[14] However, after the WMR had settled its differences with the Great Western and agreed to be leased by it in 1861,[15] the through service from Worcester to Euston had been withdrawn from September and there was no need for a grand station at Yarnton.

[14] The station was therefore incomplete when opened on 14 November 1861[16][17][18][19] and it was not until Summer 1863 when its three platform faces and run-round loop for branch services were finished.

[24] The main station building was demolished not long after opening and a basic wooden hut was thereafter constructed on the Up platform, adjacent to which was a graceful wood-and-iron gentlemen's urinal.

[25] There was no road access to the station and passengers reached it via a long unlit footpath close to the graveyard of St Bartholomew's Church.

[28][page needed] During the Second World War, works were carried out at Yarnton Junction to increase its capacity to deal with wartime traffic.

A marshalling yard comprising nine long sidings was brought into use on 20 August 1940 to handle freight transfers; it was retained after the war to re-marshal ironstone trains from the East Midlands via Bletchley, eventually closing on 6 July 1966.

[31] On 18 June 1962 British Railways withdrew passenger services from the Fairford branch and closed Yarnton station.

[29] This was a 50-lever "pedestal" box situated to the southern end of the Down platform, to the left of which were nine long sidings brought into use on 20 August 1940 and which were retained after the war to re-marshal ironstone trains from the East Midlands via Bletchley, eventually closing on 6 July 1966.

[37][38][39][page needed] Yarnton station has been entirely swept away and no trace remains[40][41] the trackbed of the Witney Railway is nevertheless traceable as far as Cassington Halt.