There was a time when our local post men and women cycled round to both deliver and collect letters. There was a letterbox at Bampton and Brize Norton railway station and it was here a blackbird's nest was discovered inside the box. Great care was taken when emptying the box and in the end, the birds hatched and fledged.

A steam engine pulling three coaches leaving Brize Norton and Bampton railway station

Bampton and Brize Norton Railway station seen in the 1960s. Sadly the station and the Witney to Fairford line closed as part of the Beaching cuts in the early 1960s. Strictly speaking, the station is just outside Bampton and in Brize Norton and it was a good 40-minute walk from Bampton. Several Bampton people ran a taxi service, in the early days by horse and carriage.

Bampton and Brize Norton railway station with engine number 9654 at the station

Emigrants leaving Bampton in 1913 Henry Arthur Green, Stan Solly and Percy Hughes bound for Canada surrounded by a group of well-wishers who went to Bampton Station with them to wish them God Speed. 'Harry' Green joined the 4th Canadian Mounted Riffles Battalion when war broke out. He died on June 2nd 1916 at Ypres. His name is on the Menin Gate and on his parent's grave in Bampton.

In 1937 Bampton railway station was renamed Brize Norton and Bampton Station. As the station is just in the catchment of Brize Norton village, it was only right and proper.

Closure of the Oxford - Witney - Fairford railway line June 16th 1962 Page 1

Closure of the Oxford - Witney - Fairford railway line June 16th 1962 Page 2

Payne's horse drawn carriage at Bampton Station 1908

Signal box at Brize Norton and Bampton station