Charwelton railway station

Charwelton railway station is a closed station on the former Great Central Railway main line, the last main line to be built from the North of England to London. The station opened with the line on 15 March 1899 serving the village of Charwelton in Northamptonshire.

History
The station was one of the standard island platform design typical of the London Extension, and here it was the more common "cutting" type reached from a roadway (the Banbury to Daventry road, today's A361, formerly the B4036), that crossed over the line. Just to the south were Charwelton Watertroughs, while to the north was Catesby Tunnel, 2,997 yards in length, about 1.7 miles (2.74 km).

In 1917 the Park Gate Iron and Steel Company, based at Parkgate near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, opened an ironstone quarry at the nearby village of Hellidon, and constructed a standard gauge industrial railway just over a mile in length to transport the stone to the main line. Production ceased in June 1933 but the Ministry of Supply ordered its resumpton in May 1941. It ceased once more in October 1945, but was resumed yet again in May 1951. The goods yard at Charwelton was a hive of activity at its peak, with up to 200 wagons stabled in its sidings at any one time. As late as 1961 a new quarry was opened at Hellidon, but this proved less successful and so both quarry and line closed on 18 November that same year, the branch being dismantled in June 1963 and the sidings at Charwelton following in 1964.

Charwelton station closed to passengers and goods on 4 March 1963, the line itself on 5 September 1966. The station buildings had already gone before the line closed, though the platform remained until the mid-1980s as so - more critically - did the road bridge. This became something of a traffic hazard owing to its steep approaches, a sharp kink in the road at the apex on the west side, and poor visibility. In 1985 the bridge was demolished and the road straightened and lowered. The platform was removed at the same time. The road now cuts across the site of the platform roughly level with the "Charwelton" name-sign in the 1909 photograph above right.