Poyle: Site of former Colnbrook railway station

Image: © Nigel Cox Taken: 12 Dec 2013

Colnbrook railway station was on the former Great Western Railway's branch line to Staines from its main line at West Drayton. It opened in 1884 and closed in 1965, occupying a site to the right of the photograph. It is thought by the photographer that the building with the Dutch gables was probably the stationmaster's house. The line crossed what was the main Bath Road here on its way south to Staines, but although the branch has been closed to passenger traffic for nearly 50 years, the railway north of here remains open as a freight line serving a fuel depot for Heathrow Airport. The end of this line is just beyond the steel security fence to the right, in the same place as shown on Ben's photograph of the scene from 1986 Image Extraordinarily, although no train has probably crossed over the road since 1965, and the rails have long since been lifted, the level crossing warning signs and traffic lights for road users, and on both sides of the road, visible in Ben's photograph, are still in situ! The photograph was taken on a drear damp December day.

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