The Faringdon branch was a -mile-long branch line from
Uffington Station to
Faringdon in the
Vale of White Horse
The Vale of White Horse is a local government district of Oxfordshire in England. It was historically a north-west projection of Berkshire. The area is commonly referred to as the 'Vale of ''the'' White Horse'. It is crossed by the Ridgeway Nat ...
, in
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
.
History
Opening
The line was opened in 1864, between Faringdon and the
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
(GWR) at
Uffington Uffington is the name of several places:
; England
*Uffington, Lincolnshire
:* Uffington and Barnack railway station
:* Uffington Rural District
*Uffington, Oxfordshire
:* Uffington railway station (Uffington Junction)
*Uffington, Shropshire
;Un ...
, with construction funded by a consortium of local businessmen called the Faringdon Railway Company, which was bought outright by the GWR in 1886.
The line was inspected on 13 April 1864 by Capt.
F. H. Rich R.E., who found numerous faults that prevented the line's opening, including weak bridges. Rich re-inspected the line on 13 May and passed the line for opening, which was done on 1 June 1864.
Gauge conversion
Constructed as a
broad gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
line, it was converted to
standard gauge
A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
in 1878.
Decline and closure
Passenger traffic peaked in 1913, but later declined to such an extent that the passenger service was withdrawn in 1951. Freight traffic continued to use the line until the
Beeching cuts of 1964.
Reopening proposal
Faringdon Town Council proposed in 2005 to reopen the line,
but it remains closed.
References
{{reflist
External links
A brief history of the line with pictures
Rail transport in Oxfordshire
Railway lines opened in 1864
Railway companies disestablished in 1886
Closed railway lines in South East England