PHOTOGRAPHY: CHRIS LEIGH/JACQUES PORTAL
The word ‘iconic’ is used far too much these days, often for things which really were not icons. I first took an interest in GWR branch lines back around 1963 when, on a family outing by car, we stopped in an abandoned gateway to have a picnic lunch. The gateway was the entrance to Fairford station, which was closed, trackless and derelict.
My brother and I, mere trainspotters at the time, went walkabout and examined the wrecked stone station building, the signal box and even a turntable, its pit full of water and the floating corpses of several animals which had fallen in and been unable to get out. The station was still in GWR light and dark stone paintwork, only the signal box having been repainted into BR Western Region brown and cream. Signalboxes were maintained by the S&T department and were subject to more frequent repainting than most other buildings.