About Cholsey & Wallingford Railway
Cholsey and Wallingford is heritage railway line where you can experience the charm and nostalgia of a bygone era. The railway offers a unique opportunity to travel back in time and enjoy a leisurely journey through the picturesque countryside.
The service runs on selected days throughout the year. Services will be either steam or heritage diesel, depending on operational availability, and the railway reserves the right to change any advertised loco as required.
Depature from Wallingford Station is at 11.00am, 12.30pm, 2.00pm and 3.30pm. Cholsey Station depatures are at 11.30am, 1.00pm and 2.30pm.
A round trip from Wallingford to Cholsey takes around 45 minutes, allowing you to sit back, relax, and take in the beautiful South Oxfordshire countryside with tea, coffee, and cake.
There is a range of fares to suit all requirements, including exclusive use of a table or compartment for groups of up to four or six passengers.
Please note that pre-booked catering is currently unavailable for individual Adult/Children tickets, so we recommend booking a table or compartment to avoid disappointment.
History of Cholsey & Wallingford Railway
Local businessmen were disappointed when the original proposed route from London to Bristol was changed and passed through Didcot. The met and formed the Wallingford and Watlington Railway Company (WWRC) in 1864 with the aim of building a branchline from Moulsford (initially named ‘Wallingford Road’ Station) to Wallingford and then going on to Watlington.
Although the line to Wallingford opened in July 1866, it was hard to raise share capital as bank interest rates were high in the 1860s following the collapse of at least one bank, and the line did not progress further because of the prohibitive cost of building a bridge over the River Thames at Benson.
From the outset, the WWRC was built to the ‘new’ standard, not broad, gauge, and it was the first standard gauge branchline to be built in the GWR region (others being converted from broad gauge).
The company also hired rolling stock from the GWR. Unfortunately, passenger and freight revenues never realised the predicted levels, and WWRC had financial difficulties from the beginning, and in 1872, the line was sold to GWR.
When changing the main line to standard gauge, the land occupied by the branchline between Moulsford and Cholsey was needed to increase to double the tracks to four and so a station was built at Cholsey (1892), and the branchline ran only from the new bay platform at Cholsey to Wallingford, as it does today.
Traffic diminished after WW2, and passenger services to Wallingford ceased in June 1959. Freight services continued until September 1965, when Wallingford Station was closed, and the line was shortened to serve only the ABM Maltings – the site of the present Wallingford Station.
This freight-only long siding was used until 29 May 1981, by which time even the Maltings were moving most of their goods by road, and the condition of the line had deteriorated considerably. On the 30 May, the Royal Train was present overnight, and on the 31 May 1981, a DMU tour (The Wallingford Wake) ran from Paddington to Wallingford. The Cholsey & Wallingford Railway Preservation Society was formed by those travelling on that DMU.
The line was often used to stable the Royal Train to allow the Royal party to arrive in Slough (for Windsor) or London in daylight. It was also used to stable Winston Churchill’s train at times during WW2.
In another claim to fame, the initial publicity photos for the new high-speed 125 trains were all taken on the branchline – the 8-coach, blue and yellow liveried train would have made quite a sight on the line as would have double-heading Castles on the Royal train!
Later this year, there is hope to install a run-round loop at Wallingford. There’s love to build an engine shed and plans to relocate the Stoke Canon signal box to Wallingford and erect the old Oxford signal gantry with semaphore signalling. And there’s hope to install a water tower close to the signal box.
Looking further ahead, there are plans for a Station building and the construction of a small Halt by Church Bridge to provide access to St Mary’s Church, where Agatha Christie is buried.