These were some of the staff who kept operations at Oxford railway station running smoothly.

We know that the man fourth from the left is Jim Miller, who was station master when the picture was taken in about 1951. The man on the far right is Sidney Pegg.

Next to him in the bow tie is the chief ticket inspector, but we don’t know his name or the names of any of the others. Can anyone help us?

READ MORE: Popular village pub reopens 

Travellers in the 1950s will remember how busy the station was every day, with services to London Paddington, Birmingham, Worcester and the North.

There would also be local services from Oxford to Didcot, Banbury, Princes Risborough, Fairford and Bletchley calling at stations in between.

In addition, there would be plenty of freight trains passing through Oxford station.

Older readers will also recall how a second Oxford station, at nearby Rewley Road, played host to passenger and freight trains.

For trainspotters, it was a gem of a place, with steam locomotives from the Western, London Midland, Southern and Eastern regions regularly visiting Oxford.

The picture comes from Laurence Waters, who has had a lifelong interest in railways. One early memory was a childhood trip on the Oxford-Woodstock branch line with his parents in June 1953 to attend a horse show at Blenheim Palace.

After his boyhood trainspotting days, he worked as a professional photographer and became honorary photographic archivist for the Great Western Trust at the historic Didcot Railway Centre. He is still a volunteer at the centre. He has been involved in 37 railway publications as author or photographer. If you can name the others above, please email Mr Waters at lwatphoto@btinternet.com

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe 

As a digital subscriber you will get:      

  • Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website     
  • Advert-light access           
  • Reader rewards           
  • Full access to our app 

About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.