Lambourn Valley Railway: Stations of the Great Western Railway GWR
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About this ebook
A charming history of one of the long closed rural branch lines on the Great Western Railway. The Lambourn Valley was one of the most quintessentially English branch lines in the days of steam.
The Lambourn Valley Railway was born as an independent little railway that ran from Newbury up Berkshire’s scenic Lambourn Valley to Lambourn. On the way it passed through 9 rural stations and ran through beautiful countryside.
In this book we learn when the line was built and why. The impact the railway had on the surrounding area is explained and the type of freight and passengers that used the station are explained. We also learn about the locomotives, rolling stock, directors, staff and equipment of the railway line.
In 1905 the LVR was taken over by the GWR and the entire branch line was upgraded and brought to GWR standards. The line remained open until 1964, but is now closed, the tracks lifted and the stations gone.
This book is a moving and thoughtful evocation of the days of steam.
The Lambourn Valley Railway is part of the Stations of the Great Western Railway collection published by Bretwalda Books
About the Author
Charles D’Arvelle is a railway enthusiast who has a particular fascination with closed branch lines. He has spent many happy hours tracing the locations of closed stations, abanoned sidings and lost railway tracks. He declares it is a great way to get out and explore the British countryside.
Related to Lambourn Valley Railway
Titles in the series (7)
Speen for Donnington: Stations of the Great Western Railway GWR Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNewbury West Fields Halt: Stations of the Great Western Railway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBoxford Station: Stations of the Great Western Railway GWR Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLambourn: Stations of the Great Western Railway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWelford Park: Stations of the Great Western Railway GWR Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLambourn Valley Railway: Stations of the Great Western Railway GWR Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGreat Shefford: Stations of the Great Western Railway GWR Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
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Book preview
Lambourn Valley Railway - Charles Darvelle
Stations of the GWR
The Lambourn Valley Line
by
Charles D'Arvelle
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Published by Bretwalda Books at Smashwords
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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
First Published 2012
Copyright © Bretwalda Books 2012
ISBN 978-1-907791-88-8
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Contents
Chapter 1 Before the Railway
Chapter 2 The Lambourn Valley Railway
Chapter 3 Newbury West Fields Station
Chapter 4 Speen for Donnington Station
Chapter 5 Stockcross and Bagnor Station
Chapter 6 Boxford Station
Chapter 7 Welford Park Station
Chapter 8 Great Shefford Station
Chapter 9 East Garston Station
Chapter 10 Eastbury Station
Chapter 11 Lambourn Station
*****************
Chapter 1
Before the Railway
People have been living in the Lambourn Valley since at least the Bronze Age, and probably back into the Neolithic some 5,000 years ago. They were attracted by the proximity of the high downs where livestock could be grazed to fertile valley lands where agricultural crops could be grown and reliable springs where cool, fresh water bubbled up from the chalk.
The Romans built their Ermine Street over the downs to the south, and Roman pottery and coins have turned up in small quantities in and around the valley. The valley continued to be a prosperous farming area through Saxon and Medieval times and well into the 19th century. From 1850 onwards there were some dramatic changes to farming in the valley. Cheap imports of grain from North America meant cereal farming was no longer profitable. Cheap wool from Australia undercut sheep farmers on the downs and even dairy farmers found themselves less prosperous than they had been.
Despite these problems the Lambourn Valley was still a pleasant place to live. Even if some farmland had gone out of production and been turned over to woodland or rough pasture. The number of inhabitants remained steady and they continued to work the land, or for those in the lower valley to work in Newbury. There was plenty here to tempt a company to build a railway, but the Lambourn Valley had one advantage that similar rural areas did not - racehorses.
Ashdown House, three miles northwest of Lambourn, was home to the horse-loving Earl of Craven in the 1780s. It was the Earl who recognised the potential of the downs around Lambourn for horseracing.
Horse racing had first come to the Lambourn area under the patronage of the Earl of Craven who lived nearby. He was devoted to horseracing and horsebreeding and recognised that the lush upland turf, then being used for grazing sheep, was ideally suited to keeping horses. The Earl not only kept his own horses here, but also organised race meetings so that local gentry could bring their own horses over to join in the sporting fun.
As time passed the races at Lambourn became increasingly common and brought horses, owners and jockeys from far and wide. By the 1840s the possibilities of the Lambourn Valley were being recognised by the horseracing business. The turf here was softer and springier than it was at Newmarket or Epsom, then the two major centres for horsebreeding and training. Some horses found the hard going at Newmarket and Epsom rather harsh for their delicate joints, and their owners recognised that they would do better if trained at Lambourn. By the 1840s several trainers had their stables in and around Lambourn. Edwin Parr, Joseph Saxon, John Prince, Luke Snowden and John Drinkald all moved here to give their horses the benefit of the Lambourn turf.
There was, however, a problem. The only way to get the horses out of Lambourn to compete in races was to ride them to Newbury to be loaded on to special horse-box wagons to be hauled by train to the meeting. The ride down to Lambourn would inevitably tire the delicate race horses, meaning that they had to be ridden out some days before the race meeting. It was all terribly inconvenient.
Racehorses on a practice ride over the Lambourn Downs. It was the promise of freight traffic associated with the horseracing business that was a major attraction for those promoting the construction of a railway up the Lambourn Valley. Photo: Philipjelley.
Those promoting a railway to Lambourn knew that the race horse owners would pay good money to have their horses taken out of the valley by rail. What they could not have anticipated was the way in which the provision of horse boxes pulled by train would encourage other horse trainers to relocate to Lambourn and its valley. Within a few years of the LVR opening in 1898 the number of horses stabled at Lambourn doubled. Not only that but stables opened up elsewhere along the valley, further increasing the demand for horse box trains and the profits that the LVR could make.
It was not just horses that drew the LVR to Lambourn. If the upper downs were ideal for horses, the lower lush pastures were ideal for cattle. Those cattle produced two important products for the farmers. The first were prime young steers that could be slaughtered for meat, leather and other products. Throughout the 19th century these young animals were driven by road down to Newbury on Thursdays, market day, to be sold and then shipped out by rail. The journey by road was lengthy and tiring for cattle and farmer alike. Both would benefit if they were taken out by rail.
The second major product of cattle at Lambourn was milk. If the road trip to Newbury was an inconvenience for animals going to slaughter, it was potentially disastrous for milk. For centuries fresh milk was consumed within a few hours of being taken from the cow. Were the fresh milk left any longer it would go off. The vast majority of milk was converted into butter or cheese as these would keep much longer. Dairy farmers, such as those in the Lambourn Valley, turned all their milk into butter or cheese, and fed the leftover whey to pigs.
Louis Pasteur had invented the pasteurisation process for preserving fresh milk in 1862 and it had reached England within a very few years. Pasteurised milk would last a day or two before turning sour. For the first time milk could be transported from rural farm to town with a fair chance of it arriving in a fit state to drink. Even so, speed