Thatcham railway station

Railway station serving the town of Thatcham, Berkshire, England

Thatcham

General information
Location| Thatcham, West Berkshire
England
Coordinates| 51°23′38″N 1°14′35″W﻿ / ﻿51.394°N 1.243°W﻿ / 51.394; -1.243
Grid reference| SU528663
Managed by| Great Western Railway
Platforms| 2
Other information
Station code| THA
Classification| DfT category E
History
Opened| 21 December 1847
Original company| Great Western Railway
Pre-grouping| GWR
Post-grouping| GWR
Passengers
2018/19|  0.490 million
2019/20|  0.551 million
2020/21|  0.107 million
2021/22|  0.307 million
2022/23|  0.363 million
Notes

Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Thatcham railway station serves the market town of Thatcham in Berkshire, England. It is 49 miles 45 chains (49.56 mi; 79.8 km) measured from the zero point at London Paddington.[1] It is served by Great Western Railway local services between Reading and Newbury and Bedwyn.

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[edit]

Thatcham station is served by GWR local services from Reading to Newbury and from London Paddington to Bedwyn.[2] 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[edit]

Thatcham station was opened on 21 December 1847 as part of the Berks and Hants Line to Hungerford.[3] 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[edit]

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.[4] After the Second World War the site was developed as a base for what later became the Royal Logistic Corps and had a number of steam locomotives used for shunting.[citation needed]

The base was closed in 1999 and its site has now been developed as a housing estate.[5]

## Current layout[edit]

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.[6] 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[7] 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.[8]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Padgett, David (June 2018) [1989]. Munsey, Myles (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 3: Western & Wales (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. map 12A. ISBN 978-1-9996271-0-2.
2. ^ Table 116 National Rail timetable, May 2016
3. ^ "Basingstoke Railway History in Maps". Christopher Tolley. 2001. Archived from the original on 6 December 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
4. ^ Robertson, K (1987). The Last Days of Steam in Berkshire. Stroud: Alan Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-86299-395-4.
5. ^ Thatcham Town Council timeline Archived 3 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
6. ^ "AMCO Project for Thatcham Railway Station Footbridge". Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
7. ^ Newbury is going Electric
8. ^ InterCity 125 v Hitachi: What are the UK's new trains like?

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thatcham railway station.

* Train times and station information for Thatcham railway station from National Rail

* v
* t
* e

Railway stations in Berkshire

Great Western Main Line|

* Burnham
* Langley
* Maidenhead
* Pangbourne
* Reading
* Slough
* Tilehurst
* Twyford

Reading–Taunton line|

* Aldermaston
* Hungerford
* Kintbury
* Midgham
* Newbury
* Newbury Racecourse
* Reading
* Reading West
* Thatcham
* Theale

Waterloo–Reading line|

* Ascot
* Bracknell
* Earley
* Martins Heron
* Reading
* Sunningdale
* Winnersh
* Winnersh Triangle
* Wokingham

North Downs Line|

* Crowthorne
* Earley
* Reading
* Sandhurst
* Winnersh
* Winnersh Triangle
* Wokingham

Reading–Basingstoke line|

* Mortimer
* Reading
* Reading Green Park
* Reading West

Staines–Windsor line|

* Datchet
* Sunnymeads
* Windsor & Eton Riverside
* Wraysbury

Slough–Windsor & Eton line|

* Slough
* Windsor & Eton Central

Henley branch line|

* Twyford
* Wargrave

Marlow branch line|

* Cookham
* Furze Platt
* Maidenhead

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template