Place Lewknor Grid reference SU715973 1 September 1906 Station opened Platforms in use 1 | Area South Oxfordshire Pre-grouping Great Western Railway Original company Great Western Railway | |
Post-grouping Great Western Railway
Western Region of British Railways Similar Milton Halt railway station, Carterton (Oxfordshire) railway st, Horspath Halt railway st, Fritwell & Somerton railway st, Kelmscott and Langford | ||
Lewknor Bridge Halt railway station was a halt on the Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway which the Great Western Railway opened in 1906 to serve the Oxfordshire village of Lewknor. The opening of the halt was part of a GWR attempt to encourage more passengers on the line at a time when competition from bus services was drawing away patronage.
Contents
History
The halt was one of three that the GWR opened on the line in September 1906 to try to encourage passenger traffic in the face of increased competition from buses. It was southeast of Lewknor, on the western side of a bridge carrying the Watlington and Princes Risborough Railway over a lane known as "Shiftcutts".
The bridge (no. 6m 74c), which had 19 inches (480 mm) wrought iron girders, spanned 20 feet (6.1 m) and was supported by brick and flint abutments; it had a minimum headroom of 15 feet 8 inches (4.78 m). A single platform was provided on which stood a wooden passenger waiting shelter and the running in board. The halt was unstaffed and in winter two hurricane lamps lit the platform at night, both being lit and extinguished by the late-turn guard. Access to the station was via a kissing gate and a flight of steps from the roadside on the south side of the bridge.
In the longer term the GWR's halt strategy did little to dissuade people from more convenient bus services. In 1957 British Railways closed the halt and withdrew passenger services from the line.
Present day
Shiftcutts (now known as Hill Road) was truncated by the building of the B4009 Watlington road which bypasses Lewknor village, cutting across the former railway alignment and obliterating the site of Lewknor Bridge Halt. Although the bridge no longer exists, the steps leading up to the halt are reported to be still extant.