Monument record 1593701000 - Bicester Military Railway

Britain's largest military railway system, the Bicester Military Railway was the primary mode of transport at the Central Ordnance Depot Bicester. Surveyed in 1941 and ready for construction in August 1942. Still extant in 2011.
Part of the site of MOD Bicester Depot, an ordnance depot that was used during World War II. This huge depot consists of a complex of sites clustered around two hills - Graven Hill and Arncott Hill - to the south-east of Bicester. On completion in 1943, the depot covered an area of over 12 square miles, with nearly 50 miles of railway track. It was planned as the main supply base for the British Army's operations during the Second World War and became an important supply base for the United States forces in Europe, under Operation Bolero. The site has continued to function as a supply depot ever since; although its functions have changed over time and some areas have fallen out of operational use. However, much of the original infrastructure remained in 2011. It is the outstanding example in the UK of a bulk storage depot built during the Second World War, designed to be fully integrated into rail and road transport networks and is the precursor of the modern commercial distribution depots dotted around the motorway network. The complex was served by the Bicester Military Railway, fed from the Oxford to Bletchley railway line. The scale of the operations during the Second World War can be appreciated when it is realised that up to seventeen steam locomotives were working virtually around the clock to receive, sort, deliver, recover, and despatch wagons to the various storage hangars and sidings. During 1944 with the build up to D-Day and the supply of the invasion forces in Europe, 78,623 wagons were received and 77,896 were despatched through the exchange sidings; together with135, 034 internal movements, this gives a grand total of 291,554 wagons being handled during one year (B1).
This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence (B2).

The part of the railway in Buckinghamshire was dismantled sometime between 2011 and 2015.