Thatcham railway station

Thatcham railway station serves the town of Thatcham in Berkshire, England. It is 49 miles 45 chains (79.76 km) measured from London Paddington. It is served by Great Western Railway local services between Reading and Newbury and Bedwyn.

Thatcham
LocationThatcham, West Berkshire
England
Coordinates51.394°N 1.243°W / 51.394; -1.243
Grid referenceSU528663
Managed byGreat Western Railway
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeTHA
ClassificationDfT category E
History
Opened21 December 1847
Original companyGreat Western Railway
Pre-groupingGWR
Post-groupingGWR
Passengers
2015/16 0.578 million
2016/17 0.581 million
2017/18 0.557 million
2018/19 0.490 million
2019/20 0.551 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

It was served before privatisation by Network SouthEast and from 1996 until 2004 by Thames Trains. A limited semi-fast service between London and Exeter St Davids, Westbury, Taunton, Frome and Penzance also calls.

Services

Thatcham station is served by GWR local services from Reading to Newbury and from London Paddington to Bedwyn.[1] A limited number of services starting from Reading continue to Bedwyn. It is also served by limited number of intercity services from Paddington to the West Country.

These services are summarised as follows.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Theale   Great Western Railway
London Paddington to Taunton, etc.
(Limited service)		   Newbury
Theale   Great Western Railway
London Paddington to Bedwyn		   Newbury
Midgham   Great Western Railway
Reading to Newbury		   Newbury Racecourse

History

Thatcham station was opened on 21 December 1847 as part of the Berks and Hants Line to Hungerford.[2] Traffic through the station increased when the line was extended to Taunton in 1906. The station remained as part of the Great Western Railway (GWR) until railway nationalisation in 1948. After the sectorisation of British Rail in 1982 the station became part of Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Rail. From 1996 services were provided by Thames Trains until the franchise was merged with First Great Western.

Thatcham Ordnance Depot

In 1940 the 332nd Engineer General Service Regiment of the United States Army built an ordnance depot next to the main line just west of the station. This included a number of sidings that were used for the delivery of equipment.[3] After the Second World War the site was developed as a base for what later became the Royal Logistics Corps and had a number of steam locomotives used for shunting.

The base was closed in 1999 and its site has now been developed as a housing estate.[4]

Current layout
A GWR Class 387 from Reading to Newbury in platform 1

Thatcham station has two platforms, one on each side of the main line. At the eastern end of the station there is a footbridge over the line, replacing the old footbridge that was located at the western end.[5] At the western end of the platform there is a level crossing.

On the up platform is a ticket office that is open Mondays to Saturdays and two access points to the station car park. On the north side of the line west of the station is a Royal Mail sorting office next to where the ordnance depot used to be.

On the down platform is a small shelter and access to a small car park. The Kennet and Avon Canal runs parallel to the station and can be reached from the road at the western end of the station.

During 2018 the station was closed for periods[6] as part of the electrification project bringing overhead electric cables to the Reading to Taunton line, which in turn will allow the running of the new Hitachi built British Rail Class 800 and Class 387 commuter trains.[7]

References
  1. Table 116 National Rail timetable, May 2016
  2. "Basingstoke Railway History in Maps". Christopher Tolley. 2001. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  3. Robertson, K (1987). The Last Days of Steam in Berkshire. Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-86299-395-4.
  4. Thatcham Town Council timeline Archived 3 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "AMCO Project for Thatcham Railway Station Footbridge". Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  6. Newbury is going Electric
  7. InterCity 125 v Hitachi: What are the UK's new trains like?
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