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How well do you know the GB rail network? [OpenRailwayMap snapshot]. Where is it?
Solid lines = Open, Hashed lines = Removed
Please send your answers to raildate.co.uk@gmail.com
This "temporary" station on Brunel's Great Western Railway lasted 35 years (1838 - 1872). Where is it?
Answer: Maidenhead Dumb Bell Bridge Station to begin with, later called Maidenhead & Taplow. Congratulations are due to the following for their correct answers: Phil Deaves, Dave Goodyear, Richard Whitbread, Peter Tisdale, Paul Hopper, Bernard Gudgin, Jim Allwood, Richard Maund, Leslie Braithwaite, Chris Gibbard, Gérard van Teeffelen
A temporary station was built east of the river Thames at the point where the GWR crosses the Bath Road. Its purpose was to exchange passengers onto horse-drawn coaches until such time as Brunel's Maidenhead bridge was completed (1838), and was named after a well-known adjacent coaching inn. The prominent clocktower was there to advertise "Railway Time". The 1899 map below shows the location; the line had been 4-tracked in 1891.
The GWR Board had already resolved by 1838 to build a proper Maidenhead station west of the river - but it didn't happen until 1871. The Bath Road crossing of the Thames levied a toll until 1911, making the first Maidenhead station far from convenient, but its location did greatly encourage development of the riverside area as a sort-of "Soho-on-Thames" resort. (Popular refrain: “Are you married or do you live in Maidenhead?”). From 1854, the town was served by Maidenhead Boyne Hill station on the Wycombe branch, which was better located within the prestigious High Town Estate. The GWR took over the Wycombe Railway Company in 1867, and converted it from broad gauge to standard gauge in 1870. Only then did Maidenhead get a single station at its current location.
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© Matthew Shaw 2024