Compton railway station

Compton
Compton railway station building
Location
Place	Compton
Area	West Berkshire, Berkshire
Grid reference	SU524798
Operations
Original company	Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
Pre-grouping	Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway Western Region of British Railways
Platforms	2
History
13 August 1882 (1882-08-13)	Opened
4 August 1942	Closed
8 March 1943	Re-opened
10 September 1962	Closed
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
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Compton railway station served Compton in the Berkshire Downs. The station closed in 1962.

History

Compton was the largest station between Newbury and Didcot, serving the villages of Compton, East Ilsley and Aldworth. The station consisted of two platforms with the ticket offices and station buildings located on the Northbound platform. This was the only station with the exceptions of Winchester (Chesil) and Newbury to have a footbridge linking the platforms. To the north of the station was a goods shed plus cattle pens and three sidings which supported a busy coal trade and the loading of the products of the foundry. A signal box was located at the north end of the southbound platform and there was an unusual single-truck bay set into the northbound platform to facilitate the loading of a horse-box to the rear of a Didcot-bound train. The station received relatively large volumes of goods traffic for the area with Baker's Foundry being located in the nearby village. A link line to nearby East Ilsley was planned but never built, although certain parts of the proposed route were levelled and ballasted for reasons as yet unknown. There was a facility at Compton for incorporating the junction and for the stabling of a small locomotive to operate the route. The station house, booking hall and some outbuildings and the nearby overbridge are still in existence and a public right of way allows access to the platform side revealing evidence of the platforms and an enamel "Platform tickets to be given up on leaving platform" sign, although it is not known if this is original. The goods shed was demolished in 2001 to make way for a small business area.^[1]

Routes

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Churn		Great Western Railway Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway		Hampstead Norris

References

1. ^ Karau, P., Parsons, M. and Robertson, K. (1984) An illustrated history of the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway, Wild Swan Publications, ISBN 0-906867-04-5