Challow railway station
| Challow | |
|---|---|
|
Challow station in 2007, with little remaining of the original station | |
| Location | |
| Place | West Challow |
| Area | District of Vale of White Horse |
| Grid reference | SU355905 |
| Operations | |
| Original company | Great Western Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Great Western Railway |
| Post-grouping |
GWR Western Region of British Railways |
| Platforms | 2 |
| History | |
| 20 July 1840 | Opened |
| 7 December 1964 | Closed |
| Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom | |
|
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z | |
| UK Railways portal | |
Challow railway station is a former railway station about 2 miles (3 km) south of Stanford in the Vale on the A417 road between Wantage and Faringdon. It is named after the villages of West Challow and East Challow, which are 1.5 miles (2.4 km) and 2.5 miles (4 km) southeast respectively of the former station.
When the Great Western Railway extended its main line from Reading through the Vale of White Horse in 1840 it opened the station as Faringdon Road station. After the Faringdon Railway between Uffington and Faringdon opened in 1864, the GWR renamed Faringdon Road "Challow" to avoid confusion.
On 7 December 1964 British Railways withdrew passenger services from Challow and all other intermediate stations between Didcot and Swindon.
The station today
Few parts of the station survive. The northern platform has almost disappeared completely and the southern platform is used by Network Rail, although no buildings remain and the buildings used by Network Rail are only small portable cabins. New buildings have been built around the site. The most noticeable is the bail depot on the site of the northern platform. One nearby public house, the Prince of Wales, was burnt down in 1999 and the site has been levelled.
Freight trains now use a passing loop on the site of the station to wait for High Speed Trains to overtake them.
Bibliography
In this omnibus edition of his memoirs, Vaughan describes his time in the early 1960s as a Lad Porter at Challow station. Appendices show track layout and signalling.
| Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wantage Road Line open, station closed |
British Rail Western Region Great Western Main Line |
Uffington Line open, station closed | ||
Coordinates: 51°36′44″N 1°29′19″W / 51.61222°N 1.48872°W