Shipston Online

The Shipston line came into being as part of a plan to link the Midlands with London.  William James of Henley in Arden (“father of railways”) planned a horse drawn tramway to link the many canals in the Midlands to the canal systems from Oxford to London.

He could see that transporting goods by rail would be faster than the mud roads over the Cotswold Hills. The hills made it to expensive to build a canal system in this area. A horse drawn tramway was, therefore, planned from Stratford to Oxford, with a branch off to Shipston which would eventually link with Warwick and Coventry. The planed links to other places got no further than the Branch line to Shipston.

The main line opened on 5th September 1826 between Moreton-in-Marsh and Stratford-Upon-Avon, the branch to Shipston opened much later on the 11th April 1836 with the planed link to Warwick and Coventry abolished.  The line allowed for a passenger service to be operated along with coal southwards and stone/agricultural produce northwards.  During the first year the Moreton to Stratford line’s income was £3000 with expenses at £1400, so it was quite profitable. 

In 1853 the Shipston line was upgraded.  Once the line was reopened in 1856 a passenger service ran from Moreton to Stratford twice daily operated by Mr. Bull of the George Inn, Shipston.  Freight continued to run back and forth across the line.

When the Great Western Railway (GWR), took over from the OWWR (Oxford, Worcestershire and Wolverhampton Railway) they paid the tramway operators running rights to Shipston.  At this time, Parliamentary powers were sought to bring the Shipston branch up to GWR standard allowing steam engines to operate as opposed to everything being horse drawn.  However, the original acts forebode the use of steam locomotives.  A further act was passed in 1883 to allow steam trains to run to Shipston.

On 1st July 1889 the newly upgraded line was opened with 4 mixed trains, both freight and passenger running daily between Moreton and Shipston.  The branch locomotive was stored in a small brick built engine shed at Shipston.  Unusual features of the line were that after leaving Moreton there were no signals until reaching Shipston and all the Station buildings on the line had an external wooden frame structure. 

The engine shed used by the branch locomotive was closed in 1916.  This shed was used by the army for two years during the First World War and later became the garage for the GWR lorry used for delivering in and around Shipston.   Passenger trains continued to run until 8th July 1929 when a GWR passenger bus service was introduced which lasted just 6 months.  Freight services were finally withdrawn on the 2nd May 1960 after which the station closed and the lines were lifted.