Milcote railway station

Milcote
The station site in 2005, showing the remains of the up platform. The trees are 97 years old.
Location
Place	Milcote
Area	Stratford-on-Avon
Coordinates	52°09′43″N 1°45′08″W / 52.1620°N 1.7522°W / 52.1620; -1.7522Coordinates: 52°09′43″N 1°45′08″W / 52.1620°N 1.7522°W / 52.1620; -1.7522
Grid reference	SP170515
Operations
Original company	Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
Pre-grouping	Great Western Railway
Post-grouping	Great Western Railway Western Region of British Railways
Platforms	2
History
12 July 1859	Station opens
3 January 1966	Station closes
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
UK Railways portal

Milcote railway station was an intermediate calling-point on the Great Western Railway company's branch line from Stratford upon Avon to Honeybourne – later to become, from 1908, a part of the GWR's new main line from Birmingham to Cheltenham Spa. Its situation, in the far south-western corner of Milcote parish and some 5 km (3.1 mi) south-west of the GWR station in Stratford, was dictated by the fact that this was the first point south of the River Avon at which the line crossed a public road. This was, and is, a very lightly populated district (at the time of the station's opening there was scarcely any other building in sight) and most of Milcote's passenger traffic must have been expected to originate in the nearby villages of Weston on Avon and Welford on Avon; indeed, the station's nameboards at the time of its eventual closure read "Milcote for Weston and Welford".

The first Milcote station was opened on 12 July 1859 by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway as one of two intermediate stations on the branch, the other being at Long Marston.^[1] It consisted of a station building, a single passenger platform, and two goods sidings, all on the south side of the Weston to Clifford Chambers road, which crossed the line here by means of a level crossing. A signal box was added in 1891/2: previously the station's signals and points appear to have been operated from a frame either on the platform itself or inside the main station building. When, in 1908, the Great Western Railway doubled the line between Stratford and Honeybourne as part of its new through route from Birmingham to Cheltenham via Stratford, a new two-platformed station was built on the north side of the crossing,^[2] although the original building, with its station master's dwelling, was retained.

Records show that passenger numbers in 1903 were 5,077. By 1913 they had grown to 7,126 with a further increase to 9,399 in 1923. By 1933, however, these numbers had fallen back to 5,151.^[3] The increase in motor vehicle usage lead to the number of passengers using this rather isolated station decreasing still further after World War II and in 1956 its status was reduced to that of an unstaffed halt. Goods-handling facilities were withdrawn in July 1963 and the station was closed to passenger traffic in January 1966. Trains continued to pass through the closed station until November 1976 when the line itself was closed.^[1] The tracks between Stratford and Long Marston were taken up in 1979.^[4]

The trackbed lay disused for ten years until 1989 (10 years after the track was lifted) when, in a joint venture between Sustrans and Warwickshire County Council, it was made into a greenway for cycling and walking.^[5]

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Long Marston Line and station closed		Great Western Railway Honeybourne Line		Chambers Crossing Halt Line and station closed
	Proposed Heritage railways
Honeybourne Line closed, station open		Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway		Stratford Racecourse Line and station closed

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Sustrans information on the Stratford Greenway
2. ^ Station information on the Forest of Dean Railways website
3. ^ Station information on the Warwickshire railways website
4. ^ Kingscott, Geoffrey: Lost Railways of Warwickshire, page 108. Countryside Books, 2009
5. ^ Warwickshire County Council information on the Stratford Greenway