[Source: Darren Kitson]
Moreton-in-Marsh Station: Gallery 4
7 June 1958 - May 1978 old27.jpg) On the 7th of June 1958 a brake van tour organised by The Railway Club took a trip along the Shipston-on-Stour branch. Here it is seen at Moreton-in-Marsh prior to departing along the branch. The points ahead of the locomotive are set for the branch. The tour started from and ended at Paddington; it covered a number of other lines but whether the train of five brake vans ran from/to Paddington is not known. More likely, is tour participants using service trains, with the brake vans being provided only for the Shipston and Chipping Norton branches; tour tickets were marked 'Special Arrangement' which might suggest this was the case. The locomotive, BR Standard Class 2 2-6-0 No. 78009 appears to have had a quick spruce-up for the occasion. She was a Worcester locomotive at the time and indeed spent ten years of her short life of a little under eleven years at that shed. Withdrawn in 1964 she was not among the few class members to survive into preservation.
Copyright photo from Colour Rail  This is not the best of images in terms of the subject, but at the time of writing this is the only known photograph showing Todenham Road level crossing when the railway was still in existence. We are looking north with Moreton-in-Marsh station a short distance behind the camera. The crossing gates appear to be quite dilapidated which might suggest that the photograph was taken not long before the Shipston-on-Stour branch closed in 1960. The line south of this crossing was considered part of Moreton's goods sidings, as mentioned elsewhere, hence the presence of the Limit of Shunt warning. The short section south of the Limit of Shunt was therefore not governed by the 'one engine in steam' rule which applied to the rest of the branch. This would explain why and as also mentioned elsewhere these gates being reputedly unlocked, operated and locked by a member of station staff. There was a signal; believed Distant, a hundred or so yards behind the camera and another, presumably a Stop signal, north of the level crossing. This latter signal was located immediately north of the crossing and later, further north at Fosse Lodge (see the maps here). This would suggest interlocking between gates and the aforementioned signals which in turn would suggest the presence of a Ground Frame. However, while deductions based upon normal signalling practice, for the time, are all well and good the facts surrounding Todenham Road level crossing had proved elusive at the time of writing. Certainly there was very little that was 'normal' about the Shipston-on-Stour branch even in passenger days and it operated to the end, more akin to a largely un-signalled light railway.
Photo received from Doug Parish old26.jpg) In March 1964, Beyer-Peacock (Hymek) Type 3 diesel-hydraulic No. D7058 arrives at Moreton-in-Marsh with a lengthy Down passenger train. In the right background the original goods shed has gone and its new, smaller replacement is in use. At extreme right a grounded carriage body can just be seen. At some point in time during BR days this had replaced a corrugated iron hut, presumably used as a lamp room, which had been all-but hidden from view by the previous and larger running-in board which stood where the unpaved platform surface can be seen. The running-in board, it will be noticed, is in three horizontal sections of which the lower two do not fully align. On the left, the water crane and cast iron urinal have received a repaint; the water crane with a larger area of cream and the urinal apparently all-over cream. Locomotive D7058 in due course became a member of the 101-strong Class 35. 'Beyer-Peacock (Hymek)' was a consortium of companies, the 'Hymek' name being derived from Hydraulic and Mekydro. The Hymeks were relatively small and neat, but perhaps a little overstyled, machines. They had their problems, among which was a tendency to overheat, but when working well they worked well and are often regarded as the best of the BR main line diesel-hydraulic types. No. D7058 is seen here in its original livery but the arrival of blue livery saw a number of variations. All BR's diesel-hydraulic main line locomotives fell victim to being deemed 'non standard'. There were also fleets of diesel-hydraulic multiple-units and shunting locomotives, both of which were not confined to the Western Region. Despite BR wanting rid of all diesel-hydraulic forms of traction, it nevertheless soon reappeared on the next generation of diesel multiple-units, the Pacers, Sprinters etc. The Hymeks were the penultimate type of diesel-hydraulic locomotive to survive in revenue service, the last being the Class 52 'Westerns', with the final examples bowing out in 1975. Four examples made it into preservation but D7058 was not among them.
Copyeigh photo from Colour Rail old19.jpg)
Looking south from the road bridge in September 1966, when the only real hint of something resembling modernity was the running lines now laid with flat bottom rails at this end of the station. On the left, the creamery shows evidence of its Unigate ownership and close observation reveals that the through road through the east face (left) of the island platform had been severed and a buffer stop positioned adjacent to the platform ramp. Any rail traffic for the creamery which remained by this time would need to be reversed onto the siding from the Up Main line but it is possible rail traffic had ceased by this time. The sidings going off to the right were the mileage sidings on the site of the former tramway wharf. These sidings were latterly used for coal traffic and were to remain in situ for many more years. The crane on the right appears to be engaged in the demolition of a hut which had stood adjacent.
Photo from DK Jones collection old8.jpg) The beginning of the decline at Moreton-in-Marsh in July 1967, seen from London Road bridge. Several sidings have been lifted and Moreton's large goods shed has disappeared but the yard crane, for now, survives. The small and then quite new goods shed to the left would appear to be in use by a coal merchant if the open wagons and elevator are reliable indications. The signal box is partly obscured by the signal backboard, a device used to aid sighting. The Shipston branch finally closed in 1960 but its track, curving to the right behind the creamery, was retained for use as an engineer’s siding and this short, truncated section is perhaps what we are seeing here.
Photo from John Mann collection 
Station Inspector Geoff Cresswell with Lassie and bespectacled bush. It is not clear who is imitating who! The date is unknown although it is sometime after 1967 as the uninviting prefabricated waiting room installed that year is present. At the platform, the former track of the Shipston-on-Stour branch now ends at a buffer stop adjacent to the platform. Above the buffer stop and in the background a siding once branched off to serve a foundry, the site of which came to be occupied by the creamery. This siding continued to exist after the creamery was established but had disappeared by 1919. The other track seen here was also a siding which once continued almost to Todenham Road but was by now truncated just around the curve.
Photo from Susan Cresswell 
Station Inspector Geoff Cresswell is seen here tending the station gardens, or perhaps merely posing among them for the camera. Staff at many stations took great pride in their gardens and there were annual 'best' competitions. In those days staff had the time and in part because there were often plenty of them would also devote some of their off duty time. Today floral displays at stations away from the big cities tend to be left to volunteer 'Friends of' groups of local people. One wonders to where the porter is going with his barrow, having walked past or come from the station building. This was the time of the BR 'black on white' corporate livery for signage but the Renault advertisement appears to have been positioned where few people would actually see it, perhaps because in the 1960s and later, the 'Buy British' approach was still prevalent albeit to a lesser degree than previously. Over on the island platform all bench seats face the main line, any need for seats facing the Shipston-on-Stour platform having long since vanished.
Photo from Susan Cresswell 
An undated view showing Beyer Peacock (Hymek) Class 35 diesel-hydraulic No. D7100 powering away from Moreton-in-Marsh. Presumably the train is destined for Paddington and has come from other Hereford or Worcester but without knowing the year, at least, these details cannot be determined from the 1A78 headcode. Beyer Peacock (Hymek) was an offshoot of Beyer Peacock incorporating the licence-holding manufacturers of the power and transmission units, namely Bristol Siddeley (Maybach engines) and Stone-Platt (Mekydro transmissions. D7100 was the final member of the 101-strong class, new to traffic in February 1974 she gained the blue with full yellow ends livery as seen here in August 1969 and was withdrawn in November 1972, thereby providing a date window for this photograph. On the left some vans loiter on the goods shed road while what remained of the Up sidings, on the right, were still in use at this time and would remain so for several more years.
Photo from Martin Prossor  On the 9th of June 1973 an unidentified Class 35 'Hymek' B-B diesel hydraulic departs for Paddington. The then single track section towards Evesham is visible in the background and the Hymek has now joined the double track section to Ascott-under-Wychwood. A rake of vans probably for fruit traffic, stands on the goods shed road while another rake sits in the Up sidings to the right. At this time these sidings were sometimes used as holding sidings with vans transferred over to the goods shed road as required. There was another siding on the right, but this time long since lifted, leaving just the points in situ and there appears to be a short length of rail lying on the right hand rail presumably to act as a crude stop device. The remains of yet another siding can be seen immediately right of the locomotive; it used to run up to the end of the platform and is visible in one of the aerial views. Presumably this siding was removed to make way for the signal to the right of the train. The Hymeks were a familiar sight on this line, working Paddington to Worcester and Hereford trains. They were neat and fairly dependable machines although their styling did not entirely suit their relatively short length. The 101-strong class was introduced in 1961 but fell victim to line closures, service reductions and the BR determination to get rid of 'non standard' types which included the diesel hydraulics. The latter did not, however, prevent BR opting for hydraulic transmission for its second generation DMUs. The last of the Hymeks bowed out in 1975 and four have survived into preservation.
Photo by Paul Townsend from his Flickr photostream 15.jpg) Moreton-in-Marsh up platform seen from a passing northbound train in April 1974. The Shipston-on-Stour platform is on the far side of the up platform. The branch, now reduced to a short engineers siding curves away to the north east ending at buffers just before a footpath crosses the line.
Photo by Alan Young 14.jpg)
The main station building seen here from an Up train in January 1974. While Moreton-in-Marsh is known to have been given BR 'totem' nameplates, what appears to be present here are lamp tablets or perhaps an early form of BR corporate signage. Looking at the lamp post on the left, these plates are not what one might call obvious. The (then) usual collection of platform barrows can be seen while beneath the canopy awaits a young lady with perambulator. Adjacent to the onlookers on the footbridge, a gas lamp appears to be still in use despite the platforms now being electrically illuminated.
Photo by Alan Young 
On the 17th of May 1974, HM Queen Elizabeth II opened the Fire Service College at Moreton-in-Marsh. Here is the Royal train shortly after its arrival at Moreton-in-Marsh from Paddington with Oxford driver Ray Bennett posing for the camera. Driver Gerry Weston, also of Oxford, was in charge of the second locomotive. The college actually dated from 1959 when the fire service took over the former RAF Moreton-in-Marsh but it saw a number of changes, including to its title, over successive years until it re-emerged in 1974 as a modern, centralised college for senior fire service members, having replaced a similar facility at Dorking, Surrey. The two locomotives are Brush Class 31s. This type was not native to the Western Region but began to be drafted in from East Anglia in 1968 when the Western Region's diesel-hydraulic types were beginning to be phased out.
Photo
by Simon Hall
 Looking from the footbridge at Moreton-in-Marsh station, along the course of the former Shipston-on-Stour branch in September 1974. By this time the track at the east face of the island platform had been truncated just south of the footbridge. At left of centre background and immediately to the right of the building with the curved roof, the pitched roof building with two identical windows is the former Todenham Road crossing keeper's cottage. It can be seen how the track south of the cottage, snaked about dogleg fashion to reach the station. Left of centre is evidence of where a siding once branched off to serve the foundry on the site of what became the creamery. The rickety fence behind the buffer stop is or was (it ceased to be shown on later maps) part of a footbridge over a drainage ditch alongside the railway. When the track was still in situ a wooden foot crossing was also provided. The footpath, seen here at bottom left, led to a number of such paths to the east of town and most if not all are still in existence.The stretch of water parallel to the railway but appearing to end just south of the footbridge is part of the River Evenlode. From the river's source at nearby Batsford it is little more than a ditch. When it reaches a point near the top of Hospital Road (formerly West Street) it is then channelled underground to reappear at what on the map looks like a basin. The stretch of river parallel to the railway and as far south as London Road is suspiciously straight, suggesting either this part of the river was rerouted, perhaps when the railway was built, or widened to improve drainage.Photo by Bryan Hicks copyright Anthony Hicks  A view across the former tramway wharf and later, mileage sidings in October 1974. The terraces dead ahead of the camera are original tramway buildings. These contained offices and domestic accommodation mainly for the merchants who made use of the tramway during the time the headquarters of the horse tramway that was the Stratford & Moreton Railway, were located here. The photograph was taken from the mainline station footbridge and facing north-west. The small hut with a window was the weigh office, which was provided with the mileage sidings, which are still in situ. Given the materials stacked on at least one siding, they were presumably out of use by this date. Coal may have still been delivered by rail to the north end dock but the position of the coal pen, remote from it and complete with Ferguson tractor and Bedford TK lorry, suggests not. At the bottom of the photograph is the head of one of the station platform's concrete lamp posts. None of the former tramway buildings have survived and the site is now a Co-op supermarket and car park.
Photo by Bryan Hicks copyright Anthony Hicks old28.jpg)
Moreton-in-Marsh station seen from a passing northbound train in July 1976. The island platform is seen with the Shipston-on-Stour bay on the right. The chimney from the Unigate bottling plant is seen in the distance. The plant closed in the late 1960s.
Copyright photo by HC Casserley
old20.jpg) Looking north from London Road bridge in August 1976. The sidings on the right, which began life as exchange sidings for what was the horse-drawn Stratford & Moreton Railway, are now used for stabling track maintenance machines. The island platform partly abutted the signal box and partly extended behind it, this curiosity being just about discernible. The 1966 view of the north end of the station shows flat bottom rails to have been laid but ten years later the south end still retained bullhead rails. On the left, two rakes of box vans stand on the goods siding serving the 1950s replacement goods shed. The vans were probably for fruit traffic. In his 1963 publication "The Reshaping of British Railways" Dr Richard Beeching had quite rightly recommended the abandonment of wagon load traffic but, as evidenced here, it took many more years to fully implement.Photo by Pete Hackney from his Flickr photostream 13.jpg) A view from the London end of the island platform in May 1978. The scene is similar to one of the earlier photos of Station Inspector Geoff Cresswell. Still present is the canine bush, now looking rather unkempt but apparently still bespectacled. In the right background can just be seen the level crossing keeper's cottage at Todenham Road which for operational reasons had been the official starting point of the Shipston-on-Stour branch.Photo by Simon Hall
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