A Little Book About Wheatley Station

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Booklet written and illustrated by Robert Avery 1991.

The station buildings at Wheatley were a modest affair, consisting of no more than a shelter on the down side, with a small canopy, and a more substantial building on the up side, with a recessed waiting area. At about the time of the Great War, the building was extended and a small goods shed of brick construction was added at the up end of the main building. Apart from the cattle dock and crane in the yard, there were few other facilities. One unusual feature was the lack of a footbridge. Passengers wishing to change platforms had to use the Ladder Hill road bridge thus going right outside the station and back in again! Not surprisingly, most passengers simply crossed the rails by the goods crossing. The signal box was on the down side of the line at the up end, just beyond Avery’s sawmill.

During the Second World War, ambulance trains with wounded American soldiers going to the Holton hospital, unloaded on the left platform - but only 4 coaches at a time – making unloading a slow task. Military police had orders to shoot any walking wounded “doing a runner”!

A Youtube link to video of model steam train "The Iron Duke" in Robert Avery's garden is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYelMWFBJQI&t=3s

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