The station was actually at the village of Grove, Oxfordshire (then part of Berkshire), more than two miles north of Wantage.

Wantage Road station was opened in 1846, six years after the section of the GWR main line that served it.

[1] The tramway junction was to the east of Wantage Road station; interchange passengers walked under the bridge to reach the tramway yard, where the westernmost siding (parallel to the road) was reserved for passenger tramcars.

[1][3] On 7 December 1964 British Railways withdrew passenger services from Wantage Road and all other intermediate stations between Didcot and Swindon; the goods yard survived a little longer, closing on 29 March 1965.

It is then hoped that this service could be extended to Milton Keynes or Cambridge once East West Rail is fully completed in 2027.