Didcot Railway Centre

Didcot Railway Centre Didcot Railway Centre: living museum of the Great Western Railway Discover almost 200 years of railway history when you enjoy a day at Didcot Railway Centre.
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Our unique collection of Great Western Railway steam locomotives, carriages, wagons, buildings and smaller artefacts is based around the original 1930s Engine Shed and Coal Stage. We have a replica of Brunel's Broad Gauge Railway and you can take unlimited rides on a full-size steam train

On this day in history – 5 September 1964, the last regular passenger service ran on the 11½ mile Bristol Temple Meads t...
05/09/2026

On this day in history – 5 September 1964, the last regular passenger service ran on the 11½ mile Bristol Temple Meads to Portishead branch. The route of the line takes it through the Avon gorge, as shown in this photograph of a 4575 class 2-6-2T with a close-coupled B set of GWR coaches and a clerestory coach just appearing out of the tunnel mouth. Brunel’s Clifton suspension bridge is in the background.

The single broad gauge line had been opened by the Bristol and Portishead Pier and Railway company on 18 April 1867. The dock at Portishead was opened on 5 July 1879. The line was converted to standard gauge over four days in 1880.

The original Portishead station closed in 1954 to make way for a power station and a replacement station was opened at the same time a quarter of a mile away. Freight services continued over the line until 1981 and the track remained in place. It was used in 1985 as a part of the Great Western Railway 150 celebrations.

With the large capacity of Royal Portbury Dock and the range of freight traffic using it, railway freight services to the dock restarted in 2002. Meanwhile, it is predicted the line will reopen to passengers in 2028, with a third Portishead station to serve the town.

Today, 5 September, would have been the 80th birthday of Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. This pho...
05/09/2026

Today, 5 September, would have been the 80th birthday of Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. This photograph shows Freddie on the left with the other members of Queen with Didcot’s heavy freight locomotive No 3822 during filming of the band’s video ‘Breakthru’ in 1988. 3822 was on hire to the Nene Valley Railway at the time. The locomotive is now on display at Didcot Railway Centre and has been described as the largest single item of Queen memorabilia.

You can view the video of Breakthru here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEjU9KVABao

This month 100 years ago, September 1926, Castle class 4-6-0 No 5001 ‘Llandovery Castle’ was outshopped new from Swindon...
04/09/2026

This month 100 years ago, September 1926, Castle class 4-6-0 No 5001 ‘Llandovery Castle’ was outshopped new from Swindon Works. This photograph by Ben Brooksbank was taken at Paddington station on 28 May 1958 and shows No 5001 leaving from Platform 4 on the 6pm express to Weymouth, while 'Modified Hall' No 7927 ‘Willington Hall’ backs down onto a train at Platform 3. Both locomotives make a fine display of steam as their chimneys pass under Bishop’s Road bridge at the end of the platforms.

No 5001 had a 36 year career, being withdrawn in February 1963, while No 7927 only lasted 15 years between being built in October 1950 and withdrawn in December 1965. However she lives on, as her frames have been used in the new-build County class 4-6-0 now under construction at Didcot Railway Centre, while the boiler is working on the new-build 4-6-0 No 6880 ‘Betton Grange’.

150 years ago today, on 2 September 1876, the Great Western Railway announced that it now owned 2,120 miles of railway a...
02/09/2026

150 years ago today, on 2 September 1876, the Great Western Railway announced that it now owned 2,120 miles of railway and had running powers over more miles bringing the total to 2,230 miles, the largest mileage of any railway in the country. The system now included the Bristol & Exeter and South Devon companies now controlling an unbroken line of communication between Paddington and Penzance.

This photograph shows a former Bristol & Exeter Railway broad gauge 4-2-4 tank locomotive, No 2002, with 8ft 10in diameter flangeless driving wheels – one of the most visually striking of 19th century designs. The photograph dates from 1876 as the GWR had absorbed the B&ER in July that year. The locomotive had been built in 1873 as B&ER No 40 and was renumbered as GWR No 2002, then in 1877 was converted to a 4-2-2 tender locomotive with 8ft diameter flanged driving wheels. This took place following the Long Ashton derailment on 27 July 1876 which involved No 2001 of the same class. The huge tank engines, capable of speeds of 80mph or more, were expected to be more stable as tender locomotives.

On 2 September 1876 the GWR also reported that in the past half year, gross receipts had increased by £104,000. Also, in the last half year working expenses on receipts had been 53,03% as against 52,76% for the corresponding half year of 1875. The London & North Western Railway percentage for the same half year was 56.16%; the Midland 66%; the Great Northern 59.29% and the North Eastern 56.04%.

Great Western Society Bristol Group Meeting: Tuesday 8 September, “The Closure of Lines and End of Steam in the Welsh B...
02/09/2026

Great Western Society Bristol Group Meeting: Tuesday 8 September,

“The Closure of Lines and End of Steam in the Welsh Borderlands and the North of England in the 1960s”. Talk by Peter Brabham

Peter Brabham lives in South Wales, and recently retired from Cardiff University. He has access to the archive of both John Wiltshire and Derek Chaplin. Peter visited us this time last year, and was a popular speaker.

This photograph by Derek Chaplin shows 0-6-0 pannier tank No 6412 on the last train from Monmouth to Chepstow at Redbrook on 4 January 1959.

The loco has had an interesting life since then, including working on the last weekend of the Chalford auto train. Subsequently In preservation she has moved several times over the years, and is currently on the South Devon Railway.

Venue for the meeting:

Room 4, BAWA. 589 Southmead Road, Filton, BRISTOL, BS34 7RF

19:30 for 19:45

There is no admission charge, but a donation of at least £3 is appreciated.

Non-members most welcome.

On this day in history – 1 September 1856, the new stations on the West of England route at Witham, Bruton and Castle Ca...
01/09/2026

On this day in history – 1 September 1856, the new stations on the West of England route at Witham, Bruton and Castle Cary were brought into use. Edwin Hall was the first stationmaster at Castle Cary. In later years, the running-in board at Castle Cary read “CASTLE CARY JUNCTION FOR SOMERTON LANGPORT & TAUNTON“. This photograph is from the Jeffery collection in the Great Western Trust archive at Didcot.

From 2 July 1906 Castle Cary became part of the main route to the West of England when the cut-off route to Cogload, near Taunton, was opened, which took 21 miles off the journey via Bristol.

Our Tuesday Treasure this week from the Great Western Trust collection is a comic postcard from the early years of the 2...
01/09/2026

Our Tuesday Treasure this week from the Great Western Trust collection is a comic postcard from the early years of the 20th century. To read the full blog please click on the link: https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/product.php/77/tuesday-treasures and scroll down to Tuesday 1 September.

The Trust collection seeks to reflect any contemporary material that may have relevance to the times in which the GWR operated and although this card isn’t of the GWR itself, it surely reflects the ‘spirit and attitudes’ of a large proportion of the railway travelling public even pre first world war. A few decades later the GWR itself went into the comic cartoon business when it published Railway Ribaldry by W Heath Robinson in its centenary year, 1935.

On this day in history – 31 August 1952, a Stephenson Locomotive Society railtour ran from Oxford to Moreton-in-Marsh, t...
31/08/2026

On this day in history – 31 August 1952, a Stephenson Locomotive Society railtour ran from Oxford to Moreton-in-Marsh, then on to Shipston-on-Stour. This photograph shows the train before leaving Oxford.

The passenger service on the branch between Moreton-in-Marsh (“Change here for the Shipston-on-Stour Tramway” as the station nameboard once read) and Shipston-on-Stour had been withdrawn on 8 July 1929. Goods traffic continued on the line until May 1960.

The 31 August 1952 railtour was hauled by ex-Midland and South Western Junction Railway locomotive No 1335. She was one of three 2-4-0 M&SWJR tender locos, Nos 10 to 12, which at the grouping became Great Western Railway Nos 1334 to 1336. They had been built by Dübs & Company in Glasgow in 1894 and became GWR property in 1923, after which they were re-boilered and put to work in the Reading and Didcot areas.

No 1335 was taken out of store at Swindon to work the railtour, and was withdrawn soon afterwards, as was No 1334. No 1336 survived until March 1954 before being withdrawn from Reading shed. No 1335 was the only one of the trio given a BR-style smokebox numberplate

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Didcot Parkway Station
Didcot
OX117NJ

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+441235817200

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