Thatcham railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thatcham

Location

Place

Thatcham

Local authority

West Berkshire

Operations

Station code

THA

Managed by

First Great Western

Platforms in use

Live departures and station information from National Rail

Annual Rail Passenger Usage

2004/05 *

0.436 million

2005/06 *

0.455 million

History

Key dates

Opened 21 December 1847

National Rail - UK railway stations

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Thatcham from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.

UK Railways Portal

Thatcham railway station is a railway station in the village of Thatcham in the county of Berkshire in England. The station is served by local services operated by First Great Western from Reading to Newbury and Great Bedwyn. Most services are operated by Classes 165 and 166. It was served before privatisation by Network SouthEast and up until 2004 by Thames Trains. There is also a limited semi-fast First Great Western Intercity service between London and Exeter operated using Class 180 Adelantes.

1 Services
2 History
- 2.1 Thatcham Ordnance Depot
3 Current Layout
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Services

Thatcham station is served by local services by First Great Western from Reading to Newbury and from London Paddington to Bedwyn. A limited number of services starting from Reading continue onto Bedwyn. It is also served by a semi-fast Adelante service from Paddington to the West Country.

These services are summarised in the following table.

Preceding station		Following station
Theale	First Great Western Adelante services Reading to Plymouth Line	Newbury
Theale	First Great Western Paddington to Bedwyn Local services Reading to Plymouth Line	Newbury
Midgham	First Great Western Reading to Newbury Local services Reading to Plymouth Line	Newbury Racecourse

[edit] History

Thatcham station was opened on 21st December 1847 as part of the Berks and Hants Line to Hungerford^[1]. 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 the nationalisation of the railways in 1948. After the sectorisation of British Rail in 1982 the station became part of Network South East until the point of privatisation. From 1996 services were provided by Thames Trains until the franchise merged with First Great Western

[edit] Thatcham Ordnance Depot

In 1940 the 332nd Engineer General Service Regiment of the United States Army built an ordnance depot adjacent to the mainline just to the west of the station. This included a number of sidings that were used for the delivery of equipment.^[2] The site was later developed to become a base for the Royal Logistics Corps after the Second World War and included a number of steam locomotives used for shunting.

The base was eventually closed somewhen after 2000 and the entire site has now been developed as a housing estate. However, the gates through which the lines entered the site can still be seen as part of the fence around the estate.

[edit] Current Layout

Thatcham station consists of two platforms situated on either side of the mainline. At the western end of the station there is a footbridge over the line.^[3] At the end of the platform there is a level crossing.

On the north up platform there is a ticket office open [[Monday] to Saturday two access points to the station car park. On the north side of the line to the west of the station there is a royal mail sorting office next to where the ordnance depot was.

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