Abandoned Station on WCML between Wolverton and Roade

[Paul.Rosser]

On the WCML there seems to be a abandoned station between Wolverton and Roade Junction does anyone know which station this was

 

[Merle Haggard]

Castlethorpe.
An interesting question arises; why do its platforms remain?
Blisworth closed about the same time, and Roade a few years later, but in both cases the platforms were quickly removed.

 

[Class800]

Could the platforms be useful for emergency use if a train breaks down?

 

[PeterC]

Platform removal seems to have been the norm but not universal. Last time I looked Bow Road (GER) still had a platform, all be it covered in bushes.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Castlethorpe.
An interesting question arises; why do its platforms remain?
Blisworth closed about the same time, and Roade a few years later, but in both cases the platforms were quickly removed.

Also the site of Castlethorpe Watertroughs until electrification in 1966.
Something else unimaginable today.
The distinctive lineside water tower has also gone.

 

[TheEdge]

Platform removal seems to have been the norm but not universal. Last time I looked Bow Road (GER) still had a platform, all be it covered in bushes.

The platforms at Bealings on the East Suffolk remain in situ, although the edging stones are gone and the actual surface has deteriorated away.

 

[eMeS]

....
The distinctive lineside water tower has also gone.

I am surprised, and disappointed. Surely it deserved to be listed and perhaps more so, than some of the buildings which have been listed. Weren't water troughs somewhat unique to the UK? (or is that my imagination kicking in?!)

 

[Ianno87]

Castlethorpe.
An interesting question arises; why do its platforms remain?
Blisworth closed about the same time, and Roade a few years later, but in both cases the platforms were quickly removed.

Guess: Unlike other locations, demolishing the platforms would not achieve any other benefit (e.g. increasing the line speed)

 

[Merle Haggard]

Guess: Unlike other locations, demolishing the platforms would not achieve any other benefit (e.g. increasing the line speed)

Well, there's a kink in the slow lines at Castlethorpe because of the platform between the Up Fast and Down Slow, but I don't know whether that reduces the speed. At Roade, the alignment remains unchanged from when there was a similar platform, but realignment would not be possible (A508 overbridge) and would be pointless (the old and new lines have already started to separate). Blisworth at closure had platforms each side of the (2) tracks on straight track.

Castlethorpe water softening tower's demise must have been comparatively recent - it was there last time I looked! I thought it had survived because it was listed.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Castlethorpe water softening tower's demise must have been comparatively recent - it was there last time I looked! I thought it had survived because it was listed.

Maybe it has survived.
Shows you how much notice I take going past at 125mph these days!

 

[Merle Haggard]

Maybe it has survived.
Shows you how much notice I take going past at 125mph these days!

If it is still there, I don't think it's long for this world! It's corrugated-iron cladding on a steel frame, and a lot of the cladding had rusted away. Neglect; solution to the listing problem No 2... (I don't think it could get mysteriously burnt down - quite hard to ignite - which is the No 1 solution )

 

[route:oxford]

I am surprised, and disappointed. Surely it deserved to be listed and perhaps more so, than some of the buildings which have been listed. Weren't water troughs somewhat unique to the UK? (or is that my imagination kicking in?!)

Here's the US version:-

 

[eMeS]

I've now found one of my snaps from 2011.

 

[John Webb]

…...Castlethorpe water softening tower's demise must have been comparatively recent - it was there last time I looked! I thought it had survived because it was listed.

It may be 'locally listed' but it is not on Historic England's list of nationally listed buildings.

 

[Dr Hoo]

The station has a couple of places in history (perhaps more for the Nostalgia thread). It was famous for having been re-built for WCML electrification in terms of platforms and footbridge, which also meant new buildings. Workmen were completing the new electric lighting on the day that Dr Beeching's 'Reshaping' report was published proposing closure.

A leading opponent of closure was one Robert Maxwell, the prospective Labour candidate for the Buckingham constituency who had narrowly failed to unseat the Conservative in 1959 but won the seat in October 1964, around six weeks after closure (on which day Maxwell had been part of a night-time vigil on Ernest Marples' doorstep before being moved on by police). Despite having been elected on a 'halting closures' Labour manifesto Maxwell found the new Minister of Transport surprisingly un-receptive to his re-opening campaign which withered away as the entire national closure programme was pressed forward with new energy and scope over the succeeding few years.

But at least Maxwell was in parliament and well placed to develop his widespread business and media interests.

 

[185]

I pass Castlethorpe a lot, 3 of the 4 the platforms are there (up slow is missing), but heavily overgrown and it looks like NR have used a cutter to diagonally slice the front off the coping stones to avoid it clipping passing trains. Don't think there's much nearby and reopening would slow down a pretty quick stretch of track.

 

[eMeS]

With regard to the water treatment tower, it's currently shown on Google Maps Satellite - "Map Data" dated 2020 (for what that's worth...)

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.co.uk

 

[eMeS]

With regard to the water treatment tower, it's currently shown on Google Maps Satellite - "Map Data" dated 2020 (for what that's worth...)

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.co.uk

and here's a snap from earlier today - so it hasn't been demolished, yet...

 

[Merle Haggard]

It may be 'locally listed' but it is not on Historic England's list of nationally listed buildings.

Thanks for that, sorry for my error. This is how it arose; there seem to be no traces left at any other former troughs sites on the West Coast and I asked someone who I thought would know why, and his answer was what I repeated.
It still does beg the question - how has it survived?

Incidentally, on a school Latin* class visit to Chester by train, the EE4 used Hademore troughs to refill the train heating boiler tank. Possibly just easier than using a water crane.
*so I did learn something useful...

 

[RT4038]

Here's the US version:-

Called 'Track Pans' over there, I believe.

 

[al green]

I walked past it last weekend and still very much there. But its about 1/2 mile south of the old station so anyone looking for it at the station might miss it.

 

[Andy Pacer]

Could the platforms be useful for emergency use if a train breaks down?

I doubt that would be a specific reason for keeping them, even if justified.

 

[DarloRich]

There are semi regular mutterings in the local press ( or there were until it stopped being printed due to covid) about a campaign to reopen this station.