Bicester Military Railway

[rogerfarnworth]

Please would moderators move this thread if it is not on the best forum. .....

 

It seems as though this railway is all but abandoned. It appears that way when travelling through the site. If anyone knows any better, it would be good to hear from you. I have seen pictures on the internet, with notes about the railway, which say that it was last used in 2014.

 

I only came across the railway by accident as I explain in my blog:

 

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/bicester-military-railway

 

I have been aware of the Longmoor Military Railway for some time now. I knew nothing of the Bicester Military Railway until my wife and I had part of a weekend in the area. We were travelling along the M40 and using Satnav and we noticed and interesting area off to the East of the motorway which was just visible on the Satnav. Our initial thought was that there might have been some opencast workings in the area.

 

Much of the site has been sold off. The northern half of Graven Hill Depot is now an estate of plots for self build homes! (https://www.gravenhill.co.uk)

 

 

[Nearholmer]

I believe that the link to NR is still serviceable, but my observation is the same as yours: most of what can be seen of the Railway looks derelict. I guess that containerisation makes for much more efficient use of storage space.

[rob D2]

Interesting.

There’s still military trains running to there but they seem to have abandoned the old container loading area by the A41.

Wonder where they get loaded now

[lmsforever]

Since the 1960,s I have watched this system contract ,then many of the buildings were used regularily with daily trains and one shed visible from the road was used for the restoration of an ex BR diesel .In later years I used to deliver fish in parts of the area of the base and saw a junction signalbox semaphores and the occasional train.Graven Hill barracks was very busy place and when I visited I stopped at a barrier and collected an escort (complete with rifle) I delivered to the officers mess and the sergeants mess.One morning just before xmas I saw the troops completing their cross country run and watched the CO give his address to them I had to stop, as a civilian I was not wanted anywhere near the parade ground.The new houses are going up quickly and its  causing chaos at the roundabout before the bypass.The railway went quite a way from the A41 and was single track with some branches not seeing trains for weeks.When the army had a vehicle auction a site next to the road to Thame was used and you could buy a Land Rover for under a £1000 happy days.Lorries were a bit more expensive and many other items were also sold off at least you could see what your taxes were used for.There was a railtour once or twice maybe someone has photos of them but I cant remember when they happened.A chap who was a fellow member of the R&DMRC actually got to be in charge of the network and he used to come to club and say who wants models when you've the real thing everyday!