Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway

v t e Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway
Legend
Banbury on the Cherwell Valley line Leamington Spa – Banbury Stone rail terminal. Alcan Factory sidings (opened early 1920s, lifted mid 1950s) Alcan Factory depot (lifted late 1950s) Alcan Factory sidings (lifted early 1950s) A423 road bridge (demolished 1967) The railway bridge over a local brook, closed and became a footbridge after 1967. It was replaced in 2007 by a short culvert pipe. Sidings (opened early 1920s, lifted mid 1950s) Hardwick signal box (closed and demolished since 1967) Sidings (opened early 1920s, lifted mid 1950s) Hardwick loco sidings and depot (lifted 1964) WW2 pill box class bunker, demolished by 2000. Hardwick Farm Crossing (line lifted 1967) Pen Hill workers' halt (demolished 1967) Sidings (opened late 1920s, lifted mid 1950s) Pen Hill maintenance depot (demolished 1967) Local stream culverted in the 1920s. The planned Pin Hill maintenance depot (planned in the 1920s). Sidings (opened early 1920s, lifted mid 1950s) Pen Hill Farm grading plant (demolished 1967) Highlands Road, Banbury Nethrop Fields loco sidings (lifted 1964) B4100 road bridge Niethrop Fields Signal Box (demolished 1967) Drayton tool shed/privy (derelict, assumedly closed since 1967) Drayton P-hut/signal box (closed since 1967) Drayton Village Crossing (line lifted 1967) The bridge over Stor Brook, replaced in 1967 by a short culvert pipe Farm Lane Crossing (line lifted 1967) Woxton-Hanwell Road Crossing (line lifted 1967) Moor Mill Hill Path Crossing (line lifted 1967) Bridge over Horley–Wroxton road (Demolished 1968) Horley signal box (demolished 1967) Horley Village Crossing (line lifted 1967) Horley tool shed/p-hut (closed since 1967) Horley sidings (closed and lifted 1967) Wroxton Depot (built by 1925, closed and lifted 1967) Friars Hill Sidings(built by 1945, closed and lifted 1952) Drift Lane Crossing\Wroxton Village Crossing (line lifted 1967) Wroxton worker's halt (built 1919, closed 1967, demolished 2006) Wroxton Central Ironstone Quarry opened by 1919, closed and filled in 1967) Ragnel sidings (built by 1945, closed and lifted 1952) 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) Langley Ironstone Quarry (built by 1926, closed and filled 1943) Dyke Lane Bridge (built 1940 and abandoned 1967) Dyke Lane Bridge workings and siding built ~1940–1941, closed 1949, filled in by 1967 A422 road Water tower (built by World War II and demolished ~2004–2005) Balscote crossing, lifted 1967) Balscote Quarry (built by 1956, closed and filled 1967) Sidings (built by 1952, closed and lifted 1967)

The Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway was a standard-gauge industrial railway that served an ironstone quarry near the village of Wroxton in Oxfordshire.^[1][2][3]

History

The OIR linked the quarry with the Great Western Railway about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to the east at a junction just north of Banbury.^[4][2] The line was opened between 1917 and 1919^[5] and closed in 1967;^[5] the track was removed between 1967 and 1968. The quarry was heavily worked in the Second World War.^[6] The line also served the Banbury Alcan works at one point.^[7] The popular footpath from Drayton to Drayton Lodge crossed the railway at Drayton Crossing.^[8]

Wroxton Central Ironstone Quarry was opened by 1919, closed and filled in 1967. Langley Ironstone Quarry was built near Balscot by 1926, and was closed and filled during 1943 when it ran out of ironstone.^[9][10] Dyke Lane Bridge was built in 1940 and abandoned in 1967.^[2][9][10]

The line was extended to the Balscote Quarry which was worked between 1956 and its closure in 1967.^[11] Balscote Quarry, a shorter-lived working, was built by 1956, but closed and filled in 1967.^[2][11][4] A newer quarry close by its former site is now served by road haulage only.

The mine buildings, manager's house and workers' halt are now a small set of new light industrial buildings, built circa 2006–2008.^[5][4] The track works' permanent way huts (p-huts)^[4] still stood at Drayton in 2007 and Horley in 2002.^[4] A few old OIR fence posts/gates remain to this day along the route. Banbury's Ruscote and Hardwick estate's (Daimler Avenue, Devon Way and Longelandes Way)^[4] are also built over a large part of its route, including most of the former Pen Hill farm grading works (Longelandes Way). Other built over places include the proposed minor Pin Hill maintenance depot (Pin Hill Road)^[12] and major active Pen Hill maintenance depot (Beaumont Road).^[4][13][14] Despite the development that has occurred north of Banbury since closure, much of the line of the route can be walked today.^[15]

Locomotive fleet

The OIR operated its own fleet of 0-6-0T and 0-6-0ST steam locomotives built by Hunslet, Hudswell Clarke, Peckett & Sons and 0-4-0STs built by Hudswell Clarke, Hunslet, W. G. Bagnall and Peckett & Sons. There was also a vertical boiler locomotive supplied by Sentinel. The earliest locos carried names associated with Oxford University such as "The President" and "The Dean". Later locos carried boys and girls names, typically the 0-6-0 locos had male names eg "Graham" and "Frank" and the 0-4-0 locos had female names eg "Betty" and "Jean".^[16]

In the 1960s, the railway also purchased thirteen Rolls-Royce Sentinel diesel-hydraulic locomotives fitted with Rolls-Royce C range engines.^[17] Several of these Sentinel locomotives are still in existence, with "Betty", "Jean" and "Graham" at the Rocks By Rail Museum,^[18] "Barabel" at the Nene Valley Railway,^[19] and "Joan" at the East Somerset Railway.^[20] All five preserved locomotives are in operational condition.^{[citation needed]}

Local geology

Many heavy clay and Ironstone deposits surround Banbury and Wroxton.^[3][21]

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.^[22]

There was talk of reopening the Edge Hill Light Railway early in World War II but the Oxfordshire Ironstone line was considered adequate to serve the area's requirements.^[23]

See also

• History of Banbury
• Clay pit

References

External links

• Photo gallery of the disused railway
• Apollo Business Parks LLP
• "Banbury yards and freight". Steve Banks.

Books

• Tonks, Eric (April 1988). The Ironstone Quarries of the Midlands Part 2: The Oxfordshire Field. Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing. p. 146. ISBN 1-870-754-026.

Historic imagery of the site

• 
  The former Wroxton Quarry in Oxfordshire. Top left is the trackbed between Drayton and Horley, right is the trackbead in Hardwick and the bottom is the old mine itself during the year 2001.
• 
  The former Wroxton Quarry's Pin Hill farm grading works in Banbury, Oxfordshire, in 2001
• 
  The former ironstone quarry works at Wroxton in 2001
• 
  The surviving huts at the former quarry in 2001 and the track bed in Hardwick during 2001
• 
  The mine manager's office in 2001
• 
  The former ironstone quarry works at Wroxton in 2001
• 
  Drayton's OIR mine's tool shed or possible staff privy in 2003
• 
  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.
• 
  Wroxton's old ironstone mine in 2001
• 
  Horley's OIR tool hut or a p-hut in 2001 outside and 2002 inside. It's overgrown and in the bushes now.
• 
  Both sides of Horley's OIR tool hut or a p-hut in 2001. It's overgrown and in the bushes now.
• 
  The former OIR bridge supports by the former Alcan works in Banbury in 2001
• 
  An 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.
• 
  Drayton's OIR tool shed in 2004
• 
  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.

52°04′N 1°24′W / 52.067°N 1.400°W / 52.067; -1.400