WHO remembers travelling by train between Oxford and Thame?
Today, it’s a quick and comfortable ride by bus or car, but 60 years ago, you could enjoy the delights of the Oxfordshire countryside on a gentle journey in a railway carriage.
Memories of the long-forgotten link are revived in a recent book, Exploring Britain’s Long-lost Railways, a nostalgic excursion along 50 former rail lines.
The single line which ran cross country from Oxford to Princes Risborough, was the work of the famous engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
The first part from Princes Risborough to Thame opened in 1862, followed by a westward extension in 1864 to Kennington junction, where it joined the Oxford-Didcot line.
Morris Cowley station
The main intermediate stations were at Littlemore, Morris Cowley, Horspath, Wheatley, Tiddington, Thame, Towersey and Bledlow. In the early days, there were also halts at Hinksey, Abingdon Road and Iffley.
The book recalls: “With ever-increasing competition from road transport, the years following the Second World War saw passenger and goods traffic in rapid decline.
“By the late 1950s, there were just five return trains on weekdays (plus an extra on Saturdays) with only two running on Sundays.
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“However, the railway did come to life occasionally on Sundays when expresses between Paddington and Birmingham were diverted away from the main line to the north due to engineering work.
“With annual losses estimated by British Railways to be around £35,000, closure was inevitable, with the end coming for passenger services on January 7 1963, nearly three months before the publication of the Beeching report.”
The western section has remained open for freight trains to serve the BMW plant at Cowley, and there is a possibility that passenger trains will run on this section in future.
Towersey station
The eastern section from Princes Risborough to Thame was kept open to serve an oil depot until 1991. The trackbed has now been turned into an eight-mile footpath and cycleway known as the Phoenix Trail.
Little remains of the middle section of the line, apart from one platform at Thame, a nature reserve in a cutting at Horspath and Horspath tunnel, which is home to colonies of bats.
Rail enthusiasts can still enjoy activity at the eastern end, with the Chinnor and Princes Risborough heritage railway providing services, often steam-hauled, between the village and town.
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Although the line closed to passengers in 1957, it remained open to a cement works at Chinnor until 1989. It was revived as a heritage line in 1994.
At one point, it was suggested that the whole line might be resurrected and form a new rail route from Oxford to London Marylebone, but that was ruled out when it was decided to open the Chiltern line via Bicester.
Exploring Britain’s Lost Railways is written by Julian Holland and published by Times Books and HarperCollins.
Any memories of the Oxford-Thame-Princes Risborough railway to share with readers? Write and let me know.
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