Cholsey line pushes ahead with Wallingford redevelopment plans

THE Cholsey & Wallingford Railway (C&WR) has completed the acquisition of land next to Wallingford station to provide space for a run round loop and the erection of the former Maidenhead station canopy, removed as part of the Crossrail project.

Re-aligning of the fence was nearing completion when the call for closure and social-distancing was announced in March.

Green Oak Carpentry, of Liss, has been appointed to erect the structure and was due to be on site from May 4, with completion anticipated in July.

Whether this date slips amid the ongoing Covid-19 lockdown remains to be seen.

The erection of the Victorian canopy is being funded by the Railway Heritage Trust, and is part of a wider redevelopment of the Wallingford station site.

The canopy components have now been fully restored, although some of the ornate supporting spandrels have had to be re-cast using the originals as patterns.

It is not clear when the canopy was first erected at Maidenhead.

It appears on the Ordnance Survey map of 1894 but not on that dated 1872, and features in the background of a photo believed to have been taken on May 20, 1892 when the last broad-gauge train ran through Maidenhead.

When re-erected the canopy will span part of the run-round loop with the five ornate supporting columns located to the rear of the platform.

A horizontal extension will appear to protect a line running to the rear of the platform, on which the C&WR Museum, housed in a former Cambrian Railways coach body, will be sited.

In addition to realigning the fence line, C&WR volunteers have removed the fencing to the rear of the platform and moved the station’s Waiting Room.