It is the least-used railway station in the county but tomorrow Finstock halt will celebrate 75 years of service to the west Oxfordshire village.

The single-platform stop on the Cotswold Line is served by just 10 trains a week, one each morning into Oxford and one returning in late afternoon, from Monday to Friday.

It was opened on April 9, 1934, by the Great Western Railway. In 2007-8, according to the Office of Rail Regulation, just 1,095 people got on or off trains at Finstock.

The next quietest stop in the county is nearby Combe, where 2,042 journeys started or ended in the same period.

Tomorrow, commuters returning home to Finstock on the 5.31pm from Oxford will be welcomed at the bunting-clad station with music, cakes and ale by railway enthusiasts and families connected to the station.

Among them will be Jacob Hayes, from Charlbury, who is also celebrating a birthday – his third – tomorrow.

His great-great-grandfather, James Franklin, helped build the station 75 years ago and a framed picture of the construction workers will be presented to Jacob today – 25 years after his mother, Rebecca Hayes, was handed the very same memento when, as five-year-old Rebecca Tollett, she attended the 50th anniversary celebrations in 1984.

Mrs Hayes, 30, said: “I can’t remember too much about the day, but I remember being presented with the picture. It will be nice to see Jacob get the picture and for it to be handed down.

“I don’t know too much about my great-grandfather but my husband, Benjamin, will be on the train as it comes into the station and he still uses it every day, so there’s still a link to our family.”

The village’s district councillor Mike Breakell, who organised the celebration in his role as the local representative of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, has organised this afternoon’s festivities at the station.

He said: “The reality is that we’re down to a handful of regular passengers. But they’re very loyal and traditionally still the same sort of group that has always used the line — young people going to Oxford for school or people in their early commuting years.

“I’ve lived in Finstock since 1978 and it’s quite pleasing that the station has survived, even though there’s only one train in each direction every day.

“A couple of years ago there were two trains on Saturday, one of them going all the way through to London. That was a terrific feeling of power to stop the big express train here and go all the way to London.”

Fellow CLPG member Gordon Snow said: “Gone are the glory days, when dozens of passengers would get off the evening train and race each other for the narrow exit from the platform at Finstock.

“The CLPG is keeping its fingers crossed in anticipation of the Finstock centenary in 2034.”

tairs@oxfordmail.co.uk