What is Oxfordshire Ironstone Railway?
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 {{convert|6|km|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 [[World War II|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 locomotive]]s: [[0-6-0]][[Side tank|T]], 0-6-0[[Saddle tank (locomotive)|ST]] and [[0-4-0]]ST's.<ref>{{Cite book | author=Waters, Laurence| title=Oxfordshire Railways in Old Photographs, a Second Selection | date=1991 | publisher=Sutton Publishing | location=Stroud| isbn=0-86299-852-2 }}</ref> Heavy [[clay]] and [[Ironstone]] deposits surround Banbury.<ref>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</ref> ==Related pages== * [[Welsh Highland Railway]] *[[Quarry]] *[[Slate pit]] *[[Clay pit]] *[[Coal mine]] *[[Mineral railway]] ==Historic imagery of the site== <gallery> File:Pin hill gradeing works.JPG|A picture of the former Wroxton Qarry's Pin Hill farm grading works in Banbury, Oxfordshire in 2001. File:Wroxton iron mine 1.jpg|Picture of the former ironstone quarry works at Wroxton in 2001. File:Woxton-Banbury Mineral line 1.png|Pictures of the surviving huts at the former quarry in 2001 and the track bed in Hardwick during 2001. File:Woxton-Banbury Mineral line 2.JPG|A picture of the mine manager's office in 2001. File:Wroxton qarry a1.png|A picture of the former ironstone quarry work