Hayles Abbey halt

As you may have heard, the railway's Heritage Group have received approval to rebuild a bit of our heritage, this being down side of the former halt at Hayles Abbey.

The halt was part of a drive by the GWR to secure more local traffic, in the face of bus competition. It was opened in 1928, at the same time as a new museum at the ruins of the nearby abbey. It was constructed with minimum cost, being built of sleepers and with a corrugated iron hut for a passenger shelter. 32 years later, the halt was closed again. This was on 7th March 1960, when passenger services were withdrawn along the whole length of our Honeybourne line.

This picture, from the collection of Tim Bazeley, shows the halt as it was. A sleeper built platform, a corrugated iron hut, lighting by means of oil lamps suspended from hooks on wooden posts.
The platform came under the control of the Toddington stationmaster, and was lit in the evenings by hurricane lamps. There was a path each side down from the roadside.

For a modest sum the Heritage Group have had a proposal accepted to rebuild this little halt as near as possible to the original situation. The actual platform walls will be constructed of concrete blocks on a concrete foundation along the down side, i.e. alongside the track where it is now. There are no plans to rebuild the up side (unless we go double track to Winchcombe, but this is very unlikely at the moment). The concrete blocks will be faced with timber, to give the impression of a timber built platform. A slight variation from the original will be required on top, where platform slabs are needed to conform with today's requirement for an overhang. The slabs will be sourced from the pile that is left over from CRC2 (others have gone to Broadway and Winchcombe).

This is what the site looks like today:

Compare with the picture above - there is no trace of the original platform or any earthworks. But this halt was always lightly built, to save on costs. As will be the reproduction.

The Heritage Group has also acquired a couple of items of original kit:

This is the shelter that will be installed, it is a near perfect example of the original. The building came from Fosse Cross, and is currently located in the garden of a Heritage group member.

The running in board was also made of wood, and had the words

HAYLES ABBEY,
and

HALT

on it. Thanks to a generous donation from a member, we now have some original GWR letters for HALT:

but not yet for ' HAYLES ABBEY'. They are made of cast iron, and are 12ins high. Can any one help? Even one or two of the letters?

The excavation of the foundations, to be poured in concrete, are expected to start within the next few days. We hope to provide some updates as work progresses.