Tiffield railway station

Tiffield
Location
Place	Tiffield
Area	South Northamptonshire
Operations
Original company	Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway
Platforms	1
History
October 1869[1]	Opened
February 1871[2]	Closed
1908[3]	Last racecourse special calls
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Tiffield was a short-lived experimental railway station situated at the highest point of the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway which opened in 1869 to serve the Northamptonshire village of Tiffield, only to close two years later.

History

The Northampton & Banbury Junction Railway, a forerunner of the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway, opened a line in 1866 which linked its Towcester station with the London and North Western Railway's station at Blisworth on their London to Birmingham line. An experimental passenger station was opened at Tiffield Summit, the highest point of the line, in October 1869.^[4] It consisted of little more than a timber landing stage and saw regular passenger services only until February 1871, although special services on Towcester racedays may have called at the station up to around 1908. The location of the station did not make it popular with the locomotive crew as up trains would have had a great deal of difficulty in making a standing start on such a steep uphill gradient.^[3]

Preceding station	Disused railways			Following station
Towcester		SMJR Northampton and Banbury Junction Railway		Blisworth

Present day

The station site, which used to teem with rabbits hunted by at least one locomotive driver,^[5] now forms part of the Tiffield Pocket Park, a 1 km section of the trackbed which was purchased by local businessman John Mawby as a wildlife refuge after the line's closure and leased to Tiffield Parish Council in 2001 for 25 years.^[6]

References

1. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Sparkford, ISBN 1-85260-508-1, p. 230.
2. Clinker, C.R. (October 1978). Clinker's Register of Closed Passenger Stations and Goods Depots in England, Scotland and Wales 1830-1977. Bristol: Avon-AngliA Publications & Services. p. 135. ISBN 0-905466-19-5.
3. Riley, R.C.; Simpson, B. (1999). A History of the Stratford-upon-Avon & Midland Junction Railway. Witney, Oxon: Lamplight Publications. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-899246-20-5.
4. Kingscott, Geoffrey (2008). Lost Railways of Northamptonshire (Lost Railways Series). Newbury, Berkshire: Countryside Books. p. 116. ISBN 978-1-84674-108-1.
5. Kingscott, G., p. 109.
6. Northamptonshire Pocket Parks, "Tiffield Pocket Park".

Coordinates: 52°09′43″N 0°58′56″W / 52.161941°N 0.982159°W