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THE FAIRFORD BRANCH LINE |
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TICKETS & EPHEMERA |
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A selection of Fairford Branch Line tickets: (top left): The Carterton to Fairford ticket used by my father on the last day of passenger services - 16 June 1962. (top right): A
Great Western Railway Brize Norton & Bampton to Oxford half day excursion ticket for use via Yarnton (try finding an alternative route!). (second row left): A Fairford to Kelmscott & Langford 2nd class
single. (second row right): A Witney to Oxford accompanied bicycle ticket. (third row left): Ticket for the last passenger train to traverse the Witney Branch - 'The Witney Wanderer' on 31 October 1970. This was an
impressive 9 car Pressed Steel DMU formation. (third row right): Witney to South Leigh 2nd Class single. (lower left): GWR Witney platform ticket, date stamped on the rear 7 March 1956, so they were obviously
using up old stock! (lower right): An unusual background to this ticket for the short trip from Alvescot to Carterton.
Martin Loader (top left & lower left) & Stanley C. Jenkins Collections |
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A very unusual paper ticket for a return journey from Cambridge to Fairford. The Great Western Railway first class ticket indicates the route via the LMS to Oxford. Apart from the unusual format of the ticket, the most striking thing is that the
original printed
document dates from the 1870s, and was issued in 1940! Note how the original 187? date has just been crossed out, and 14 November 1940 added.
Bill Gysin
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A printed letter to the East Gloucestershire Railway's solicitors, dated 18 December 1861, for a landowner to state his position, in this instance 'assenting', in regards to
the railway's application for parliamentary powers. This is in connection with the original over ambitious scheme to link Cheltenham to Witney and Faringdon. Although the Royal Assent was received on 7 August 1862,
various problems meant that the first sod was not cut until 31 March 1865, in a field between Andoversford and Cheltenham. A section of embankment and Sandywell Tunnel had been constructed before the whole project was
abandoned. The EGR finally began construction of the Witney to Fairford extension in 1869, but continuing financial difficulties resulted in a further four years passing before the line finally opened.
Martin Loader Collection
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A couple of mementos from the Fairford Branch (above): Something of a rarity - an unused RAF ticket made out for a journey between Bedford and Carterton. Dated 22 March 1946, this
should have been used by my father after his release from the RAF after World War 2, quite why it wasn't used is something of a mystery! Interestingly, the dispersal centre stamp clearly shows Cardington, the
Bedfordshire village which allegedly would have been confused with Carterton, if the airfield that later became RAF Brize Norton had been named after its nearest village.
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(above right): A handbill advertising an excursion from Paddington to Fairford on 5 August 1951. Surely something of a novelty, as one would assume most excursions would travel from the
branch to some tourist destination. Admittedly Fairford is an attractive Cotswold market town with world renowned medieval stained glass in the church windows, but I doubt if any prospective tourists realized how far they
would have to walk from the station!
Both from the Martin Loader Collection
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A Great Western Railway station truck label from 1933 (left). Note the list of the stations along the line (Cassington is not included due to lack of freight facilities, and Carterton
station has yet to be built), and also the list of available freight trains:
7.40pm ex Stourbridge Junction - Hockley to Oxford.
SX 12.35pm ex Oxford - Oxford to Witney.
SO 12.45pm ex Oxford - Oxford to Witney.
5.50am ex Oxford - Witney to Fairford.
Martin Loader Collection
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