Banbury and Cheltenham line landslide

[Mark24]

I’ve recently discovered there was a landslide on the Banbury to Cheltenham line between Hook Norton and Rollright Halt in 1951.
According to a number of sites, the landslide was never cleared, and instead, the section of the line between King’s Sutton and Rollright Halt was closed.
Since then, the entire line has closed, track lifted, stations demolished.
Does anyway have any further information on this landslide, or know of it’s actual location?
I wonder if the landslide has preserved a small section of this railway buried in the earth?

 

[Snow1964]

There is a good summary of the line on this site

The Railway at Hook Norton - Hook Norton

IN THIS SECTION The Railway at Hook Norton Richard Chalmers Undated postcard. The Station Hotel is in the background; the men on the platform have not been identified. Early branch lines By the mid-1850s, most of the main railway lines in Britain had been built. Businessmen in towns not on this...

hook-norton.org.uk

The passenger service ended 1951, the landslide was 30th September 1958 (and this ended the goods service)

I think the landslide near the western end of the tunnel is still obvious, but the ground in the area was quite unstable and have been more landslides east of the tunnel since closure. Not sure if it is still the case but area became a local nature reserve so could be walked around with care.

 

[Mark24]

There is a good summary of the line on this site

The Railway at Hook Norton - Hook Norton

IN THIS SECTION The Railway at Hook Norton Richard Chalmers Undated postcard. The Station Hotel is in the background; the men on the platform have not been identified. Early branch lines By the mid-1850s, most of the main railway lines in Britain had been built. Businessmen in towns not on this...

hook-norton.org.uk

The passenger service ended 1951, the landslide was 30th September 1958 (and this ended the goods service)

I think the landslide near the western end of the tunnel is still obvious, but the ground in the area was quite unstable and have been more landslides east of the tunnel since closure. Not sure if it is still the case but area became a local nature reserve so could be walked around with care.

That’s brilliant. Thanks for the link, I look forward to reading that later.
I’ll have to plan one of my walks in the area and see what I can find.

 

[Gloster]

There is a book by J.H.Russell called The Banbury and Cheltenham Railway (OPC, 1977), but this does not provide any extra information. In truth, unless there is something hidden in the station descriptions, which it is good on, it doesn’t even give closure dates.

 

[FGW_DID]

As an aside, Hook Norton Brewery has a small museum which has a small display about the local railway with several artifices on display including the signal box name board and signalling diagram.

 

[vic-rijrode]

There is a book by J.H.Russell called The Banbury and Cheltenham Railway (OPC, 1977), but this does not provide any extra information. In truth, unless there is something hidden in the station descriptions, which it is good on, it doesn’t even give closure dates.

There are a couple of more recent and superb books from Wild Swan Publishing (The Banbury and Cheltenham Railway Vols. 1 & 2) which give more information on this railway. Volume 3 was meant to give the history of the line from 1939 onwards and would no doubt have given information on the closures and landslide, but sadly it was never published - not sure why.

 

[Snapper37]

Each time I ask about volume 3 the reply is “soon”….