Original Culham Station name board
Original nameboard from Oxford Station
Courtesy of the Didcot Railway Centre
Oxford's first railway staion in 1850
Oxford’s station at Grandpont circa 1850
from 'History of the GWR' by MacDermot, 1927
Buy your tickets at the Post Office
Henry Taunt's map of the Thames in Oxford, 1879, showing the layout of the railway when all three stations were still in place.
from 'A New Map of the River Thames' (3rd ed)
Taunt & Co, 1879
GWR Oxford poster
Joint GWR and LMS poster
Courtesy of the Great Western Trust

Oxford


1st to 30th June: South Oxford railway history trail

Discover the fascinating and hidden history of the first railway in Oxford by following a special self-guided trail. Using the map, search out all twenty five information posters and retrace the original route of the railway to Oxford's first station.

  • Download or print the trail map which shows where to find all the posters

Saturday 15th June 12:00noon - 6:00pm

At Oxford we’ll be centering our events at the Grandpont Recreation Ground and Pavilion, which are very close to the site of Oxford’s first railway station, just off the Abingdon Road near Folly Bridge.

There is no admission charge for this event.

We will have:

  • Miniature train rides with COSME (who run the Cutteslowe Park Miniature railway)
  • Refreshments provided by the South Oxford WI
  • Working model train displays from the Oxford & District Model Railway Club
  • Children’s activities organised by playworkers from the South Oxford Adventure Playground (SOAP) and the Orinoco Scrapstore
  • Victorian music from members of the Mellstock Band in period costume
  • Stalls by Oxford Preservation Trust, Oxford Civic Society, the Museum of Oxford, Railfuture Thames Valley, Oxford Folio Books, Littlemore History Society, Kennington History Society, Oxfordshire Antique Bottle Collecting Club and St Matthew's Bridge Builder Trust
  • Displays and exhibitions about the history of Oxford’s railways
  • Guided walks to the nationally-important LMS swingbridge with local historian Mark Davies, and railway historian David Mather, and boat rides back on Oxford’s Water Taxi
  • A self-guided trail focusing on local railway history
  • A children’s competition to Design the Train of the Future, judged by – amongst others – Jim Noble, Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s great-great-great grandson
  • A children’s competition to describe A Train Journey of the Past, Present or Future, judged by – amongst others – former GWR Writer in Residence James Attlee, and novelist Lucy Atkins ; prizes for both competitions will be presented by Tim Dunn, railway historian and broadcaster

Special offer on Oxford Bus Company's PickMeUp service

Oxford Bus Company is offering a special rate of only £1 per single journey for any trip by PickMeUp bus to or from Grandpont, within the PickMeUp travel zone, all day on 15th June. Not only that, but children under 5 go free, and if you book three people to travel together on the same journey, the third person goes free as well.

Just download the PickMeUp app, put in the postcode of our event venue on Whitehouse Road in Grandpont - OX1 4QH - and you're off!

Steam railtours by Vintage Trains of Tyseley

  • Vintage Trains will joining the celebrations by bringing their Oxford 175 Express railtour from Birmingham to Oxford hauled by their flagship locomotive, GWR number 7029 'Clun Castle'.
  • They will also be operating a very special Oxford 175 Luncheon Circular from Oxford Parkway and Oxford hauled of course by 'Clun Castle'.

Exhibition

The Oxfordshire County Librar in the Westgate Precinct will be hosting an exhibition between 25th May and 10th June to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Didcot to Oxford railway. Find more details under the 'OTHER EVENTS' menu tab.