Andoversford with restored railway line in place

Brief Summary: - The railway would have to recommission Sandywell Tunnel, and would require extensive works to cross Sandywell Park.

The railway would approach the Western end of Andoversford by slewing to the South of Pine Holt - houses built on former station site - along an embankment / structure before crossing Station Road on a slewed bridge.

A passing loop and two platforms would be installed on the former Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway and Midland and South Western Junction Railway embankments.

The railway would cross the A40 by a bridge over the road.

The passing loop and two platforms would continue along the bridge across the A40 and on to the embankment beyond.

Detailed list of the railway works required in the Dowdeswell and Andoversford area

• The 13 arch Dowdeswell viaduct was blown up shortly after the 1962 closure of the line in 1968 so some kind of replacement viaduct will need to be built.
• The Sandywell tunnel will need to be re-commissioned
• A Western approach to Sandywell tunnel would need to be established through Sandywell estate.
• The railway line cannot use the old station site because housing along a road called Pine Holt occupies the site and because changes to the topography of the area means that Station Road is too high an elevation to permit a railway line to cross it along the former rail formation by a bridge at this point.
• So the restored railway would have to be DEVIATED to the South of the old rail line.
• On the approach to housing built on the old station site at Pine Holt, the railway line would slew to the South of the old railway embankment.
• Besides the housing built on the old station site at Pine Holt the railway line would run along an embankment extended to the South or a viaduct like bridge structure to the South.
• The railway line would cross Pine Holt / Station Road Junction by a slewed bridge which would have to have a headroom height of at least 16 feet.
• The old railway embankment beyond would be built up to allow this.
• The station serving Andoversford would be built along the old railway embankment, and on to and across the bridge carrying the railway line across the A40 Andoversford village by pass.
• The track layout would be a passing loop to allow trains to ‘’cross’ at Andoversford. The Western point work would be a short distance from the Pine Holt / Station Road Junction Bridge; the Eastern point work would be to the East of the bridge carrying the railway line across the A40 Andoversford village by pass.
• Access to the new station would be via the path leading to the North from the Station Road past the old Doctor’s Surgery where it crosses the old railway formation.
• Two platforms, one either side of the passing loop, would be provided.
• Either side of the station, there would be a pair of lift shafts for disabled access, and a pair of access ramps for pedestrian access, between the access paths and the station platforms. The lift shafts and the ramps would continue vertically on to a footbridge to allow passengers to cross the lines.
• The existing disused railway (Banbury and Cheltenham Direct Railway) formation approaches the A40 Andoversford village by pass from the West and crosses it on the level.
• Not only are new level crossings banned by modern safety guidelines – unless no alternative exists – but a level crossing at this point would be unacceptably dangerous.
• So the railway line would be DEVIATED to run on to the old Midland and South Western Junction Railway embankment for a few yards enough to allow the new railway line to establish a raised elevation to cross the A40 Andoversford village by pass via a bridge which would have to have a headroom height of at least 16 feet.
• At present the old railway formation to the East of A40 Andoversford village by pass is on a sunken elevation from the road.
• A bridge abutment and an embankment would be built up at this point to allow the railway line to cross the A40 via a bridge which would have to have a headroom height of at least 16 feet.
• Beyond the new embankment the existing disused railway embankment would be graded to meet the new embankment.
• The farm bridge removed by the farmer would be reinstated with enough head room to allow farm machinery to pass beneath it.