Culham station through time
During the Great Western era, 1843-1947
Postcard published by T.Leach of Abingdon
Author's collection
Culham station in 1904
This hand tinted postcard was printed by T.Leach of Bath Street, Abingdon. Although published in 1904 the actual photograph may have been taken a year or two previously. Posted by a student at Culham College who wrote that he was looking forward to once more standing on this platform, presumably to return home at the end of term. It is franked 'Abingdon 28 Oct 1904'.
In this view the original signal box can be seen with the signalman leaning out surveying the scene. Platform 2 does appear to be quite busy. As originaly built, passengers at stations such as Culham were expected to cross the line via a boarded crossing as in the foreground. A safer alternative would have been to use the arched road bridge in the background. A few more years had to elapse after this picture was taken before Culham eventually got its footbridge. To the right is the original platform shelter and behind it the 'Railway Hotel' as it was then called. Near the centre of the picture can be seen some discarded conical milk churns and the head shunt from the goods shed, still laid with broad gauge bridge rail despite the Didcot to Oxford branch having been converted to standard gauge more than thirty years previously in 1872. The very tall telegraph pole carries many wires, all for use by the railway.
Station plan from 1908
Courtesy of the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre
In 1908, the Rt. Hon. Lewis Harcourt M.P. entered into an agreement with the GWR for the installation of some telephone wires across the line. More details of this and another earlier agreement can be found under the 'Nuneham House' page under the 'BITS & BOBS' menu tab. The original documents are held in the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre in Chippenham, itself a town with interesting Brunel and railway links. Included with the agreement is the above plan showing the proposed telephone wires in red. It is included here as, being a scaled drawing, it serves to document what the track layout was at the time and the relative position of the railway buildings.
Another interesting historical note is that the foot crossing at the end of the platforms is clearly shown, but a footbridge is still absent. This means of crossing the line was becoming increasingly dangerous with at least one fatality. One final observation is that the ticket office is shown as being parallel with the platform edge but this is not quite true. As with many old buildings absolute squareness is a rareity and the Old Ticket Office is no exception.
Courtesy of the Great Western Trust
Footbridge being erected around 1909/10
We are very grateful to Laurence Waters for making available this unique image from the Geat Western Trust archive which featured in his book Oxfordshire Railways in Old Photographs - a Second Selection. It shows workmen constructing what would be the very first footbridge connecting the two platforms. This helps to date the photograph, as we know the bridge is not present on the 1908 plan above but is confirmed as having been installed by the photograph below from 1911. Another clue can be obtained from examining old 25inch to the mile O.S. maps. The bridge is absent from the map revised in 1897 and published in 1899, but clearly shown (along with the relatively new Station House) on the 1910 revision published in 1912.
Close examination of the photograph reveals that the footbridge has yet to have its stair treads installed, and the canopy roof is clearly a work in progress. Health and safety would not have been a requirement at the time, as evidenced by the workman posing casually on a ladder leant against one of the smoke deflectors. We hope a train was not due soon! One workman is standing and another is kneeling on a temporary planked platform with what appears to be a large paint tin beside him. This photograph was taken from the forecourt of the Railway Hotel and shows the end of the waiting room building on the Down platform, just in front of which can be seen a man with a donkey cart.
A.B.MacLeod, Chris Leigh Collection
Culham circa 1911
Many thanks go to Chris Leigh for letting us use these photographs from his personal collection, believed to have been taken sometime during 1911 by A.B. McLeod. One is possibly the earliest view we have found of the signal box and the signal man can be seen leaning out of the window seemingly keeping a close eye on the photographer. In the larger version of this image a notice is visible on a post at the end of the platform stating that PASSENGERS are requested to CROSS the LINE on the BRIDGE and the old boarded crossing clearly no longer exists. This helps to confirm that the footbridge had to have been installed during, or before, 1911.
GWR Dean Goods 0-6-0 No 2579 is seen passing through on the up line towards Didcot with a mixed goods train. Built at Swindon works in January 1899 No 2579 was to remain in service until December 1953 when it was withdrawn from 81F Oxford shed to be scrapped shortly afterwards. Between 1883 and 1899 260 of this class of goods locomotives were built to William Dean's design. Officially classified as the 2301 class, the design broke with previous GWR tradition in only having inside frames.
A.B.MacLeod, Chris Leigh Collection
A.B.MacLeod, Chris Leigh Collection
A.B.MacLeod, Chris Leigh Collection
A.B.MacLeod, Chris Leigh Collection
A down goods hauled by an engine identified by the photographer as being '0-6-0 no.368' is seen on the left passing a line of coal wagons which are standing on the long siding leading to the cattle dock spur. The photographer must have been positioned on the goods shed loop. Visible are an unmarked 7-plank wagon, a GW 5-plank tarpaulin wagon and an unmarked 5-plank tarpaulin wagon, then an MR 6-plank wagon follwed by what appears to be a 7-plank private-owner wagon. The photograph is not clear enough to read the name on this wagon however.
The right hand photographs shows GWR 4-4-0 Bulldog class No 3404 'Barbados' at the head of an up mixed goods. Built at Swindon works in March 1904 as number 3466 it was renumbered to 3404 in 1910. It remained in service until September 1937 when it was withdrawn from Reading shed to be scrapped at Swindon works. The cattle dock and its short spur is clearly seen. Behind this appears at first sight to be a closed van possibly on another siding, this is in fact a road going trailer which has been parked up in the yard.
Unknown photographer, courtesy of Chris Harvey
Culham circa 1912
Chris Harvey sent us a digital copy of this unattributed photograph believed to have been taken sometime during 1912. It is taken from an unusual, and dangerous, viewpoint between the main running lines so it is little wonder that the signalman is keeping a close eye on the photographer. In the full-sized image the point rodding can be clearly seen running across the tracks just the other side of the ground signal and then towards the viewer alongside the recessed platform face on the right (down side). Just visible to the left are some signal wires and pulleys. A ladder is propped up against the nearest gas lamp on platform 1 and at least one gas lamp can be seen suspended beneath the ticket office canopy.
A.B.MacLeod, Chris Leigh Collection
Station House around 1914
This is another image made available to us by Chris Leigh. It gives a fascinating glimpse of Station House, which had been built less than 20 years previously, together with the Station Master and his young family. Chris has the image noted as dating from around 1920, but we believe that it was taken a few years earlier than that. It is known from census records of 1911 that the Station Master at the time, G.W.Townsend, was married and had a seven year old son and a five year old daughter. Their postal address was given as 'Culham Station'. He left Culham in early 1917 and, judging by the apparent ages of the children in the photgraph, it may well show him and family at around 1914.
The imposing station yard gates can also be seen. These have sadly long gone, but one white gate post still remains in place by the fence at the front of the house. The start of the estate road which would have connected the station forecourt to Nuneham Park is not visible in this photograph, but is probably out of shot to the right and behind the far white gate running closely alongside the hedge.
Courtesy of the Great Western Trust
The station in June 1919
As yet we have little information about this image from the Great Western Trust archive, but it is believed to date from 14th June 1919.
The photograph has been taken from a vantage point underneath the Abingdon Road overbridge and so affords a better view of that end of the station platforms than if it had been taken from the footbridge as has been more common. Whilst the platforms are devoid of passengers, there seems to be some luggage waiting on Platform 2 together with one or two parcel trolleys with a porter nearby. On Platform 1 what appears to be another porter is hurrying away from the camera. Conical milk churns can be seen here and there and gas lamp standards, a bench seat and nameboard can also be seen before the footbridge. A few wagons stand on the cattle dock siding with open countryside beyond, this being well before RNAS Hornbill was developed. The tidyness of the station is emphasised by the well kept shrubs and other plantings, and the seemingly immaculate fencing.
Elevations as existing in 1935
Drawn by GWR Architects Office, Paddington Station © Network Rail Corporate Archive
In the absence of any photographs from this period we have included an extract from a scale drawing dated February 1935 apparently detailing the old ticket office as existing at the time. This is one of a series of drawings made available to us by the Network Rail Corporate Archive however its accuracy in detail is somewhat questionable as these elevations do not show the second (unused) chimney nor any of the other flues which would have been present, any rainwater goods, the platform bay window or the false window in the end elevation. A contentious issue is the valance which is shown on the approach elevation. It is the subject of much debate as to whether one was ever installed along this edge of the canopy, however it can clearly be seen on a photograph taken in 1911 so could have been an original feature which was removed in the years prior to 1975 when photographs now show it to be absent. To further complicate things, the original contract drawings from 1843 show no valances at all, although this may not represent the 'as built' situation. The ends of the roof beams along the forecourt and end elevations have chamfer detailing which, although seen along the forecourt which now has no valance, is hidden at the ends suggesting a valance was a later addition. A puzzling detail which serves to illustrate how buildings can alter over time according to prevailing fashion or design standards.
Just visible to the right of the main building is the end of the Parcels Office with its 'Pagoda' shaped roof. This drawing is useful as it also places and scales the original footbridge and shows the wall mounted Post Box by the main entrance. The current one carries the Royal cipher of King George VI who didn't come to the throne until 1936 so it replaced an earlier one. It is not known how many different boxes there might have been, or indeed when one was first installed, but one is marked on the 25inch Ordnance Survey map published in 1899.
One final detail visible to the right of the main entrance door is what appears to be a wooden cabinet with a lever to one side and a spout near the bottom suggesting that it is a hand pump. Possibly used to pump water up to a tank in the roof, no evidence remains of the pump itself, however there is a shallow drain and what could be a patch where a pipe may have emerged at ground level, and the end of a lead pipe at the top of the wall above. The water table is reportedly not very far below the trackbed level so it is possible that such a water supply was viable before a mains supply was available but, as yet, no photograph has been found which shows a pump. We photographed this example of the type of pump which was commonly attached to a wall and could have been used at the station at an architectural salvage yard. Pumps are marked nearby on maps from the late 1800s, but none at the station, possibly only public pumps were recorded.
Courtesy of Pendon Museum
The Signal Box in 1938
This unique photograph of the signalman inside the original signal box at Culham comes from the Pendon Museum archive. Whilst it is undated it must predate 1952 when this box was replaced by a new structure. Another clue could lie in the signalling diagram seen at the top left of the photograph but even after enlarging the original full size image it doesn't reveal any useful detail. Whilst the uniform implies an earlier date, we are assuming that the picture might have been taken towards the end of the 1930s and have plumped for 1938 until we learn differently.
The instruments and bells associated with the operation of the railway fill the shelf and the steel handles on the levers are highly polished. The un-named signalman holds his cloth, or 'duster', which was always used when operating the levers. He is leaning on one of the two shorter levers which are installed in a small frame at the end of the main one which contained 19 levers. This pair of levers would have been used to place warning detonators on the line in the event of fog or an emergency, one lever for the Up and one for the Down line. Levers were colour coded to indicate their use, and for the GWR the colours were red for a stop signal or shunt signal, yellow for a distant signal, black to control a set of points, and blue to operate a facing point lock, with a white lever denoting a spare. Detonator levers were black with white diagonals pointing up for the UP and down for the DOWN main lines.
