Above: A typical daily goods train trundles towards Lambourn
Lambourn in the 1940s
The somewhat sleepy branch line was not greatly affected by the war going on elsewhere, as the 1941-vintage panorama below shows.
This June 1941 panoramic view shows the truly rural location of Lambourn itself. Railcar No. 18 is seen heading for Newbury on a gloriously sunny day. Before it was a journey that would take 40 minutes at a sedate average speed of around 18 miles per hour.
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Ex-M&SWJR 2-4-0 at the terminus heading the 4:15pm from Newbury in October 1948.
The fence dividing the yard access road from the sidings.
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The 20-ton cart weighbridge and its pre-cast concrete office.
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A view from the buffer stops. It looks like a wet day but the yard is fairly full. Note the absence of the engine shed, at this point in time long gone, as all engine shed work was performed at Reading.
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Above: The signal box design could be seen elsewhere on the GWR network. The foreground shows an occupation crossing, meaning it linked fields and was not for regular passenger use. The signal itself was originally on the platform, but in 1938 it was moved to this new position due to the increased length of passenger trains now hauling additional horseboxes.
Below is a range of images from the 1940s to early 1950s.
Below is a range of images from the 1940s to early 1950s.
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On the left, a busy day - possibly a race day? Note the so-called 'flying banana'-style railcar in the platform. The rounded ends of the original railcar design, dating from 1933 and built by outside contractors such as AEC, gave way to a more angular look when Swindon took over building the vehicles in 1938 (see the last picture on this page for an example of the later design).
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Possibly the same day as the image on the left but from another angle - the 'flying banana' railcar takes pride of place.
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Above and left are rare images of the semi-permanent gas wagon that lived at Lambourn, for the purpose of supplying gas to the station.
The railcar in the image above right has a coach in tow, but looks prepared to shunt the yard.
The railcar in the image above right has a coach in tow, but looks prepared to shunt the yard.
Dean Goods No. 2579 ready to depart, photo circa 1950
