UK Transport Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Didcot Parkway
Didcot Parkway
Looking westwards from Platform 1
Location
PlaceDidcot
Local authoritySouth Oxfordshire
CoordinatesTemplate:Coord/display/inline,title
Grid referenceTemplate:Gbmapscaled
Operations
Station codeDID
Managed byFirst Great Western
Platforms in use5
Live arrivals/departures and station information
from National Rail
Annual rail passenger usage
2002/03 *  2.037 million
2004/05 *File:Increase2.svg 2.182 million
2005/06 *File:Decrease2.svg 2.176 million
2006/07 *File:Increase2.svg 2.291 million
2007/08 *File:Increase2.svg 2.417 million
2008/09 *File:Increase2.svg 2.456 million
History
Original companyGreat Western Railway
Pre-groupingGWR
Post-groupingGWR
1844Opened
1964[citation needed]Line to Newbury closes
1985Renamed "Didcot Parkway"
National Rail - UK railway stations
Template:Hide in print
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Didcot Parkway from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
Template:Portal frameless

Didcot Parkway is a railway station serving the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire in England. The station was opened as Didcot on 12 June 1844,includeonly>[1] and renamed Didcot Parkway on 29 July 1985includeonly>[1] to reflect its role as a park and ride railhead.

The station is served by local services operated by First Great Western from Reading to Didcot and Oxford, and by Inter-City services from London Paddington to Bristol and South Wales.

Although a busy station there are no automatic ticket barriers, but manual ticket checks take place on a daily basis.

Just to the north of the station is the Didcot Railway Centre, which is accessed through the station. The centre is a comprehensive exhibition of Great Western Railway rolling stock, with demonstration running tracks and including a reconstructed station named Didcot Halt.

History[]

The railway has run through Didcot since 1 June 1840, when the Great Western Railway extended its main line from Reading Central to Steventon. During this period a stagecoach transported passengers to Oxford from Steventon. A few weeks later the line was extended to Faringdon Road station near West Challow, and eventually to Bristol. On 12 June 1844 the line from Didcot to Oxford was opened and Didcot station was opened at the junction. The original intended route would have taken a line from Steventon to Oxford via Abingdon, but Abingdon's townspeople objected to this idea.[citation needed] Without this objection it is unlikely that Didcot would have evolved into the town it is today, as its initial growth was prompted by the coming of the railway.

The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway linked Didcot with Newbury, carrying services to Southampton via Newbury, Highclere, Winchester and Eastleigh. In its latter years it was reduced to a rural backwater until its closure under the Beeching Report. The DN&S Railway was closed to passengers on 10 September 1962[citation needed] and to freight in 1967.

On 7 December 1964 local passenger services between Didcot and Swindon were withdrawn and the stations at Steventon, Wantage Road, Challow, Uffington, Shrivenham and Stratton Park were closed.[citation needed]

Layout[]

Platforms[]

The station is located just to the north of the town centre in Didcot. It can only be accessed by car from Station Road itself on the south side of the railway, although passengers may park in Foxhall Road Long Stay Car Park, situated on Basil Hill Road, and cross a footbridge to the station.

The station entrance is at road level; all platforms may be accessed by lifts.

Junctions and yards[]

 [v  d  e] Railways around Didcot
 
BSicon BSicon BSicon File:BSicon CONTg.svg BSicon
 to Paddington
Moreton Junction 
BSicon BSicon BSicon File:BSicon STR.svg BSicon
 Main to relief line crossovers
 
BSicon BSicon BSicon File:BSicon eABZrg.svg File:BSicon exCONTl.svg
 DN&SR
 
BSicon BSicon File:BSicon ÜWc2.svg File:BSicon ÜWgor.svg BSicon
 Didcot East Junction
 
BSicon File:BSicon ÜWc2.svg File:BSicon 5002.svg BSicon
 Didcot Parkway
Didcot Railway Centre 
BSicon File:BSicon ÜWo+l.svg File:BSicon kABZgr.svg BSicon
 Didcot West Junction
to Oxford 
File:BSicon CONTr.svg File:BSicon ABZ3rf.svg File:BSicon kABZr+r.svg BSicon
 Didcot North Junction
 
BSicon BSicon BSicon File:BSicon kABZg+r.svg BSicon
 Foxhall Junction
 
BSicon File:BSicon STRrg.svg File:BSicon ABZ3rg.svg File:BSicon ABZrf.svg BSicon
 
 
BSicon File:BSicon DST.svg File:BSicon STR.svg File:BSicon STR.svg BSicon
 Didcot Power Station
 
BSicon File:BSicon STRlf.svg File:BSicon STRrf.svg File:BSicon STR.svg BSicon
 
 
BSicon BSicon File:BSicon STRrg.svg File:BSicon ABZrf.svg BSicon
 
 
BSicon BSicon File:BSicon KDSTe.svg File:BSicon STR.svg BSicon
 Milton Park
 
BSicon BSicon BSicon File:BSicon CONTf.svg BSicon
 to Swindon

Didcot has developed as a major junction between the Great Western Main Line and the route to Oxford and the Midlands. A marshalling yard is opposite the platform and another was once provided at Moreton, a little to the east. Moreton is still a junction, allowing trains to pass between the main lines on the south, and the relief and Oxford lines on the north. An avoiding line runs from Didcot East Junction, behind the marshalling yard and the Didcot Railway Centre, allowing trains to Oxford to run through without blocking the station platforms. There also used to be another line at the East Junction which lead to a line to Newbury.

West of the station is Foxhall Junction which allows freight trains from Oxford to travel towards Swindon. Immediately beyond this two goods lines diverge on the north side of the line. The first serves a loop for Merry-go-round trains to the npower electricity generating station; the second serves the Milton Freight Terminal. Beyond this the four main and relief lines merge into two at Foxhall Junction.

Services[]

Didcot is a major junction, where the former Great Western Railway line to Oxford, Birmingham and points north leaves the Great Western Main Line to Bristol Temple Meads and Swansea. There is no local service west of Didcot, so local service is exclusively provided by local trains taking the line to Oxford. However a proportion of the Inter-City services to Bristol and South Wales do stop here, with the remainder passing through the station non-stop. Fast trains to and from the Oxford line can avoid the station using the Didcot East curve, and generally do not stop at Didcot.

A few trains call at Didcot for the Cotswold Line to Hereford. Other infrequent services run to Cheltenham Spa or Weston-super-Mare and beyond.

Preceding station National Rail logo.svg National Rail Following station
Swindon   First Great Western
Great Western Main Line
  Reading
Oxford   First Great Western
Cherwell Valley Line
 
Appleford   First Great Western
Cherwell Valley Line
  Cholsey
Historical railways
Steventon
Line open, station closed
  Great Western Railway
Great Western Main Line
  Moulsford
Line open, station closed
Appleford (original station)
Line open, station closed
  Great Western Railway
Oxford Rly
 
Disused railways
Terminus   Great Western Railway
Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway
  Upton & Blewbury
Line and station closed

See also[]

  • List of Parkway railway stations

Notes[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Butt 1995, p. 78.

References[]

  • Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. R508. ISBN 1 85260 508 1. 

Template:Railway stations in Oxfordshire


nl:Station Didcot Parkway pl:Didcot Parkway

Advertisement