GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Fenny Compton Station (GWR)

The Great Western Railway opened Fenny Compton station in 1852 on its Oxford and Rugby Railway. It would have formed the junction of with its proposed Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway. Parliament passed the Oxford and Rugby Railway Act in 1846, and a single track broad gauge line was opened in 1850 between Oxford and Banbury. In 1846 Parliamentary approval had also been sought for the Birmingham and Oxford Junction Railway. The two lines would meet 2 miles north of Fenny Compton, near Knightcote, and at Oxford the ORR would connect with the GWR line from London Paddington. Parliament considered that the lines would provide useful competition for the London and Birmingham Railway which had become part of the London and North Western Railway. It gave approval subject to the lines being bought and operated by the GWR. However, while the Railway Regulation (Gauge) Act 1846 required that all new railways should be built to standard gauge, the GWR had been given a number of dispensations to continue with its broad gauge, including its lines from Oxford.

The question arose of where the break-of-gauge should be, at Oxford or Rugby, a dilemma the LNWR doubtless exploited. If the latter it would mean the GWR having a section of standard gauge line, including part of its Birmingham line. As a result, in August 1849 the section of the Rugby line north of Fenny Compton was abandoned. Then in 1848 Parliament ordered that the Oxford to Birmingham line be relaid to mixed gauge. By 1889 it was finally laid to standard gauge. British Railways closed Fenny Compton station to passenger traffic from 2nd November 1964. The GWR line remains as the present day Didcot to Chester line. A stub of the Stratford-upon-Avon line remains as a freight line leading to the MoD Kineton Military Railway. The station trackwork remains much as it was, but the platforms and most of the buildings have gone.

The station buildings and staff

Ref gwrfc82 Postcard Looking towards Leamington from the up platform with the original signal box next to the down platform circa 1900

Ref gwrfc82b Postcard Close up showing some of Fenny Compton station's staff standing in line posed for the photographer

Ref: gwrfc82a Postcard Close up of the original signal box at Fenny Compton built between the under bridge and the down platform

Ref: gwrfc2283 Fenny Compton Village Hall View of Fenny Compton station's up platform with ten non-uniformed railway workers posed for the camera

Ref: gwrfc2283a Fenny Compton Village Hall Close up of the main building on the up platform which would have included Booking Office and waiting rooms

Ref: gwrfc2249 R Preston Hendry Passengers waiting for a local passenger service to Banbury on Fenny Compton station's up platform

Ref: gwrfc83 HC Casserley View of Fenny Compton station looking south towards Banbury from the down platform

Ref: gwrfc83a HC Casserley Close up showing a train approaching the joint signal box and the Banbury end of the down platform

Ref: gwrfc83b HC Casserley Close up showing the booking office, timber framed store and grounded coach body on the up platform

Ref: gwrfc2253 Anon Looking north with the ex-SMJ lines to Stratford on the left and the ex-GWR lines to Leamington on the right

Ref: gwrfc2253a Anon Close up showing the now closed former SMJ station with timber sleepers placed on both platforms

Ref: gwrfc2253b Anon Close up showing Fenny Compton station's up platform in the last decade of its working life

Ref: gwrfc84 Anon Looking north showing the staggered platforms adopted by the GWR with the former SMJ station on the left

Ref: gwrfc84a Anon Close up showing the joint LMS and GWR signal box built in the early years of the grouping

Ref: gwrfc84b Anon Close up showing Fenny Compton's station's second up platform and its passenger facilities

Ref: gwrfc813 Anon Looking north along the ex-SMJ lines to Stratford upon Avon on the left and the ex-GWR lines on the right

Ref: gwrfc812 Anon Looking from the former SMJ station's goods yard across the new track layout to the GWR station's up platform

Ref: gwrfc1857 R Fisher A view from the West of the BR built signal box seen on 12th October 1963 from the former SMJ branch

Ref: gwrfc1851 D Churchill View of the British Railways' brick built Fenny Compton signal box as seen in November 1972

Ref: gwrfc2251 J Evans Looking towards Stratford upon Avon with a freight service waiting on the right in the down passing loop line

Ref: gwrfc2252 J Evans Looking on 23rd June 1966 to Fenny Compton with the recently lifted trackbed of the former SMJ on the left

Ref: gwrfc2252a J Evans Close up showing the single line retained to run on the former SMJ route for MOD traffic to Kineton

Ref: smjfc3284 S Blencoe Ex-Bristol and Exeter (B&E) Railway coach converted to a Divisional Engineer's Inspection Saloon by the GWR

Ref: smjfc95 Anon View of the 1960 revised track layout enabling GWR iron ore traffic from Banbury to join the SMJ route

Ref: smjfc95a Anon Close up showing both the SMJ and GWR stations and the revised track layout adopted in 1961

Locomotives and trains seen at or near Fenny Compton Station

Ref: gwrfc1856 HC Casserley Ex-GWR 53xx Class 2-6-0 No 5317 leaves the up refuge siding at the head of a goods train on 15th March 1952

Ref: gwrfc1853 LGRP GWR 38xx Class 4-4-0 No 3835 'County of Devon' passes through Fenny Compton on an up express

Ref: gwrfc1855 HC Casserley Ex-GWR Hall Class 4-6-0 No 4987 'Brockley Hall' runs light engine towards Leamington on 15th March 1952

Ref: gwrfc551 WoW An unknown GWR 4-6-0 'Saint' class locomotive is seen passing near Fenny Compton during the 1920s

Ref: gwrfc2254 J Evans View of British Railways' Blue Pullman service on a Snow Hill to Paddington express on 23rd June 1966

Maps and Signalling Diagrams for Fenny Compton Station

Ref: gwrfc2259 Ordnance Survey A 1904 OS map showing the layout and relationship of the GWR and SMJ Fenny Compton stations to each other

Ref: gwrfc1852 Ordnance Survey A 1936 OS map showing the layout and relationship of the GWR and SMJ Fenny Compton stations to each other

Ref: gwrfc2258a Signalling Record Society Part of the 1960 Signalling Diagram showing the track and signalling layout to the south of the station

Ref: gwrfc2258b Signalling Record Society Part of the 1960 Signalling Diagram showing the track and signalling layout in the centre of the station

Ref: gwrfc2258c Signalling Record Society Part of the 1960 Signalling Diagram showing the track and signalling layout to the West of the station

Ref: gwrfc2506 Signalling Record Society A pre-1931 Signalling Diagram for Fenny Compton showing the track and signalling layout of the station

Ref: gwrfc2507 Signalling Record Society A post-1931 Signalling Diagram for Fenny Compton showing the track and signalling layout of the station

Ref: gwrfc2508 Signalling Record Society A 1960 Signalling Diagram for Fenny Compton showing the track and signalling layout of the station

Ref: gwrfc2284 GWR Copy of the notice issued by the GWR in 1927 advising staff of the changes to Distant Signal arms and coloured lens