The Line's History
It linked the quarry with the Great Western Railway about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to the east at a junction just north of Banbury. The OIR was opened between 1917 and 1919, was closed in 1967 and the line was 'lifted', that is the line was closed and removed, between 1967 and 1968. The quarry was heavily worked in the Second World War. A newer quarry close by is now served by road haulage only. The line was extended to the Balscote Quarry which was worked between 1956 and its closure in 1967.
The OIR operated its own fleet of steam locomotives: 0-6-0T and 0-6-0ST locomotives built by Hunslet and 0-4-0ST's built by Hudswell Clarke. They also purchased two diesel Rolls Royce Sentinel units in the 1960s.
The mine buildings and workers' halt are now a small set of new light industrial buildings, built circa 2006. The track works' permanent way hut (p-hut) still stood at Drayton in 2007 and Horley in 2002. A few old OIR fence posts/gates remain to this day along the route. Banbury's Ruscote and Hardwick estate are also built over a large part of its route, including most of the former Pin Hill farm grading works.
Many heavy clay and Ironstone deposits surround Banbury and Wroxton.
Read more about this topic: Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway
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