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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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Wixford Station
Wixford railway station was, unlike a number of stations,
actually located near to the village it was named after. The station was
accessed via steps down from a bridge carrying Icknield Street over the
railway. Opening as a temporary station on 17th September 1866, the station was
eventually made permanent. From the outset the station was deemed by the
Midland Railway to warrant staffing albeit based in a very small timber
building which also included the waiting room and toilet. As well as the small
timber building, passengers were provided with lighting, lit by oil on
ornamental lampposts, as well as a MR pattern cast-iron framed bench. The
station was provided with a single siding which accommodated up to twenty
wagons and which had very basic facilities having only a loading gauge and a
portable livestock ramp. Limited as it was the revenue generated, together with
passenger ticket sales, was probably the main reason why the station was made
permanent. The station's facilities were slightly improved when the timber
booking office and waiting room was replaced by the LMS with a slightly larger
timber building and a separate brick built Gentlemen's latrine. The station
remained open until it was closed to both passenger and freight services on 2nd
January 1950, although the line through the Wixford was to remain operational
for several more years before it too was closed with the track being lifted in
1965. In 1901 the nearby River Arrow flooded and damaged the line causing
several bridges to be replaced.
Views of Wixford Station
Views of Wixford Goods Sidings
HE Bomford
Discovering a reproduction of this postcard image triggered
off an allegiance to my role model as an author. LTC (Tom) Rolt, whose debut
into the world of literature produced one of the most influential classics of
English literature in his 'Narrow Boat', the catalyst for the resurgence of the
canal system and its associated leisure cruising, and his remarkable "Red for
Danger". Tom Rolt and I have one thing in common, we are both self-taught
writers. Here the comparison ends, coming second is not in my nature, but this
time simply some means of kindred spirit is a pleasure.
To this I must add his autobiography, one of a trilogy
'Landscape with Machines', which introduces to its reader the Bomford family of
Warwickshire, grand masters in the art of professional farming. In 1926, Rolt
at the age of 16, commenced a two-year apprenticeship at the family's Pitchill
Farm in the Vale of Evesham. He eloquently sets out the workings of a large
farm and the men that worked it, and was fortunate enough to work in the
mechanical side of the farming operation, keeping a diary of its workings and
those employed there. It was jointly run by Douglas (1894-1967) Leslie
(1896-1981) and Ernest (1901-1962) Bomford, and largely devoted to fruit
growing.
Here the family owned six pairs of steam ploughing engines
which they also contracted out to other farmers in the vicinity, many of which
were worked by relatives. There was also a grist mill for grinding feed a
workshop and forge, all manned by a staff of delightfully rural characters
whose collective skills could tackle and solve any mechanical or structural
problem that arose. The three Bomfords which Rolt mentions as the partners in
running this operation were the second, third and fourth sons of Raymond
Bomford ((1854-1920) who in turn was a son of Benjamin Bomford (1828-1880),
descendent of the founders of this great, innovative and efficient farming
empire, which at one time covered over 4,000 acres of lush Vale of Evesham
countryside, straddling the border between Warwickshire and Worcestershire. In
the 1851 census alone there are entries for four different Benjamin Bomfords,
collectively farming a thousand acres and employing 33 men and boys. The family
dates back to the sixteenth century.
Keith Turton
Miscellany
Ordnance Survey Maps and Schematics
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