Cholsey and Wallingford Railway

For this meeting we welcomed Tony Stead from the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway. The presentation was in two parts the first being a detailed history of the branch line with many photos showing the line from opening to the present day. Although Wallingford was the largest town in the area the GWR main line was south of the town and Wallingford Road Station was located on the east side of Reading Road two miles south of the town. When the railway was opened in 1866 as the first standard gauge GWR branch line, the station was on the West side of Reading Road and passengers had to walk between the two stations to make a connection. The Railway was taken over by the GWR in 1872 and Shareholders received GWR shares in recompense for their original shares. When the main line was increased to four tracks in 1892 the present Cholsey station was opened allowing the direct interchange between the branch and main line. Decline started from 1956 when the Loco shed was closed, and passenger services ceased in 1959. The line only remained open for freight until 1981 when workings to the Maltings at Wallingford ceased. The track remained in place as British Railway was unable to reach agreement with local farmers for access.

The second part dealt with the Canopy from Maidenhead Station. The canopy dates from Broad Gauge era but the exact date is not known. It needed to be removed as part of the Crossrail project and agreement was reached for this to be dismantled and transported to the Current Wallingford Station, which is south of the now demolished original station. Unfortunately, the Canopy was not dismantled in accordance with the agreement made with Network Rail. This meant that a large number of new castings and structural parts were required to erect the Canopy. Fortunately the majority of work was done during Covid and the Railway Heritage Trust funded the cost of £750,000.

This was an excellent presentation and revealed not only the work done to preserve the Railway but the detailed collection of historical information of the line.