Toddington Railway Station - History

History

On 9 July 1859, the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway opened a line from Stratford-upon-Avon to Honeybourne. The OW&W became the West Midland Railway in 1860 and was acquired by Great Western Railway 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. The GWR obtained authorisation in 1899 for the construction of a double-track line between Honeybourne and Cheltenham and this was completed in stages by 1908.

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 m) long and comprised a 30 long cwt 0 qtr 0 lb (3,360 lb or 1,524 kg) 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 Honeybourne which arrived at 07.10. This was replaced in January 1905 at a cost of £236 (or £18,791 as of 2013) for the extension of the line to Winchcombe. A footbridge was provided in 1912 to link the two 400 ft (120 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 Swansea to Leamington Spa and Wolverhampton to Tintern, 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.