Steventon railway station was built when 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 ...

extended their main line from

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

to the village of Steventon, opening the line on 1 June 1840. Two months later, on 20 July, it was extended to Faringdon Road, and in December of that year, to

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

Station for Oxford

For four years

stagecoach A stagecoach is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by four horses although some versions are draw ...

es transported passengers between Steventon and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, until 1844 when a branch was built to the city from

Didcot Didcot ( ) is a railway town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is south of Oxford, east of Wantage and north west of Reading. The town is noted for its railway heritage, Di ...

; despite this, mail trains from the West continued to call at Steventon, rather than Didcot, in order to drop off mails for Oxford – this practice did not end until March 1962. On 7 December 1964

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 withdrew passenger services from Steventon and all other intermediate stations between

and

. The station was demolished soon after closure and there is no evidence remaining, except for a house used briefly as the company headquarters of the

which still stands on the "up" (north) side of the line (see next section).

Headquarters of the GWR

Steventon was briefly the headquarters of the GWR: in October 1841, the Board decided to merge the previously-separate London and Bristol committees. Steventon was chosen as a suitable new location because it was close to the half-way point of the line (56 miles 22

chains A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A c ...

from the old station at

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

, 61 miles 71 chains from the old station at

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

). A building for this purpose was erected: Brook House (now Grade II listed), reputedly designed by the Engineer of the GWR,

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel (; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was a British civil engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history," "one of the 19th-century engineering giants," and "one ...

in the Jacobean style, but modified by the Resident Engineer for the Reading/Swindon section of the line, J.H. Gandell (and subsequently built by him as contractor, after he resigned his post as Resident Engineer), this building still survives on the north side of the line, set back slightly from the site of the station platforms. After a delay of several months, during which the accommodation was made ready, the weekly board meetings were held at Steventon from 21 July 1842 until 5 January 1843, when the permanent headquarters was established at Paddington. In 1966, a Brunel-designed building at Steventon station, described as "An imposing stone-built residence ... comprising 3 Reception, 4 Bedrooms, etc.", was placed on sale, and "offers in the region of £4,750" were invited.

Accidents and incidents

*On 21 January 1962, 68xx locomotive 6800 ''Arlington Grange'' was hauling a freight train that overran signals and was derailed.

Route

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{Closed stations Oxfordshire Disused railway stations in Oxfordshire Former Great Western Railway stations Great Western Main Line Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1964 Beeching closures in England