The Railway that Just STOPPED - AKA We visited 500 Abandoned Stations

The irony is that so many former lines and stations served rural communities that have since hugely expanded and would now benefit, economically and environmentally, from having a rail connection.

Congratulations to you both on reaching this great milestone - thank you for all these fascinating videos

It's a shame you couldn't see Carterton station, Paul. I think it's the only station building on the whole line that's still standing. It's now used as a stable (previously as a pigsty) but is still pretty much intact. It was added much later than the other stations, as a passenger station to service RAF Brize Norton. The station building is a brick/concrete wartime structure with a big canopy extending out onto the platform, and a signal box (which was moved to the Swindon & Cricklade Railway museum in 1980, but was in too bad a condition to be preserved there). Carterton station is a surprisingly long way from the town it's named after - originally there was a road linking it directly to the town, but when the RAF Brize Norton's runway was extended, it severed that road. The photo in the link below shows Carterton station while it was operating - the bridge in the background is the exact place you were in the video when you said you couldn't find the station. Unfortunately it's almost impossible to see it from the road now, because of trees and overgrowth - which is a shame as you were standing so close to it! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterton_railway_station_(England)#/media/File:Carterton_1_62573_1.jpg

I KNOW THIS LINE!!!! I also know why it just stopped! The Fairford branch of the GWR was built in two phases. The first phase connected Oxford to Witney, and terminated at the "Old" Witney station. That station was rather unique in that there was a small goods siding, with goods building, a short loop of track at platform edge, and terminated in an engine shed. There was later added a small goods yard off to one side, but as originally built, this wasn't present. At that time, the Oxford to Witney section was Brunel's 7 foot broad gauge, though the railroad was not GWR. I believe it was just called the Oxford to Witney railroad. Some time after standard gauge took over, the second section of the railroad from Witney to Fairford was built, and with this a new station was built, but only for passengers. The old original station became only for goods. This section rather unceremoniously terminated at Fairford, though that wasn't always the plan. Rather, it was expected that the line would have continued further, on to connect to the MSWJR at Cirencester. However, GWR ran out of money, and support for continuing the line. So they just stopped it. A couple things that you brought up, that have answers: 1.) 4:28 What you describe about the station seeming to be out in the middle of nowhere, was actually common to the line. In fact, most all of the stations were a mile, sometimes more from the actual cities they served. There were a rare few that were closer, but the majority were stuck out in such a way that it was a brisk walk, or short drive to the station. 2.) 9:24 is incorrect. While GWR opposed the connection to Cheltenham, that wasn't the reason they stopped. GWR planned for the line to continue on to Cirencester to connect to the MSWJR. This shorter route would have been easier to construct than the line up to Cheltenham, and would have completely negated the need for the previous connection. However the GWR ran into some problems during the proposals of constructing this line. At that time, though "GWR", the railroad was still nominally operated by the original constructors of the line, with GWR as their parent company. That company ran out of money, and it didn't hurt matters that local Parlimentary support for this extension evaporated. The exact reason the local MP's withdrew their support isn't exactly known, though there is some argument to be had that they preferred the Cheltenham extension over the Cirencester one. 3.) The railroad wasn't totally abandoned in the Beeching cuts. It was cut in half at Witney, with the "new" section of the line being abandoned from Witney passenger up to Fairford. The old original section of the line, however, remained in operation as a short freight only railroad, operated by Class 22 diesel locomotives, the odd Class 21, and sometimes the odd Class 08. It remained in operation until around 1970, performing limited goods service, before it too was finally completely abandoned. The only real thing the railroad had going for it, during that last final operational period, was a pair of ballast pits which the railroad served. However the pits ended up closing as well, and with more and more goods traffic going to the roads, the need for the remaining section of the line vanished, and it was ultimately pulled up. The ballast pits were located just west of South Leigh. 4.) The junction at Oxford was interesting, as during WW2, the line saw extensive use in bringing war materials up to Brize Norton. For this, a rather large goods yard was built at the junction with the GWR main line, and there are reports of WD 2-8-0's also making trips up and down the line during the war. There were also an incident where a glider in training missed the airport's runway, and came down on the railroad, blocking the line. (no injuries other than the pilot's pride were reported.) They also ran trains to South Leigh, where a Ministry of Food depot was located.

A lot of the lakes have killed the old canal/railway routes, mainly the railway but just up from where you are at Fairford there’s an issue with the Cotswold Canal and a recent quarry where they haven’t restored it as promised in the planning for the quarry, it’ll now be incredibly difficult

500+ stations is a monumental effort. Congrats Paul and Rebecca!!! Love your channel!

Congratulations on 500 disused stations. This has been an adventure for you both... and for us following you. Here's to the next 500.

Having grown up in Witney (from 1958 onwards) most of these stops are familiar to me. Indeed, even managed to climb into the old Water Tank at Witney in my teenage years. The road that runs through the Industrial estate, called Avenue 3 today, would have run alongside the railway line in the past (except it didnt exist then). Kernahan service building and the others to the west of it are roughly where the station was. I still have memories of one of the tank engines in the station, filling with water before leaving for Fairford. I think the intention was to carry on to Cheltenham but by the early 1900s the idea was shelved as being too expensive - even for GWR.

You make a good point about lack of remaining infrastucture, the amount of new industrial units & housing in Witney has removed what remained of the old station sites. Both were still there in the 80's there was a nightclub called the "Sidings" that was a goods shed originally with a coach as a restaurant and the original station was a coal yard 40yrs of change!

500 disused stations is a tremendous achievement! Another superbly made and informative video. You have come a long way since your start on your journey and the early days!

How interesting I live close to Witney. I remember travelling from Witney to London on that railway back in the sixties.

I have worked at RAF Brize Norton and drove along the old railway as it's part of the road running around the airfield. Didn't realise until I'd been there for about 3 weeks. Fantastic history that's sadly been long forgotten.

I was told by a Fairford resident, the line was planned to join the MSWJ&R line near Cirencester, going North to Cheltenham and South to Swindon.

5:55 You have commented about the carpets but they were made of wool and you missed the bunch of teazles growing there - they were so essential for teasing out the knotty bits in the wool.

Thank you for the tour today, Paul. Always a trip back in time. Amazing how these railway sites were abandoned. Hello to Rebecca please, and seen you on the next! Cheers Paul! ❤❤😊😊

In Witney, stand at the Leys' recreation ground and look across to the "AMBIC" industrial building; That is the rough site of Witneys' second station building, the line of trees down from the church carry on across the road behind the Autocare garage and this was the entrance and station forecourt. The Cottsway offices are the site of the water tower with the access road into the induatrial estate was once the site of the bridge carrying the road to Ducklington over the line. The original station and then Witney Good Station entrance is exactly where Sainsburys goods in entrance is. If you walk from the Leys into Sainsburys and look left you see a house overlooking Sainsburys; This was the Stationmasters' house and had his study on the upper floor, overlooking both the goods and passenger stations. The goods shed was in "Two Rivers" industrial estate and was dismantled and rebuilt into offices (you can see the circular window). The coal sidings were to the right side of Two Rivers Ind Estate and there was also a threshing yard run by Wilcox and Frost, the steam engine that worked here "Eynsham Hall" is preserved.

3 road bridges over the railway between Fairford and Lechlade, East of Little Faringdon is a crossing keepers cottage. When the GWR were developing the Automatic Train Control system (ATC) they tested it on that branch line.

Nice to see a every disused station again and congrats on reaching 500 Disused Stations. But do agree that the disused stations even the ones I've seen are just Supermarket car parks for housing estates. But sometimes I do love seeing a old disused platform or good relics that have been left behind. Great video Paul

Kelmscott is slightly famous as the home of William Morris, an important figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. His former house is a museum, well worth a look.

Congratulations on reaching 500 stations, reaching the milestone on what is my local line. I live in Carterton and was in the RAF based at RAF Brize Norton until 2019. I still work on the base today. There is still a section of the old rails that can be seen within the base near what is now the industrial estate. The plane, by the way was a Boeing C17 the last type i worked on before I left... keep the videos coming 😃.