Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway

UK railway line

The Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway (the O.I.R.) was a standard gauge railway that served an ironstone quarry near the village of Wroxton in Oxfordshire. It linked to the Great Western Railway about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) to the east, just north of the town of Banbury. Both the quarry and line opened in 1917 and closed in 1967, when the Ironstone ran out. It never became part of British Rail and was run by the quarry's owners.

The quarry was heavily worked in the Second World War, due to extra war needs. A newer quarry close by is now served by trucks only.

The OIR operated its own fleet of steam locomotives: 0-6-0T, 0-6-0ST and 0-4-0ST's.[1]

Heavy clay and Ironstone deposits surround Banbury.[2]

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  1. Waters, Laurence (1991). Oxfordshire Railways in Old Photographs, a Second Selection. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-86299-852-2.
  2. http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:sppuMpvgMg8J:www.oum.ox.ac.uk/learning/pdfs/oxmin.pdf+clay+pits+in+banbury&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgn-Yi-g1qgnV32eBJ5Bi24KzjITDU7kcw_uL-KWGxPnzzgLbT8n9stdyOyB9bxEnAdJs1yyzKFGNwmj0NWApex23PAad6KTYb4lJdKEqLBNLnqifn3yk8Xc8Fp-ya8DY20dPo5&sig=AHIEtbREJLbdRHQ5aetZoqTAk3mdY2Gy0w

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52°04′N 1°24′W / 52.067°N 1.400°W / 52.067; -1.400