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The line south of Wellford Park as it presented itself in 1969, the infrastructure and missing buildings all too apparent.
At this time of course, the U.S.A.F were still using the line to Welford Park, as per their agreement with British Railways.

March 1973 and the American authorities had begun moving supplies by road they had decided that using the line to transport munitions was no longer economically viable. By switching to the roads, the USAF were to make savings of $100.000 per year. Their agreement with BR ran out in 1973 and the line came back under the control of British Railways, this meant only one thing - "Total Closure" -its days were well and truly numbered.

Before its removal, BR engineers inspected the remaining track and passed it as being safe to carry a public passenger train. plans were drawn up for one final commemorative day of operations. "Lambourn Valley Last Day". The date chosen was the 3rd of November (1973). A diesel multiple unit train was supplied comprising of three, three-car sets. Four trips were made up to Welford Park and different coloured tickets were issued for each train journey. 1,997 passenger journeys were logged throughout the day.