- Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway
-
Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway Legend
( 
Leamington Spa – Banbury 
)
Banbury on the Cherwell Valley Line 
Alcan Factory depot (lifted in the late 1950s) 
Alcan Factory sidings (lifted in the early 1950s) 
A423 road bridge (demolished 1967) 
Bridge over a local brook replaced in 2007 by a short culvert pipe. 
Hardwick signal box (closed and demolishedsince 1967) 
Hardwick loco sidings (lifted in 1964) 
WW2 pill box, demolished by 2000 
Pin Hill workers' halt (demolished 1967) 
Pin Hill maintenance depot (demolished 1967) 
Pin Hill farm grading plant (demolished 1967) 
B4100 road bridge Drayton tool shed/privvy (closed since 1967) Drayton P-hut/signal box (closed since 1967) Drayton village crossing. (Line lifted in 1967) Bridge over the Stor Brook replaced in 1967 by a short culvert pipe. 
Moor Mill hill crossing. (Line lifted in 1967) The Bridge over the road in to Horley. (Demolished in 1968) Horley signal box (demolished 1967) Horley village crossing. (Line lifted in 1967) 
Horley tool shed/p-hut (closed since 1967) Wroxton vlillage crossing. (Line lifted in 1967) Wroxton worker's halt. (demolished 2006) Wroxton Central Ironstone Quarry. (closed and filled in 1967) A422 road. Water tower. (demolished circa 2004-2005) Ragnel sideings (built by 1945, closed and lifted in 1952) 
The New Inn spurs and Ragnel mine workings. (built 1952 and 1947, both lifted 1967) 
the Heath Farm workings and Gentra spurs. (built by 1945 and 1952, both lifted 1967) Balscote Quarry (Built by 1956, closed and filled in 1967) 
Sidings (Built by 1952, closed and lifted 1967) The Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway was a standard gauge mineral railway that served an ironstone quarry near the village of Wroxton in Oxfordshire.
Contents
The line's History
It linked the quarry with the Great Western Railway about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to the east at a junction just north of Banbury. The OIR was opened between 1917 and 1919,[1] was closed in 1967[2] and the line was 'lifted', that is the line was closed and removed, between 1967 and 1968. The quarry was heavily worked in the Second World War. A newer quarry close by is now served by road haulage only. The line was extended to the Balscote Quarry which was worked between 1956 and its closure in 1967.[3]
The OIR operated its own fleet of steam locomotives: 0-6-0T and 0-6-0ST locomotives built by Hunslet and 0-4-0ST's built by Hudswell Clarke.[4] They also purchased two diesel Rolls Royce Sentinel units in the 1960s.[5]
The mine buildings and workers' halt are now a small set of new light industrial buildings, built circa 2006. The track works' permanent way hut (p-hut) still stood at Drayton in 2007 and Horley in 2002. A few old OIR fence posts/gates remain to this day along the route. Banbury's Ruscote and Hardwick estate are also built over a large part of its route, including most of the former Pin Hill farm grading works.
Many heavy clay and Ironstone deposits surround Banbury and Wroxton.[6][7]
The Edge Hill Light Railway connection
The firm behind the Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway was one of the backers of the ill-fated 1920-1922 Edge Hill Light Railway.[8]
There was talk of reopening the by then overgrown, but workable line early in to World War II but, it was decided that the Oxfordshire Ironstone line was to be considered adequate to serve the area's requirements.[9]
See also
References
- ^ http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/199178
- ^ http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/199178
- ^ http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/197427
- ^ Waters, Laurence (1991). Oxfordshire Railways in Old Photographs, a Second Selection. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0 86299 852 2.
- ^ http://www.nvr.org.uk/istg/oic.php
- ^ http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:sppuMpvgMg8J:www.oum.ox.ac.uk/learning/pdfs/oxmin.pdf+clay+pits+in+banbury&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgn-Yi-g1qgnV32eBJ5Bi24KzjITDU7kcw_uL-KWGxPnzzgLbT8n9stdyOyB9bxEnAdJs1yyzKFGNwmj0NWApex23PAad6KTYb4lJdKEqLBNLnqifn3yk8Xc8Fp-ya8DY20dPo5&sig=AHIEtbREJLbdRHQ5aetZoqTAk3mdY2Gy0w
- ^ http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/community/memorylane/4790425.Take_a_ride_on_our_lost_railways/
- ^ http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/110168
- ^ http://www.hfstephens-museum.org.uk/other-railways/edge-hill.html
External links
Books
The Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands Part II, The Oxfordshire Field. ISBN 1870754026.
Historic imagery of the site
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A picture of the former Wroxton Qarry's Pin Hill farm grading works in Banbury, Oxfordshire in 2001.
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Picture of the former ironstone quarry works at Wroxton in 2001.
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Pictures of the surviving huts at the former quarry in 2001 and the track bed in Hardwick during 2001.
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A picture of the mine manager's office in 2001.
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A picture of the former ironstone quarry works at Wroxton in 2001.
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Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway's OIR P-hut at Drayton , Oxfordshire in 2005. At the far right is a pile of rubble was ware a signal post used to be.
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Some shots of Wroxton's old ironstone mine in 2001.
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Horley's OIR tool hut or a p-hut in 2001 outside and 2002 inside. It's overgrown and in the bushes now.
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Shots of both sides of Horley's OIR tool hut or a p-hut in 2001. It's overgrown and in the bushes now.
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The former OIR bridge supports by the former Alcan works in Banbury in 2001.
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A OIR track to sleeper pin in Drayton. The words stamped on it say it was made by the Great Western Railway in 1928. It was found in 2002.
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Drayton's OIR tool shed in 2004.
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A broken old pipe in Hardwick. It is not part of any mains system I know of and looks very old and corroded, so it was probably part of the OIR's grading works.
Town Villages Adderbury · Aynho · Bloxham · Bodicote · Broughton · Chacombe · Cropredy · Deddington · Great Bourton · Hanwell · Horley · Kineton · King's Sutton · Little Bourton · Middleton Cheney · North Newington · Shotteswell · Wardington · Warmington · WroxtonSchools Railway lines in the South East Primary 
Secondary Bexleyheath Line · Brighton Main Line · Caterham Line · Chatham Main Line · Chiltern Main Line · Dartford Loop Line · Epsom Downs Branch · London to Aylesbury Line · North Kent Line · Oxted Line · Shepperton Branch Line · South Eastern Main Line · South Western Main Line · Sutton & Mole Valley Lines · Tattenham Corner Line · Thameslink · Waterloo to Reading LineLocal Alton Line · Arun Valley Line · Ascot to Guildford line · Ashford to Ramsgate (via Canterbury West) line · Cherwell Valley Line · Cotswold Line · East Coastway Line · Eastleigh to Fareham line · Eastleigh to Romsey Line · Hampton Court Branch Line · Hastings Line · Henley Branch Line · Hundred of Hoo Railway · Island Line, Isle of Wight · Kent Coast Line · Lymington Branch Line · Maidstone East Line · Marlow Branch Line · Marshlink Line · Marston Vale Line · Medway Valley Line · New Guildford Line · North Downs Line · Oxford to Bicester Line · Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway · Portsmouth Direct Line · Princes Risborough to Aylesbury Line · Reading to Basingstoke Line · Reading to Taunton Line · Redhill to Tonbridge Line · Sheerness Line · Slough to Windsor & Eton Line · Staines to Weybridge Line · Staines to Windsor Line · Wessex Main Line · West Coastway Line · West of England Main LineCategories:- Railway lines opened in 1917
- Rail transport in Oxfordshire
- Closed railway lines in South East England
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