66 A GLOUCESTERSHIRE FRUIT FARM 



various details connected with the picking, putting on 

 rail, and disposal of the produce in the best possible 

 condition, necessitate a considerable amount of effective 

 organization to meet adequately the sudden rushes that 

 occur. 



The possibility of securing this effective organization 

 has been substantially increased of late by an improve- 

 ment in rail communication. Up to quite recently all 

 the fruit despatched from Toddington to various parts 

 of the country went to the Midland station at Beckford, 

 five miles away. The Great Western Railway Com- 

 pany are now constructing a line which, passing through 

 Toddington (with a station almost in the centre of the 

 estate), will link up Cheltenham with Honeybourne, 

 and thus establish new and direct communication 

 between the western and the northern sections of their 

 system. At the time of writing, the line has been com- 

 pleted as far as Winchcombe, the station beyond 

 Toddington; but already Toddington has secured 

 direct access to Birmingham and the North, via the 

 Great Western, as an alternative to the route via 

 Beckford on the Midland. Alongside the Toddington 

 station Mr. Andrews has constructed a depot and pack- 

 ing-shed, 100 ft. by 34 ft., for the more convenient hand- 

 ling of fruit intended for consignment by the Great 

 Western. On one side of the depot there are three 

 bays, into which the vans bringing the fruit can be 

 backed, so that the baskets will be on the floor level, 

 and on the other side there is a platform to allow of the 

 consignments being loaded direct into the railway- 

 waggons on the siding that immediately adjoins the 

 depot. There is also on the estate another large depot, 

 where consignments for transport by the Midland Com- 

 pany are collected and despatched. 



The improvement in rail facilities at Toddington will 



