Talk:Didcot Parkway railway station

Proposed merger

The article for Didcot Junction is unlikely to ever be expanded to any great extent, therefore I feel that it would be better if it was placed in the main station article as a separate section. Geof Sheppard 07:32, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. JRawle (Talk) 18:38, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Didcot's growth as a railway town

On June 14, 1844, a branch from Didcot to Oxford was built, and the station was built at the junction. The intended route would have taken it from Steventon to Oxford via Abingdon, however Abingdon's townspeople objected to this idea. Without this objection, it is unlikely that Didcot would have evolved into the town it is today, as its growth was initially triggered by the coming of the railway.

I think the line from London to Bristol probably was the trigger of growth in Didcot, as suggested in the Didcot article. And even if the Didcot to Oxford line had passed through Abingdon, I can't see why that would change the rate of growth in Didcot as it will still have to go there to join the GWR mainline. I'm not sure if the person who wrote the above meant the growth was due to not routing the London–Bristol line through Abingdon. Lord Wantage could also be mentioned here.

It also needs rewording so it doesn't suggest the line to Oxford and the station were built in a single day! JRawle (Talk) 18:49, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

The London - Bristol line had two options, from Reading, either via Swindon, or via Newbury and Bradford-on-Avon

The Swindon route was built, and they started at both ends. The line was extended from Reading to Steventon, in May 1840, to Challow a month later, and by December to Hay Lane, past Swindon

In 1844 the junction to Oxford was built. However the route originally planned would have left the main line at Steventon, via Drayton, Abingdon, Radley.

As Abingdon opposed this, it went from Didcot instead. As Didcot was a junction, and as had engine and carriage sheds, it grew. The sheds were built as was almost exactly halfway along the line. Halowithhorns89 11:42, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

This broadly matches my understanding of the railway's developemnt, although it is Swindon that is almost exactly halfway along the line and so that was where the workshops were built. The sheds at Didcot were because it became a major junction serving, not only Oxford, but the routes to the Midlands and the North. Geof Sheppard 07:10, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Closure dates

The closure dates for the intermediate stations to Swindon and the line to Newbury are different in the Infobox and the History section. I tried checking the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway article but they are different again! Could someone please check some relaible references and put these right.Geof Sheppard (talk) 14:03, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

2015 updates

I have amended some sections and added citations. So I have removed the warning from the Junctions and Yards sections, but not the warning from the top of the page as I am sure there is more information to come. The joy of all things (talk) 10:27, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

GWR trains continued beyond Chester: they ran through to Birkenhead. What does your source actually say about Chester Line Junction? --Redrose64 (talk) 23:40, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

The book is Britain from the Rails by Benedict Le Vay, ISBN 978 1 84162 919 3 (2014). Page 112 has a small section about Didcot, but the referenced part says '..a fast avoiding line (the East Curve) sweeps away towards Oxford round behind the steam centre. But as you can see after the station, there's a line allowing trains that called there still to go to Oxford (this oddly being called Chester Line Junction, on the basis that the GWR could take you that far.) So a smaller triangle within a big one.' Additionally, Page 3C of the Western Trackmaps Railway Diagram (ISBN 978 0 9549866 6 7) lists it as Chester Line junction too.

It is mentioned here too http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=93254 but as this was unreliable, I have used the book reference. The joy of all things (talk) 18:53, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I know that it's called Chester Line Junction (and I can find other sources besides those you mention) - notice that I didn't put the {{dubious}} tag after the phrase "is known as Chester Line Junction" but after the sentence "This is so called because that was as far at the Great Western Railway could take you from here." The point is that GWR trains didn't stop at Chester, they continued over the Birkenhead Joint Railway (which the GWR co-owned with the LNWR) to both Birkenhead and Manchester Exchange (via Warrington Bank Quay and Newton-le-Willows). --Redrose64 (talk) 19:42, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Yes, I can see your point; I had forgotten they didn't stop at Chester. So what now? Do I remove until further citations are found? Top marks for pointing it out, though. Thanks. have a good day. The joy of all things (talk) 08:09, 27 November 2015 (UTC)