Moreton-in-Marsh railway station serves the town of Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire, England, and is on the Cotswold Line between Kingham and Honeybourne.[1] The station and all passenger trains serving it are operated by Great Western Railway.

History

The station was opened by the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OWW) on 4 June 1853,[2] the day that the southern section of the OWW's main line, between Evesham and Wolvercote Junction (just north of Oxford), was opened.[3] It was once the southern end of the Stratford-upon-Avon to Moreton tramway.

In the early 1970s, 25 miles (40 km) of track from Moreton-in-Marsh to Norton Junction, Worcester, were converted from double to single track, and the station became a passing place.[4] Reduplication of the line was completed in 2011, and Moreton-in-Marsh is once again a station on normal double track, with two side platforms. Between 2000 and 2010, the station was the base of Cotswold Rail, a spot-hire company for shunting and mainline locomotives, which went into liquidation.

In August 2019, the direct Great Western train service from London Paddington station to the Moreton-in-Marsh railway station (code MIM) was expected to take under two hours.[5] The average time to get to the station from Birmingham was 2.75 hours.[6]

Bilingual signs

Several information and direction signs around the station are bilingual – in English and Japanese. That is for the benefit of tourists because Japanese television promotes the Cotswolds as a holiday destination. The signs were the idea of station manager Teresa Ceesay, who had noticed the popularity of the town with Japanese tourists, and that many asked for information at the station's ticket office. The cost of £350 was met by train operator First Great Western.[7]

Services

Great Western Railway operates all services at Moreton-in-Marsh. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Honeybourne   Great Western Railway
Cotswold Line 		  Kingham
  Historical railways  
Blockley   Great Western Railway
Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway 		  Adlestrop
Terminus   Stratford and Moreton Tramway   Stretton-on-Fosse
Terminus   Shipston-on-Stour branch   Stretton-on-Fosse

In popular culture

The station was used in the filming of the BBC2 situation comedy, Butterflies.

References

  1. ^ Baker, S.K. (April 2007) [1977]. Rail Atlas Great Britain & Ireland (11th ed.). Hersham: Oxford Publishing Co. p. 34, section A1. ISBN 978-0-86093-602-2. 0704/K.
  2. ^ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 163. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  3. ^ MacDermot, E.T. (1927). History of the Great Western Railway, vol. I: 1833-1863. Paddington: Great Western Railway. pp. 498, 867.
  4. ^ "Oxford-Worcester line singling". Railway World (368): 2. January 1971.
  5. ^ https://www.thetrainline.com/train-times/london-paddington-to-moreton-in-marsh, Moreton-in-Marsh to London
  6. ^ https://www.thetrainline.com/train-times/birmingham-to-moreton-in-marsh, Birmingham to Moreton-in-Marsh
  7. ^ "Japanese signs installed at Cotswold railway station to help tourism". This is Gloucestershire. 12 January 2011. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2011.

External links