Kingston Crossing Halt railway station was a halt on the

Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway The Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway was an independent English railway company that opened a line between the Oxfordshire towns of Watlington and Chinnor in 1872. The branch, which connected to the Great Western Railway (GWR) mainli ...

which 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 ...

opened in 1906 to serve the

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 ...

village of

Kingston Blount Kingston Blount is a village about southeast of Thame in South Oxfordshire, England. The village is a spring line settlement at the foot of the Chiltern Hills escarpment. The ancient pre-Roman Ridgeway and Icknield Way pass through the parish. ...

. The opening of the halt was part of a GWR attempt to encourage more passengers on the line at a time when competition from bus services was drawing away custom.

History

The halt was one of three that the GWR opened on the line in September 1906 to try to encourage passenger traffic in the face of increased competition from buses. It was southeast of

on the northeastern side of the

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

on Kingston Hill. The halt was maintained by the residents of the primitive crossing house located on the other side of the level crossing; unlike at , the level crossing gates were normally kept closed across the railway line to allow the free passage of traffic between Kingston Blount and the

A40 road A4 most often refers to: *A4 paper, a paper size defined by the ISO 216 standard, measuring 210 × 297 mm A4 and variants may also refer to: Science and mathematics * British NVC community A4 (''Hydrocharis morsus-ranae - Stratiotes aloide ...

. The crossing keeper closed the gates across the road before the arrival of each train, with the exception of the early morning and late night goods services, when the

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

was responsible. The station had basic facilities: a single low platform on which stood a wooden passenger waiting shelter and the

running in board A running in board is a large sign showing the name of the railway station on which it is found. The signs are intended to inform passengers of their location when on a train entering the station, possibly while still moving at speed. Some signs ...

. Up to twelve passengers were known to have caught the early morning services in the 1940s. In the long term the GWR's halt strategy did little to dissuade people from more convenient bus services. In 1957

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

ways closed the halt and withdrew passenger services from the line.Karau and Turner, 1998, pages 49-51

Present day

The cottage at the halt remains intact. One can see in the garden of the cottage small line side buildings and huts that can be identified in photographs taken when the line was still in operation. The Upper Icknield Way runs parallel to the former railway alignment to the east for several hundred yards. The Heritage

Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway The Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway with its headquarters and main station at Chinnor in South Oxfordshire, England. It runs along the foot of the Chilterns escarpment. Although a few ...

aims to hopefully extend their own running line through this former site to

Aston Rowant Aston Rowant (anciently ''Aston Rohant'') is a village, civil parish and former manor about south of Thame in South Oxfordshire, England. The parish includes the villages of Aston Rowant and Kingston Blount, and adjoins Buckinghamshire to the ...

, (Although this may not include reinstating this crossing site, as it could never be alighted, as was the same as two other halt sites down the line towards Thame Junction).

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

Station on navigable 1946 O.S. map

{{Closed stations Oxfordshire Disused railway stations in Oxfordshire Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1906 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1957