail, one the most famous of whom being J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM was a Scottish author and dramatist, best remembered today as the creator of Peter Pan. The child of a family of small-town weavers, he was educated in Scotland. He moved to London, where he developed a career as a novelist and playwright...
. Passenger tickets sold at Toddington fell from 11,580 in 1913 to 6,050 in 1933; during the same period goods forwarded and received dropped from 5414 tons to 1802 tons. Fruit traffic was badly affected by a 1954 strike by railwaymen, which turned fruit growers towards road transport.
Toddington closed to passenger traffic on 7 March 1960, leaving the goods yard in use until 2 September 1967 after which the weigh house and fruit packing shed were demolished. With the line remaining open to goods and diversionary traffic, the platforms were cut away by April 1968 to facilitate the out-of-gauge loads which used the route. Closure of the line along with the signal box at Toddington came on 22 October 1976 and the track was lifted in 1979-80.
Present day
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire RailwayGloucestershire Warwickshire Railway
The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway is a volunteer-run heritage railway on the Gloucestershire/Worcestershire/Warwickshire Borders that has reopened the closed railway line between Laverton Halt and Cheltenham Racecourse railway stations in Gloucestershire/Worcestershire., it currently...
took a lease of Toddington yard from 24 March 1981, with the first working party on site on 28 March. After site clearance, the first track was laid and a compound was built alongside the goods shed which was used by a small business. The signal box was included in the compound, although its lever frame
Lever frame
Mechanical railway signalling installations rely on lever frames for their operation to interlock the signals and points to allow the safe operation of trains in the area the signals control...
had been purchased and removed by the Gwili Railway
Gwili Railway
The Gwili Steam Railway operates a standard gauge preserved railway from Abergwili Junction in South Wales along a short section of the former Carmarthen to Aberystwyth railway that closed for passenger traffic in 1965, the track being lifted in 1975.The Gwili Railway was formed in 1974 and, by...
a few days earlier just as the lease negotiations were being finalised.
Toddington's first locomotive, a Hudswell Clarke
Hudswell Clarke
Hudswell, Clarke and Company Limited was an engineering and locomotive building company in Jack Lane, Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.-History:...
D615 0-6-0
0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...
diesel shunter
Switcher
A switcher or shunter is a small railroad locomotive intended not for moving trains over long distances but rather for assembling trains ready for a road locomotive to take over, disassembling a train that has been...
, was delivered on 30 May 1981, to be followed by GWR 2800 Class 2807
GWR 2800 Class 2807
thumb|[[Great Western Railway|GWR]] [[2-8-0]] [[GWR 2800 Class|2800 Class]] No. 2807 on the occasion of her 100th birthday celebration. This photograph was taken at [[Toddington railway station|Toddington]] on the [[Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway]] during September 2005.Great Western Railway...
from Woodham Brothers on 20 June 1981. During the next four years, the station site was transformed with the thorough refurbishment of the station building, reinstatement of the platform and restoration of the signal box with a new frame from Earlswood Lakes
Earlswood (West Midlands) railway station
Earlswood railway station serves the village of Earlswood on the West Midlands/Warwickshire border in England. The platforms straddle the county border, with the approach road on the West Midlands side...
. Double track was laid through the station towards Stanway Viaduct to the north and extensive sidings were laid to accommodate a large collection of locomotives and rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
. The goods shed was taken over and converted into a workshop and office, whilst a water tower
Water tower
A water tower or elevated water tower is a large elevated drinking water storage container constructed to hold a water supply at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system....
was brought in from Ashford.
The station was inspected by Major Rose of Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate
Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate
Established in 1840, HM Railway Inspectorate was the British organisation responsible for overseeing safety on Britain's railways and tramways...
on 21 March 1984 and authorisation was given for operation of a 2-coach push and pull train over a ¼-mile section of track as far as Didbrook Bridge. The official reopening of the station took place on 22 April 1984 when Nicholas Ridley
Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale
Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, PC was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister.-Personal life:...
, the local MP, cut the tape on Easter Sunday. By 2003, the line had been extended south to . In late-2005/early-2006, a start was made to relay track north towards Broadway
Broadway, Worcestershire
Broadway is a village and civil parish in the Worcestershire part of the Cotswolds in England.Often referred to as the "Jewel of the Cotswolds", Broadway village lies beneath Fish Hill on the western Cotswold escarpment...
, and the first 2 miles of this section, as far as re-opened in 2011, with Broadway expected to re-open sometime around 2015 (expanding to a total of 15 miles in length).