Wallingford railway station (England)

On 2 July 1866, the Wallingford railway branch line was opened by the Wallingford and Watlington Railway from a junction with the Great Western Railway (GWR) main line at Moulsford (known as Wallingford Road until that date) to Wallingford, where a station was constructed on the south side of Wantage Road (now Station Road), at grid reference SU602895 (51.6017°N 1.1320°W / 51.6017; -1.1320 (Wallingford railway station (original))). The line never proceeded beyond, so did not reach the second-named town in its title.[1]

For such a short line and a small station, the location was well patronised by commercial freight customers. The original Wallingford creamery was taken over by the Co-op Wholesale Society,[2] and had its own private siding access from the goods yard to allow access for milk trains, which then took product to London until the late 1950s. There was also a Malting plant with rail access.

Passenger services were withdrawn in 1959 and general freight services finished in 1965. In 1969 the line was shortened by 500 metres (1,600 ft), back to the location of the malting plant on Hithercroft Road, which was the only remaining goods customer. When traffic from the maltings stopped in 1981 the line was closed and British Rail removed the junction at Cholsey.

A new Wallingford station was built on the south side of St. Johns Road, at grid reference SU600891, when the line reopened as a heritage railway.[3]

• "Cholsey and Wallingford Railway History". Retrieved 5 February 2009.
• MacDermot, E.T. (1931). History of the Great Western Railway. Vol. II (1st ed.). Paddington: Great Western Railway.