Abandoned Cheltenham Railway Andoversford Station
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ค. 2018
- Forgotten Cheltenham Railways Andoversford Station. A look really at what if anything is left. An original photo provides the motivation for this search; it contains various points of interest which we may just be able to locate. Among these are a pine tree, a road bridge over the old A40, a substantial embankment, and of course Andoversford Station itself. It looks like hard work, as a housing estate has been built over the main station site, but there are a few clues here and there, our old favourite the railway sleeper fencepost is probably the most prominent.
The railway having come from Cheltenham, divided here with one branch heading through the Cotswolds to Notgrove, Bourton and Stow, before joining the main line at Kingham. The other branch line meanwhile headed south through Swindon, and eventually reaching Southampton. This branch line was known as the ‘Midland South Western Junction Railway’ and it allowed traders in the Midlands to get their goods to the channel port and thus out to the wide world. Well Europe anyway.
This is probably not the best time of year to go looking for abandoned railways (June) as the undergrowth is at its peak, but at least it is dry. I wonder how many people living in these locations actually realise that there was a thriving railway running through here in the days of steam. - บันเทิง
![รวมเพลงลูกทุ่ง 6 หนุ่มไทบ้าน ฮิตติดกระแส ชุดที่ 1 l มนต์แคน ไมค์ ไผ่ เสถียร ไหมไทย พี [Longplay]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/GD2v1OjMw5I/mqdefault.jpg)
In 1977 I walked along the old line from Cheltenham to Kingham 15 years after the line closed and Andoversford to Swindon a year later.. At that time most of it was accessible. The platforms of the old Andoversford Station were still there. My parents now live in Station Road, their garden backs on to where the station was and is now heavily overgrown.
Hi Richard, filming in 1977 wasn't easy or that would have made a terrific subject. Ron
There is a site called trekking very interesting he cover rail canal etc but he started with the ex colliery lines in Mottingham coal fields and you can at least see why closed their reason for being were the pits and coke plants etc, but down south many that our commuter land were closed I believe in error as these later became commuter land example would be Maldon has two lines now none
I really enjoyed watching this, but it was completely unexpected to see nothing left of the station or the railway. In 1964 I was at school in Charlton Kings. I hated it and ran away. Found myself on an abandoned railway, it still had its tracks, or track, so it probably hadn't been closed for long. I found myself in the track cutting with high banks on either side. There was a brick built bridge over the cutting, which I walked under of course.
I always remember the name Andoversford. I was trying to get back home to London, and tried hitching, but the police got me on the A40.😒
Wonderful story Mike, thank you. P.W.
@@ParkinsonsWalks Thank you very much! I forgot to say that I was in my school uniform when I ran off, so I must have been easy to see, on the A40. I hope to go back to Andoversford at some point; I'm not so far away now. Love your videos!
@@mikesey1 Thanks Mike. Sounds like you sorted your issues out anyway. P.W.
In 1964 I was also. at school in Charlton Kings, Whitefriars RC Grammar run by a team of Carmelite nut-jobs probably the reason you ran away - anyway from the pre-fabs we had as classrooms you could see the steam trains puffing along the distant MSWJ that was until they closed it in 1962
Fascinating. What a wonderful video. I certainly learnt alot more about a line I used as a child
Pity it is no longer working. P.W.
Thanks for taking the time to film and share this walk about.
Just for the record, the bypass is not built on the bed of the Swindon branch. As you drive along the bypass and it curves to the right, the embankment for the Swindon line is to your right. As you turned right into Andoversford, you drove between where the bridge supports used to be @ 3:23 .
You also pointed out the Swindon line embankment @ 7:40 . On the other side of which is the bypass.
The footpath on the other side of the bypass @ 11:33 goes up and over the embankment. Approximately where the Banbury line diverged.
When you drove back out onto the A40 @ 12:55 , the industrial units to your right are built on the track bed. The garage just a bit further along was next to the line.
Cheers...
Brilliant, thanks for the info. Ron
Good morning Ron. Inspired by this episode, I did your Andoversford walk yesterday and had the good fortune to meet a genial local farmer
who remembered the railway. We talked for almost an hour and he said the village had two stations, run by different railway companies. He also said between Andoversford and the former Dowdeswell Viaduct (which, of course, you covered later) there is a tunnel. Stupidly, I didn’t ask him about access and, being old, I didn’t retain other nuggets of information he divulged. Looking at the map, I can’t see access available to the tunnel. Best regards, Rodney.
Hi Rodney, that sounds like a rewarding encounter. If you look on the 'other' Ron's channel, he has just visited the tunnel portal. Worth a look. Good to see you getting your walking boot on ! Ron
Thank you for the steer, Ron. I’ll give it a go. Rodney
I agree with Gary and believe that the majority of the MSWJR trackbed and embankment from Andoversford junction runs alongside the Cheltenham bound A40 carriageway rather than having been buried under the bypass.
Hi Matt. You are right the track bed does run along side the A40, and in fact you can see that on the video, but I think beyond the traffic lights to the garage the bypass runs on part of the track bed. Thanks for taking the trouble to post. PW
@@ParkinsonsWalks Hi PW. My view, for what it's worth, is that the original A40 went into Andoversford under the railway by the GWR station, through the village and out again under a further bridge on the MSWJR at the junction of what is now the Gloucester Rd and the A40. The A40 bypass simply linked between these two points to the east of the MSWJR line and cut through the junction of the Notgrove line. I believe if you follow the embankment of the MSWJR from the Gloucester Rd towards Withington the trackbed is compromised by the various industrial units on it. As Gary mentioned one of the boundaries of the car parks of one of the units is the remains of the MSWJR station. The videos are very interesting; I have, over the past few years, walked the whole length of the Banbury and Cheltenham Railway and so far down to Cirencester on the MSWJR.
@@mattparsons8046 Thanks again Matt, fascinating, have you recorded filmed/photographed any of your walk down the MSWJR ? I'm interested to know how much is accessible PW
@@ParkinsonsWalks Hi. I certainly have taken photos but I'm afraid I'm very slow at captioning/editing them etc.....happy to share them, but it might take a while! My annual walks have always coincided with my wife taking a break at a health spa in late February/early March, theoretically meaning I need to be around to sort the children out. Last year I walked from Foss Cross station to the site of Cirencester Watermoor; to be completely honest there are one or two parts which have the remains of fences designed to keep people out. I have taken the view that if the fence is intact I will not try to climb or pass it but if it has pretty much collapsed it is ok to pass; if I get challenged I put my hands up and say what I am doing....this has been accepted so far. In fact the elderly gentleman farmer just south of the Fossway was happy to discuss the railway; his daughter had, a number of years ago, surveyed the line between Foss Cross and Cirencester for a student project. The line between Foss Cross and the Fossway was quite easily accessed by walking across the the fields from the Fossway and is in remarkably good condition from the filled in/demolished bridge adjacent to the amenity site at Foss Cross to the Fossway. No trace of the bridge crossing the Fossway (difficult to tell if it was an under or overbridge!). From there almost all the way to Cirencester is very straight, part farm track, part metalled track and part road. The line completely dissapears either side of the A417. It reappears on the southern side of Kingshill School and dissapears again by the A419. Just south of there it crosses the river Churn and then can be followed until it reaches Queen St. It has then been built upon and a obliterated by a roundabout at/near the old Watermoor station site. I'm hoping to pick up the line south from here on this years walk....
@@mattparsons8046 Thanks so much for your detailed reply Matt, I have actually filmed parts of this section but like you I take a while to process it. The Foss Way went under the railway, obviously a mod, but there is no trace of the bridge structure. Look forward to seeing your Photos on You Tube ? PW
I recall that if you drove down the A436, midway between the Kilkenny Inn and the A40 junction, if you looked at about a 45 degree angle, there used to be, on the right hand side, an isolated steel railway bridge on, I think, a trace of embankment. I think it might still be there hidden among a lot of undergrowth now. Can't imagine that any money was spent on demolishing it.
Thanks for that Chris, I'll have a look next time I'm over that way. Ron
Always amazed how many stations and lines have gone in the south as opposed to lines up north that were related to coal or steel or other long gone industries.
Well it gives me something to do Chris. Ron
Where the public path is marked, on the side of the dual carriageway - opposite where the station used to be - if you fight your way through the brambles - there's a small clearing, you can then follow the track bed for miles, because it's built up you get great views across the countryside - someone destroyed a small railway bridge leaving piles of bricks everywhere which seems a great shame - but once past that you get to an intact bridge that crosses the A436 - would be a stunning footpath if cleared
Thanks Steve, that sounds worth a look. P.W.
I chanced on this ! You identified the right site of the old station - the blue Jeep (mine) is parked "on the line" as it were.... The trees are Cyprus Pines (A protected species so they were saved) and can be easily seen in old pictures of the station. Next time you get to Andoversford, go to the petrol station - if you look through the trees behind the pressure washer & tyre pressure etc you can see the intact bridge where the railway went through....
Hi Michel, I must get back and have another look. Thanks for the info. Ron
Hi Ron, feel free to send me a message via private messages if you come back this way. My family own the farm to the north of the A40 and there are features of the Stow line that remain, that I would be happy to show you.
Walked from Cheltenham to andoversford twice in about 64 just after the line was shut we lived just round the corner from the paragon laundry and our house backed onto the track , also remember when the viaduct was blown up, should have recorded that.
Ah memories Lawrence.................. Happy days. Ron
Nice video, If you stop at that petrol station ,The railway track bed runs behind it and you can see a bridge (railway over stream) , Also just past the petrol station a bit further on is the remains of the MSWJR station Dowdswell,The cotswold stone wall that was the station wall is still there
Good info Garry, I'll take a look, thank you
The A40 by-pass and on towards London does not follow the Swindon direction railway route. The railway line was always just to the west of the A40 - running closely behind the Andoversford hotel (which is now a small housing estate) and crossed the A40 just behind the old Andoversford Police Station. As you headed south / east., the A40 through Andoversford turned 90 degrees left in front of the old Police Station and went underneath the railway bridge. Afterwards, the Stow road went off to the left, and the priority A40 did a 90 degrees right.
The railway line went south behind the Police station - and then went south through what is now an Industrial Estate. The A40 ran alongside it. The A40 leaving Andoversford was never built on the old railway line.
Hi Jonathan, I think the road is on top of the railway in places. The alignment by the garage looks like it is there, do you think? Ron
The filling station at the end of the video was in front of the old line and was there on the road pre the bi-pass.
Thanks Peter
And now my curiosity about the bridges I passed on the Pulham Coach journeys from Cheltenham to Stow-on-the-Wold has been satisfied. There was a rumour that a station building still stood in an industrial area near Bourton-on-the-Water...does that make sense Ron?
Hi James, it was the actual station building that was left right by the main road which was built on the track bed. I have a horrible feeling that it has recently been demolished to make way for housing. I hope I'm wrong. Ron
@@ParkinsonsWalks - Sadly, you are not wrong. Although nothing was put in its place and the piece of ground where it stood, just has grass on it, next to a car park.
I'm very surprised that this was not a listed building and that such wanton vandalism was allowed to take place. As Bourton has such a tourist based economy, I'm sure the little station building would have been a boon. It really did have character.
Bourton on the Water station was at one time reserved by the Glos Warks Railway to be reused at Broadway but they changed their mind. I thought it was disgusting that it was demolished after so long; It formed part of a council depot and was left in a timewarp, even the window with "tickets" could be seen. I stopped volunteering on the GWSR around the time they declared they no longer had a use for the building.
There are traces nearby of the abandoned East Gloucestershire Railways' Cheltenham extension. The bank financing the project went bankrupt and with money tight, the EGR started work on the Witney section, which money ran out at Fairford.
Thanks for the info Nathan. Ron
I always meant to explore the section of MSWJ embankment on the alignment that was never completed, but moved up north before #i got round to it! It is clearly delineated on Google maps, as a twin line of trees running from the end of Hunters Way towards the Gloucester Road near the Royal Oak pub. Have you visited it?
No I haven't Richard. The problem with a lot of these areas is legal access, but I will have another look at it. P.W.
Walking Britain’s Lost Railways....Channel 5, tomorrow night at 8:00pm. Rob Bell walks the Banbury and Cheltenham District Railway👍
Thanks for the heads up, I would have missed it without you. Lets hope they show a lot of the railway and not too much on 'Interesting People'. It will be worth watching never the less, you're a pal!! Ron
Another station that would be useful for those living in Anfoversford..
Another one that will never reopen Chris.
take the route to Bourton and the highest station on the route may still have remains visible but it is not simple to locate.
The station was Notsgrove and is now a caravan touring site. P.W.
GORN !!
We will never see the like again. P.W.