Situated as we are on the ex GWR main line, many high profile visitors have used the station over the years

broadgauge_01

Broad gauge train. Thanks to Didcot Railway centre

Queen Victoria passed through many times en route from Windsor to Scotland aboard the Royal Train. Depending on the time of day, her train would stop for refreshments to be taken aboard. Such stops were kept private and HM did not alight.

 

Royal visits

April1951                  King George VI and Queen Elizabeth

March 1954             Princess Margaret

November 1958      Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

November 1966      Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother

March 1988             Queen Elizabeth II

GWR Castle Class: Another notable visitor, this time in 2010

Others we know of

Anthony Eden as MP for Leamington and Warwick and later for a brief period as Prime Minister.

Edward Heath before becoming Prime Minister

Anne Widdicombe

Paul Robeson, American singer and actor, playing Othello at Stratford upon Avon in 1959.

When the former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, was studying at Oxford, he would meet his wife to be, Mary, in the station refreshment room for tea.