Karau, Paul; Turner, Chris An Illustrated History of the Wallingford Branch , WILD SWAN PUBLICATIONS LTD, 1982.

Illustrated by Photographs. First Edition. Illustrated Card Cover. Very Good. 4to 090686710X The Wallingford branch was the first stage of an 1861 scheme that would have linked the GWR main line with the Wycombe Extension Railway, then under construction. It was to have left the main line at Cholsey and continue through Wallingford, Benson and Watlington to join the Wycombe line at Princes Risborough, but the full scheme failed to materialize. The resulting branch line floundered under the independent company who, after only 6'/2 years, sold out to the GWR in 1872. Fate was kind, however, and both passenger and goods traffic later prospered, the branch eventually proving a valuable asset to its new owners. With the post war advance of private motoring, passenger services only lasted until 1959, but goods traffic survived another six years and the line itself even until 1981, albeit only to serve a private siding. 'There was nothing remarkable about the branch, which perhaps lacked the romantic image of some of its more popular counterparts, yet it served the community well with an intensive service ferrying passengers across rustic pastures, through breaks in the hedgerows and over tiny watercourses shaded by willows, to reach the main line, all through an age when railways were the prime mode of transport. Today the line remains dormant and disconnected from the main line, while a newly formed preservation society struggles to secure its future (Book ref. 124479)  £25.00

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