In the June of 2017, I visited Banbury Railway station, with a short trip to Heyford. I had seen many videos from the station with its varied traction, but mainly wanted to see the Chiltern Railway services from London Marylebone to Birmingham, some of which are class 68 / 67 hauled. The day certainly didn’t disappoint.
Firstly a little history. Banbury Railway Station opened in 1850 as Banbury Bridge Street Station, for the GWR. At first it was just a single line station, but due to popularity was increased to double track a few years after opening. Goods loops were also installed around the station, notably adjacent to the “up” line. This also provided access to the LNWR route via another Station, Banbury Merton Street. Further terminating bays and goods loops followed, cementing Banbury’s importance in the rail network. In 1948 during nationalisation, the station was renamed Banbury General.
Banbury Merton Street closed in 1960, and with that Banbury General was renamed Banbury. Some, but not all, of the goods loops around the station have subsequently been removed, and the station now has 4 lines, served by three platforms.
Many freight services pass through Banbury, mainly intermodal workings from/to Southampton. Below are two images of Freightliner 66 501s working on the “Up” line from Southampton docks towards London.
The main current (2018) passenger services are as follows :
Chiltern Railways:
3 tph to London Marylebone
2 tph to Birmingham Moor Street, 1 of which carries on to Birmingham Snow Hill
Cross Country:
Services to Bournemouth, Manchester, Reading and Newcastle
GWR
Cherwell Valley line services to Reading and Didcot Parkway
As you can see, it really is a gateway across a good part of the country! The two pictures below are of Class 68 locomotives, on loan from DRS, on services to London Marylebone (top) and Birmingham New Street (bottom) for Chiltern Railways.
And here are a couple of Cross Country Voyagers, en route to Manchester and London respectively.
I have also posted a video to my YouTube channel, and this can be seen below:
The station staff are friendly and are ok with photography / video work, obviously with the rules of the railway always being adhered to. I really enjoyed my visit here, so much going on with all different types of traction, and hope to visit again in the future.
Please also visit Rainham Rail Enthusiast on YouTube
Please also visit Rainham Rail Enthusiast On Instagram
Please also visit Mistydale Model Railway On Facebook
That’s all for now, thanks for reading, I’ll blog again soon.
Rainham Rail Enthusiast 