Ettington Station

LMS Route: The Shakespeare Route

Ettington Station opened when the East & West Junction Railway's route from Kineton to Stratford opened on 1st July 1873. The main station building was located on the up platform and there was adjacent to the main station building, a siding leading to the cattle pens and onwards to a ramp, a siding to the goods shed and a third siding beyond for either stabling wagons before or after being unloaded in the goods shed as well as for the use by coal merchants and other users. Its subsequent history of passenger closing, re-opening and final closure to both passenger and goods traffic is shared with other stations along this section of the route. Four years after being opened to passenger traffic the station saw the service withdrawn due to lack of business until 22nd February 1885 when the service was reinstated. On the 5th April 1952 Ettington station closed because regular passenger services between Blisworth and Stratford on Avon were withdrawn. The line became part of the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway (SMJ) in a merger in 1908; at grouping on 1st January 1923 it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS); and part of British Railways when the railways were nationalisation on 1st January 1948. The goods service remained in place from the 1st July 1873 until final closure on 11th November 1963 although through traffic continued to traverse the route to gain access to the GWR until 5th July 1965 when the line still operational was closed in its entirety.

Access to the passenger station and goods yard was via an entrance which came off Wellesbourne Road to the north (Warwick) side of the railway. Inside the station gates, the goods yard was an open area to the left of the driveway to the passenger station, the two not having a boundary fence separating them. As first built the 25 inch to the mile 1884 Ordnance Survey map shows the goods yard was a simple affair having just a single siding leading to and through a good shed although the schematic drawing date 1884 created by the P Hendry's in LMS Volume One An Historical Survey of Selected LMS Stations shows the siding had a short head shunt for marshalling wagons. By the turn of the century the 1900 Ordnance Survey map showed the head shunt in place with an additional siding being added leading to a carriage landing for the end-on loading and unloading of road vehicles. Between the turn of the century and 1925 (see the 1925 OS map) an additional siding was installed behind the goods shed at the rear of the yard. This was to cater for business generated by the local coal merchants. The 1925 OS map also shows a weighbridge and office in place near to the entrance of the yard. Whilst not marked as such there are marks on the 1884 and 1900 OS maps which appear to indicate that these facilities were presence.

The station had two platforms with a passing loop serving the down (Stratford upon Avon line) for the otherwise single line. Its buildings were of brick and to a design virtually standard for the line. Being a smaller intermediate station the building had just a single gable wing whereas Kineton being more important, had two gable wings. The gable wing accommodated the Booking Office which would have also served as the station master's office and porter's office too. The room adjacent to this was the Booking Hall which would also serve as the general waiting room. It would appear that, unlike many stations throughout the country, there was no Ladies Only Waiting Room although there was a toilet accessed from the Booking Hall. The Gentlemen's Urinals were, as common throughout the country, accessed directly off the platform. The concrete signpost on the platform marking the entrance at Ettington can be seen in image 'smje218a' as well as at other stations on the line e.g. 'Binton'. There was a small waiting shelter on the down platform, access to which was by a barrow crossing. The 1939 timetable showed four passenger trains to Stratford upon Avon daily, which took about ten minutes. There were also four return trains during the day. In 1934 an evening excursion to a pantomime at Northampton was advertised in the Stratford Herald.

In common with normal single line working, tokens would be exchanged at the signal boxes associated with each station loop. Initially there was one block from Stratford to Ettington, and another from Ettington to Kineton. In 1911 the facility was added to switch Ettington box out during the night, and work with one long block - a novel system at that time. During the Second World War the station was used to transport munitions and troops to nearby RAF Wellesbourne Mountford. There is little evidence of the station left apart from one of the goods sheds and the site is now used as a timber merchants and stables. The Railway Clearing House's 1929 Handbook of Railway Stations states Binton, unlike Bidford on Avon, provided the general public and businesses with a full range of service: Goods traffic; Passenger and Parcels traffic; Furniture Vans, Carriages, Portable Engines, and Machines on Wheels; Live Stock; Horse Boxes and Prize Cattle Vans and Carriages by Passenger Train (GPFLHC). No crane was provided provided in either the goods shed or yard therefore any loading requiring cranage would require the merchant to make special arrangements. The 1894 edition of The Railway Clearing House Handbook of Railway Stations did not provide information to the same detail e.g. the number of categories listed, and only recorded Goods Station, Passenger and Parcel Stations and Livestock services (GPL).