Was there ever a rail link to the NW part of Morris Cowley Works?

[route:oxford]

Looking at the overhead view of Tesco at Ambassador Avenue, Oxford...

http://goo.gl/maps/n9sgW

It looks like the "natural curve" of a former rail spur heading North from the Morris Cowley route.

There is also an underpass between Tesco and the business park that looks remarkably capable of accommodating a railway...

http://goo.gl/maps/FZofH

But I'm sure that the whole overbridge was built as part of the redevelopment of the area, long after the works were demolished.

Could, perhaps, the developers have had some kind of foresight and considered the future opportunity for a light-rail network utilising the formation of the Morris (BMW) spur?

 

[Dumpton Park]

When I was a child, my grandparents lived in Dodgson Road in Cowley, (my grandfather worked at Morris's until 1978 - back then four cars out of five round there were Austin Morris, as was). That tunnel, or one very near it, I think used to be the route new cars took from the factory to the storage areas south of the dual carriageway. I well remember standing on a footpath almost there watching new Princesses Itals and whatnot coming out of what was once a huge complex, many many times bigger than what's still there (even more so if you added in Pressed Steel Fisher), and heading to the car park - it looks like a remnant of the storage carparks is still there next to the supermarket to the right of the curved road.

I don't *think* there was a rail spur off the Thame line - certainly my dad, who grew up there, never mentioned it as far as I remember, and that whole area was a huge factory building in the 1970s and 80s at least, if not earlier. Perhaps something was put in during the war? It certainly does look railway curve-like, I agree.

By the way, his sister's house's garden was extended onto the trackbed of the branch in Wheatley after closure - and they could remember flying bananas running through from just after their house was built...

Dp

 

[Chris125]

Google Earth has imagery from 1945 which shows no evidence of anything there, not even a field boundary.

Chris

 

[CarltonA]

Yes, there was a spur going to the north opposite the stadium which served one of the Morris buildings. Check out Sabre Maps website and go for the 1:25,000 Historic O.S. maps. Sorry, I dont seem able to produce a decent link at the moment. You should get a post war view of all the trackwork in about 1948.

 

[route:oxford]

Thanks for the replies.

I've now found an image of the area just prior to the bypass over-bridge being built.

http://www.cowleyhistory.org.uk/assets/images/db_images/db_presrdconv11.jpg

Now, it looks like the bypass (and tunnel/underpass) was built during the 90s - after the works were demolished.

The underpass is handy anyway for pedestrains reaching M&S from the business park - but I'm curious if it's just a coincidence about the location and being of the size and shape to accommodate a rail route or if there were some other plan.

 

[The Planner]

The flyover was built in the 90s but the ring road there is 1970s vintage. The underbridge you are talking about was always there as the road climbed from the old roundabout.