page_title: Olney railway station (England)
section_title: Stratford & Midland Junction Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Olney railway station (England) / History / Stratford & Midland Junction Railway
caption_attribution_description: Pre Grouping railway junction around Banbury, Blisworth, Cockley Brake, Fenny Compton, Northampton, Ravenstone Wood,Roade, Stratford on Avon, Towcester, &amp; Woodford &amp; Hinton
context_page_description: Olney was a railway station on the former Bedford to Northampton Line and Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway which served the town of Olney in Buckinghamshire, England. It was situated on a busy section of line between Towcester and Ravenstone Wood junction which saw heavy use by freight services running between Wales and north-east England. The station closed in 1964, the various connecting routes to the line having closed one by one from the 1950s onwards.
context_section_description: On 18 April 1889, the Midland concluded an agreement with the Stratford-upon-Avon, Towcester and Midland Junction Railway (ST&MJR) for running powers over the 3 miles 35 chains (5.5 km) section between Ravenstone Wood Junction and Olney, including the right to use Olney station and its facilities. Incorporated in 1882, the ST&MJR was run together with the East and West Junction Railway (E&WJR) under a joint committee which began functioning with the opening of the Olney line to goods on 13 April 1891 and to passengers on 1 December 1892. Together with the Evesham, Redditch and Stratford-upon-Avon Junction Railway (ER&SJR), which had been worked by the E&WJR from its opening on 2 June 1879, the joint committee presided over a combined route of 55.5-mile (89.3 km) from Olney to Broom Junction. The line provided the Midland with a useful cross-country link between its main line from St Pancras to its system in the west. The ST&MJR merged with the ER&SJR and the E&WJR to form the Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway with effect from 1 January 1909.
  Exchange sidings were laid at Olney to handle the traffic and a small engine shed opened in the early 1890s to house the Midland locomotive which worked the short-lived passenger service to Towcester. Near the shed was a 50-foot (15 m) diameter turntable where the S&MJR's locomotives had to be turned as the running powers did not extend beyond Olney. The shed officially closed in 1928 but engines continued to be serviced here until the mid-1950s.
  The first joint service, a goods train, ran on 13 April 1891. Services were worked by the Midland with its own engines but they proved too heavy for the track and so East and West Junction Railway locomotives were used between Olney and Broom after 8 December 1891. Olney became important as the terminus of SMJR freight operations from Broom and the west; the goods service consisted of through goods trains from Olney to Broom Junction and local trains. Between Olney and Towcester, the line was only open at night, with three services departing Olney between 00.00 and 03.30 on Tuesdays to Saturdays; the first two went as far as Broom and the last terminated at Woodford West Junction. Three services terminated at Olney at around 03.00 on Tuesday and Saturday mornings and just before midnight on the other days; the first came from Towcester, and the other two from Broom. On Sundays there was an early goods train to Broom.
  Four daily passenger services were operated between Olney and Towcester from 1 December 1892 to 31 March 1893 calling at Stoke Bruern and Salcey Forest and worked by Midland tank locomotives and rolling stock. Services ran from a bay platform at Olney and connected with Stratford and Blisworth trains at Towcester. The service was however withdrawn due to low patronage; some trains were running empty and the S&MJR was unable to meet the Midland's charges for working the line.
caption: A 1911 Railway Clearing House map of railways in the vicinity of Olney
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