The Railway that Just STOPPED - AKA We visited 500 Abandoned Stations 

The irony is that so many former lines and stations served rural communities that have since hugely expanded and would now benefit, economically and environmentally, from having a rail connection.

Congratulations to you both on reaching this great milestone - thank you for all these fascinating videos

It's a shame you couldn't see Carterton station, Paul. I think it's the only station building on the whole line that's still standing. It's now used as a stable (previously as a pigsty) but is still pretty much intact. It was added much later than the other stations, as a passenger station to service RAF Brize Norton. The station building is a brick/concrete wartime structure with a big canopy extending out onto the platform, and a signal box (which was moved to the Swindon & Cricklade Railway museum in 1980, but was in too bad a condition to be preserved there). Carterton station is a surprisingly long way from the town it's named after - originally there was a road linking it directly to the town, but when the RAF Brize Norton's runway was extended, it severed that road. The photo in the link below shows Carterton station while it was operating - the bridge in the background is the exact place you were in the video when you said you couldn't find the station. Unfortunately it's almost impossible to see it from the road now, because of trees and overgrowth - which is a shame as you were standing so close to it! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterton_railway_station_(England)#/media/File:Carterton_1_62573_1.jpg

500+ stations is a monumental effort. Congrats Paul and Rebecca!!! Love your channel!

I KNOW THIS LINE!!!! I also know why it just stopped! The Fairford branch of the GWR was built in two phases. The first phase connected Oxford to Witney, and terminated at the "Old" Witney station. That station was rather unique in that there was a small goods siding, with goods building, a short loop of track at platform edge, and terminated in an engine shed. There was later added a small goods yard off to one side, but as originally built, this wasn't present. At that time, the Oxford to Witney section was Brunel's 7 foot broad gauge, though the railroad was not GWR. I believe it was just called the Oxford to Witney railroad. Some time after standard gauge took over, the second section of the railroad from Witney to Fairford was built, and with this a new station was built, but only for passengers. The old original station became only for goods. This section rather unceremoniously terminated at Fairford, though that wasn't always the plan. Rather, it was expected that the line would have continued further, on to connect to the MSWJR at Cirencester. However, GWR ran out of money, and support for continuing the line. So they just stopped it. A couple things that you brought up, that have answers: 1.) 4:28 What you describe about the station seeming to be out in the middle of nowhere, was actually common to the line. In fact, most all of the stations were a mile, sometimes more from the actual cities they served. There were a rare few that were closer, but the majority were stuck out in such a way that it was a brisk walk, or short drive to the station. 2.) 9:24 is incorrect. While GWR opposed the connection to Cheltenham, that wasn't the reason they stopped. GWR planned for the line to continue on to Cirencester to connect to the MSWJR. This shorter route would have been easier to construct than the line up to Cheltenham, and would have completely negated the need for the previous connection. However the GWR ran into some problems during the proposals of constructing this line. At that time, though "GWR", the railroad was still nominally operated by the original constructors of the line, with GWR as their parent company. That company ran out of money, and it didn't hurt matters that local Parlimentary support for this extension evaporated. The exact reason the local MP's withdrew their support isn't exactly known, though there is some argument to be had that they preferred the Cheltenham extension over the Cirencester one. 3.) The railroad wasn't totally abandoned in the Beeching cuts. It was cut in half at Witney, with the "new" section of the line being abandoned from Witney passenger up to Fairford. The old original section of the line, however, remained in operation as a short freight only railroad, operated by Class 22 diesel locomotives, the odd Class 21, and sometimes the odd Class 08. It remained in operation until around 1970, performing limited goods service, before it too was finally completely abandoned. The only real thing the railroad had going for it, during that last final operational period, was a pair of ballast pits which the railroad served. However the pits ended up closing as well, and with more and more goods traffic going to the roads, the need for the remaining section of the line vanished, and it was ultimately pulled up. The ballast pits were located just west of South Leigh. 4.) The junction at Oxford was interesting, as during WW2, the line saw extensive use in bringing war materials up to Brize Norton. For this, a rather large goods yard was built at the junction with the GWR main line, and there are reports of WD 2-8-0's also making trips up and down the line during the war. There were also an incident where a glider in training missed the airport's runway, and came down on the railroad, blocking the line. (no injuries other than the pilot's pride were reported.) They also ran trains to South Leigh, where a Ministry of Food depot was located.

Congratulations on 500 disused stations. This has been an adventure for you both... and for us following you. Here's to the next 500.

You make a good point about lack of remaining infrastucture, the amount of new industrial units & housing in Witney has removed what remained of the old station sites. Both were still there in the 80's there was a nightclub called the "Sidings" that was a goods shed originally with a coach as a restaurant and the original station was a coal yard 40yrs of change!

A lot of the lakes have killed the old canal/railway routes, mainly the railway but just up from where you are at Fairford there’s an issue with the Cotswold Canal and a recent quarry where they haven’t restored it as promised in the planning for the quarry, it’ll now be incredibly difficult

Having grown up in Witney (from 1958 onwards) most of these stops are familiar to me. Indeed, even managed to climb into the old Water Tank at Witney in my teenage years. The road that runs through the Industrial estate, called Avenue 3 today, would have run alongside the railway line in the past (except it didnt exist then). Kernahan service building and the others to the west of it are roughly where the station was. I still have memories of one of the tank engines in the station, filling with water before leaving for Fairford. I think the intention was to carry on to Cheltenham but by the early 1900s the idea was shelved as being too expensive - even for GWR.

500 disused stations is a tremendous achievement! Another superbly made and informative video. You have come a long way since your start on your journey and the early days!

Hi Paul (and Rebecca, havent seen you for a while), love your channel. Thank you for all your hard work and investgation, but, as you say, sometimes a half-day trek to a patch of woodland where there once was a piece of something but now there is nothing, can be a bit less than exciting. Evolution is a good thing!

How interesting I live close to Witney. I remember travelling from Witney to London on that railway back in the sixties.

Thank you for the tour today, Paul. Always a trip back in time. Amazing how these railway sites were abandoned. Hello to Rebecca please, and seen you on the next! Cheers Paul! ❤❤😊😊

Kind of binge watching your channel right now. Roughly 3 videos a day. Will take me a long time to reach 500 videos😃

Nice to see a every disused station again and congrats on reaching 500 Disused Stations. But do agree that the disused stations even the ones I've seen are just Supermarket car parks for housing estates. But sometimes I do love seeing a old disused platform or good relics that have been left behind. Great video Paul

5:55 You have commented about the carpets but they were made of wool and you missed the bunch of teazles growing there - they were so essential for teasing out the knotty bits in the wool.

I have worked at RAF Brize Norton and drove along the old railway as it's part of the road running around the airfield. Didn't realise until I'd been there for about 3 weeks. Fantastic history that's sadly been long forgotten.

I was told by a Fairford resident, the line was planned to join the MSWJ&R line near Cirencester, going North to Cheltenham and South to Swindon.

Congratulations on reaching 500 stations, reaching the milestone on what is my local line. I live in Carterton and was in the RAF based at RAF Brize Norton until 2019. I still work on the base today. There is still a section of the old rails that can be seen within the base near what is now the industrial estate. The plane, by the way was a Boeing C17 the last type i worked on before I left... keep the videos coming 😃.

AWWW Even if there i s not a big story to tell I like when you visit the "Boring" stations. It is fascinatingly to see you visit industrial parks, housing estates and empty fields and show the now verses the historic photos of these long gone stations. I wish you would reconsider your decision not to visit the "boring" stations. I think these are some of the most interesting places you visit.

Kelmscott is slightly famous as the home of William Morris, an important figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. His former house is a museum, well worth a look.

3 road bridges over the railway between Fairford and Lechlade, East of Little Faringdon is a crossing keepers cottage. When the GWR were developing the Automatic Train Control system (ATC) they tested it on that branch line.

Loving the old bridges on that line. I can’t work out why there was the relatively modern railway crossing sign considering the line has been closed for 60 years. Was there a bit of freight line to RAF brize Norton?

Thank you, Paul, I walked some of that too.

I agree with you about all the disused stations, if there's nothing to see then it's not worth the effort. My local line, Hemel Hempstead to Harpenden, although the track bed survived quite well and is now a cycle path, nothing really remains of the stations.

I enjoy your tails from the fields and hedge rows on old railways

I agree that you can just show us the good stuff. You can fill in the blanks when you've done the rest of them. 😎

So enjoyable. Loved the old photos as well. It was great to see the plane rising . What an info. Your brain must be a walking encyclopaedia. Thank you so much for all your research and enthusiasm.

500 stations! That's impressive

Great progress Paul, another wedge of history supplied. Railways are so fascinating in this country, when I was a kid in Landkey, Devon, we played on the disused Barnstaple/Taunton line where the stations were in the most obscure places, my dad used to say they drove a cow along the route and every time it had a sh@t they built a station! Sounds about right!

Nice job on 500+! Thanks!

I live in the area. At 4.08. Its LechLADE Station. I enjoy your series very much.Thank you..There are proposals to re-open the line from Yarnton to Witney to create a Parkway station to relieve the traffic congestion on the eastbound A40 into Oxford.

Congratulations on the milestone. If I saw a lamppost out in the middle of nowhere I'd start looking for Mr Tumnus.

In Witney, stand at the Leys' recreation ground and look across to the "AMBIC" industrial building; That is the rough site of Witneys' second station building, the line of trees down from the church carry on across the road behind the Autocare garage and this was the entrance and station forecourt. The Cottsway offices are the site of the water tower with the access road into the induatrial estate was once the site of the bridge carrying the road to Ducklington over the line. The original station and then Witney Good Station entrance is exactly where Sainsburys goods in entrance is. If you walk from the Leys into Sainsburys and look left you see a house overlooking Sainsburys; This was the Stationmasters' house and had his study on the upper floor, overlooking both the goods and passenger stations. The goods shed was in "Two Rivers" industrial estate and was dismantled and rebuilt into offices (you can see the circular window). The coal sidings were to the right side of Two Rivers Ind Estate and there was also a threshing yard run by Wilcox and Frost, the steam engine that worked here "Eynsham Hall" is preserved.

Never heard Lechlade being pronounced 'Letch-dale' before aha. My fiancé lived in Lechade for years before he moved to Highworth and then moved to Swindon to live with me. I have a soft spot for Lechlade visiting him a decade ago

Congratulations on the 500 stations! Of all your content I much prefer the railway related ones, even though the others aren't half bad. Good to see a nice bit of English countryside in spring, just perfect!

When I was little we often used to visit relatives driving down the A417 to Fairford and my father would point out Fairford station site, where in those days you could clearly see the old station building and platform - it was just past where the line crossed the road. At some point in the late 80s/ 90s the business that owned the yard expanded over the station site. The wild end of line that you found must have been some sort shunting area or goods yard. I did not know the goods yard in Witney was the original terminus - now occupied by Sainsburys! Your videos are always historical, interesting and witty - so I do think you're funny even if you don't - Here's to the next 500!

500 down however many to go. Nice one. The Muppets always travelled by map to make things quicker, so you could visit the ones with an interesting story and show us the rest on the map to tick them off that way. :D

Loved learning this history... and your history. Congrats on 500 stations. May there be 1,000 more.👍👍👍

Another good vlog Paul Rebecca that was interesting more power to elbow good people

Very nice. I actually visited a disused station yesterday. Angel Road, just north of Meridian Water (about 50 yards between the south end of Angel Road and the north end of Meridian Water). The latter replaced the former about 5 years ago due to local construction and wanting to increase services there (plus adding a bay platform), and I was a little surprised at how visible the platforms still are. I made it to over 700 mainline stations yesterday, as well as doing the remaining 31 DLR stations to finish off all 45. I also rode as many DLR units as I could, leaving about 44 of the remaining 146 in service to ride (I wasn't bothered about doing more than that, because not all units are out on a given day, and I couldn't identify any in Beckton depot).

Can’t help but think that if this line had survived it would have become useful in serving the air stations at Brize Norton and Fairford.

Original Witney station became goods only to serve the famous Witney blanket factories when the line was extended to Fairford where it also carried on a few hundred yards beyond the station before the East Gloucestershire Railway abandoned the project. The section to Witney Goods only survived after closure of the rest of the line because of the blanket factories from where daily trains carried the much prized blankets to London for large stores such as Harrods and Selfridges and for export from the London docks. As the blanket factories closed the traffic declined and what was left moved to road transport until the last blanket maker, Earley's, closed in the 70s.

Congratulations on getting to 500. Been watching your videos since you had a couple of thousand subs, and all always look forward to them. New direction makes perfect sense. Cheers

Congratulations to 500 abandoned stations. I really love all your videos. Those railway ones always remind me that I live at an abandoned railway myself, though it has only been shut down in 1992 🤣

That river was, presumably, the Windrush, yeah? And congratulations on the 500! Awesome.

Congrats on the 500 stations, always good to see the history. Agree in showing the stations with a story. Thank you 🙏🙏

you coming to Staffordshire railway walk? There is the railway cafe....old station turned into a cafe. nice walk too with some old walls etc. its also what guy fawkes used to walk to london.

Fantastic presentation. Keep up the good work. xxx

I'm always taken back by the fact the 99% of the railway infrastructure has totally disappeared, its like where I live, you'd never know that there was once a railway track here other than a couple of old disused bridges that are still standing 🤷‍♂️

Just after 4 min's in you talk of LechDALE and at 04:06 your map shows that it's LechLADE-on-Thames. Still enjoy your content 👍 Thanks.

thanks for making these videos; i don't live in the UK but i find the stories of remains of a bygone age (i suppose?) to be really fascinating :) so Cheers from Denmark :)

The railway to Faringdon has always fascinated me. I'd heard (a long time ago) that there was initially a plan that the branch line to Abingdon would carry on, and head off towards Faringdon. If one extends the line of the railway out of the old station yard, you'll find Broad St and Park Road well aligned with that. The branch opened in 1856, and the housing / park in the Park Rd area wasn't started until 1860 (pretty much when all the other railway plans had already fallen through). This is all around about the same time that the line to Witney started being considered. A slight fly in the ointment is that the Abingdon branch was GWR, and if they wanted to connect any of the towns west of Abingdon to their network it was easy to branch off the existing Didcot Bristol line (which is what happened for Faringdon). Possibly they were considering a line from Abingdon to Faringdon to avoid having a lot of branches on their main express line west? There was also the proposed Cheltenham and Oxford Union Railway, which was planned to go through Abingdon which may have followed the line of what is now Park Rd, and there were also earlier plans for the "Oxford and Salisbury Direct Railway" that would apparently have pretty much come down Spring Road. All just part of the railway mania that existed at the time I suspect. When you've done visiting the lost / closed stations, you could move on to the stations that never were on the lines that were never built!

I am inpressed by your ability to dive into a nettle bed and not mention them Paul! .. and thanks for the stories of the old and forgotten railways of the UK😎!

Great videos Paul, informative and full of information on not very covered subjects. By the way may I say that you have a very lovely partner in Rebecca, she has a wicked sense of humour too. Let's see more of her please!

Kelmscott wasn’t a halt, it was a full station. There are pictures online.

Truth in advertising! The thumbnail shows Rebecca: but the video is Rebecca-free! Shocking!

In the East Sussex area the amount of railways that were put foreword as a possible route and never left the planning stage is unbelievable

Congratulations on reaching the 500 mark. I always find your abandoned railways videos both interesting and entertaining. They're extremely well researched and produced. Loved the historic recap of your station-hunting journey too. It's perfectly understandable why you've decided to modify your approach. I've also seen that railway crossing sign at Brize Norton and wondered why it was there.

Another great video Paul. We are close to the area and had not known about the East Glos Railway. Thoroughly enjoyed watching. 👍🏻

Excellent video - thanks! I used to live in Filkins (near Langford) in the mid 1970s, and my abiding memory is the testing of Concorde they did from Brize Norton and possibly Fairford. Incredibly loud, but amazing to watch!

The concrete lamp post at Kelmscott used to have an oil lamp on a wire; You lit the lamp and then hoisted it up on a wire.

Hi guys. I visited castle Howard station in York last year as it’s now a holiday let next to a live line. Great station. Great work.

Excellent work as ever, Paul. Thanks for the gentle entertainment, it's very restorative. Well done on your magnificent milestone, many congratulations to you both.

hello again Paul and Rebecca , love the old pics of places and what they looked like , enjoyed this one as always really well done and thank you 😊

I imagine that the station at Witney would have been considered invaluable. The blanket companies here supplied the trading posts of the Hudson's Bay Trading Company. The trading posts were spread across Canada and the famous Hudson's Bay blankets were traded for furs as supplied by trappers back in the day when Canada was still a pioneering country. Incidentally, although no longer made in Withey, Hudson's Bay blankets are renowned for their quality & still command a high price.

I know we've had our diffences. But I'm not gonna lie you've inspired me over the last few years to even make disused station videos. I enjoy watching your videos. They always inspire me to explore old abandoned railways.

500 😮 epic. I Followed your journey since the start

Great work

If, as had first been planned, the line continued to Cirencester (via Kemble) and then on to Cheltenham it would have been even more useless tha stopping where it did - apart from in wartime, when it was well-used taking airmen to Oxford and then bring the drunks back again later on. So many lines were duplicated during the early railways years, with landowners making tidy sums out of ignorant investors. Read Harold Gasson's stories about the line - still available second-hand, although Harold himself, signalman extraordinaire, is now long gone!

Carerton/Witney/Oxford Bus company routes were quite profitable to run thanks to the rail closures.

Great video, really enjoyed your recollections of starting your RU-vid channel, I enjoyed watching your first videos. But I disagree ...... you are funny well you both are and your gags add to the enjoyment. I think your right to adapt the every disused stations series towards those which do have a story which you can relate, maybe its not necessary to see the remains if you can provide other evidence. Sometimes things grow into the background!! Well done on reaching the 500 mark. Interesting to see that it was at Carterton. Only a few weeks ago this station was discovered on Ron's "Parkinsons walks" channel on the Fairford to Witney Abandoned Railway Alvescot to Carterton video. The station is still there but just doesnt look like a station. Have a great week and good luck from Spain!!

There is an old railway branch line very near me in cheshire that stretches for 10 miles with a minimum of 2 if not 3 abandoned stations, plus 2 holts or stops that aren't holts.? It's now a bridleway and very accessable if you want to explore it sometime. Oh and it survived the Beaching cuts too, which is a rarity.

Really enjoyed that thanks Paul. Love seeing the countryside. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care

Congratulations on 500 episodes! Love your channel, and have watched all your videos

Every time I see Witney I think of David Cameron and uncontrollably vomit. Which is a shame as the area itself actually looks quite nice.

Thank you. Lovely pic/poster on your dining room wall @6.50 !

Loving the longer, less frequent videos - wise move!

Well done on clocking up 500 abandoned Railway Stations. Yes concentrate on the ones that interest you in the future. I grew up in the 60’s, and remember picnicking outside one down in Devon whilst on holiday in about 1967/68, a lot had just been left to rot back then. My grandparents lived in Mary Tavy & even today I cannot believe they shut the line from Oakhampton down through Tavistock towards Plymouth.. still needs re-instating!..

Thank you for all your stories…I’ve thoroughly enjoyed them..

Hey guys! Thanks for another vijaeo

Visiting, let alone, filming all disused stations, is a thing in itself, but, as you say, it is more feasible to select those which either have an interesting story to tell, and/or have some physical remains which merit documenting. Apart from those along disused railway tracks, there are also many closed stations on lines which remain open, and which in many cases, could be reopened to serve significant areas of population. Perhaps some might feature in future videos?

Thank you for creating and sharing these videos. It's such a loss of transport routes when railways were closed and the lines built over or dug up. Now that places such as Witney have a much bigger population, many of whom commute into Oxford, it could really do with a good train service. Given the landscape it's not challenging. We should be looking to restore these routes, perhaps to run solar/hydrogen powered trains. Large areas alongside the route/tracks would support solar farms. Even creating, cycle or walking routes would be really good, currently cyclists have to use congested A roads to travel in these areas. In some cases the routes could be expanded to provide roads away from the existing roads disturbing small villages.

Congratulations on getting to 500 Paul, great achievement. I think a platform survived at Lechlade until relatively recently, but finally vanished when that lovely housing estate you briefly showed was built.

G'day from Australia, thanks for all the effort you two have made making your videos, Rain, hail or shine your like the mailman you always deliver, what ever you do I'll watch, the Country Vista's are epic, LOL, cheers, Neil 🤠.

I really enjoy watching your videos - always interesting, always good to watch - thank you!

Lechdale. Oops. Lechlade. In our part of the world.

Thank you for making this video very interesting. I love this type of content.

Just brilliant, cheers

Hi, brilliant video as always, I was wondering if you have ever made a video of the abandoned village of snap in Wiltshire, I heard about it recently and was interested to find out more, many thanks.

3:49 "I'm really not funny."

Very interesting Paul as always

Congratulations on that milestone. I always enjoy your videos. I did have a look on the NLS Side by side maps and found the stations that you hadn't been able to pinpioint. Quite clear on the OS Six Inch, 1888-1913 layer... Also on railmaponline UK site. All the best from New Zealand. :)

Greetham the home of the digestive biscuits is still visible if not the factory but you could include Horden as a new station too.

Fantastic, Salwick on the Blackpool Line looks like it will soon become a disused railway station Northern have now removed the self service ticket machines from Salwick it gets served once early in a morning and once at night by the Blackpool South services so it no longer has a direct service stopping for Blackpool North

thumbs up all the way .....thank you paul .......

Amazing 👏.

point taken paul and i agree with you

Thx for all the history

You should visit Ireland and Northern Ireland. We have thousands of miles of disused railway lines and hundreds of disused stations. I think you would enjoy yourself here. I've visited a few stations myself.