Chambers Crossing Halt | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Station site in 2008. | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | nr.Luddington,Stratford-on-Avon England | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Status | Disused | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | Great Western Railway | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 17 October 1904 | Opened | ||||
| 14 July 1916 | Closed | ||||
| |||||
Chambers Crossing Halt railway station was atimber-framedrailway halt on theStratford-upon-Avon toCheltenham section of theHoneybourne Line. The station was located two miles south-west of Stratford upon Avon. The site of the station is now part of the Stratfordgreenway and may in future form part of theGloucestershire Warwickshire Railway's northern extension fromToddington.
The section of theHoneybourne Line fromStratford-upon-Avon toHoneybourne was opened by theOxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway on 9 July 1859,[1][2] but it was over forty years before Chambers Crossing Halt was opened on 17 October 1904 by theGreat Western Railway.[3] A single platform was built to the south of thelevel crossing over a lane which ran fromWeston-on-Avon toClifford Chambers.[4] A crossing keeper's cottage had been built here in around 1899 and by the time the halt opened, the crossing was gated and protected by signals.[4] The gates were operated by aground frame on the west side of the line to the north of the crossing.[4] When the line was doubled in 1908, the frame was relocated to the opposite site of the crossing, adjacent to the keeper's cottage.[4] A second platform was added on the Up side around this time at a cost of £75 (equivalent to £10,000 in 2023).[5][4] The platforms, each of which was 100 ft (30 m) for thesteam railmotor service, had no passenger facilities, only lamps and therunning in boards.[4]
The timetable for April 1910 shows that Chambers Crossing Halt was served by seven railmotors in each direction between Honeybourne and Cheltenham, with some running to and fromEvesham.[6] An additional service ran from Honeybourne toBroadway and back.[6] Due to low patronage and the outbreak of the First World War,[7] the station, along with two other halts opened on the same date (Evesham Road Crossing Halt andBroad Marston Halt) closed on 17 July 1916 as a wartime economy measure.[8][9] It is thought unlikely that there are anyphotographs of the station in existence due to its short lifetime and its unremarkable appearance.[7]
Freight services continued to pass through the station until November 1976 when the line itself was closed.[1] The tracks betweenthe current Stratford station and Honeybourne were taken up in 1979.[10]
| Preceding station | Disused railways | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Milcote Line and station closed | Great Western Railway Honeybourne Line | Stratford-upon-Avon Racecourse Platform Line and station closed | ||
The trackbed betweenStratford-upon-Avon Racecourse Platform andLong Marston lay disused for ten years until 1989 when, in a joint venture betweenSustrans andWarwickshire County Council, it was made into the 5 mi (8.0 km)StratfordGreenway forcycling and walking.[11][12] The crossing cottage survives as a private residence.[13]
The long-term aspiration of theGloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, aheritage railway formed in 1976 to keep the Honeybourne Line open, is to reopen the line as far as Stratford from its base atToddington.[14]
52°10′07″N1°44′46″W / 52.1685°N 1.7461°W /52.1685; -1.7461
