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Didcot Railway Station Through the Years.

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The featured image for this article is a photograph of the engine shed at Didcot Railway Centre taken in 2003. [My photograph, May 2003]

We start this article with a couple of photographs from the late 1920s/early 1930s showing express services from Paddington to Didcot.

A Paddington to Didcot train in the capable hands of 4-6-0 locomotive ‘Star’ Class No. 4016, ‘Knight of the Golden Fleece’, in 1928. This image was carried in the Great Western Railway Magazine, Volume XL No. 6 of June 1928, p231. The photograph was taken by M. W. Earley, © Public Domain. [4]
Another Paddington to Didcot train in behind 4-6-0 locomotive ‘Saint Martin’ of their 2900 ‘Saint’ Class, in 1928. This image was carried in the Great Western Railway Magazine, Volume XL No. 11 of November 1928, p429. The photograph was taken by M. W. Earley, © Public Domain. [5]
Didcot Railway Station in 1898, as it appears on the 25″ Ordnance Survey published in 1899. Note the small number of buildings opposite the station across Station Road. Didcot itself, just intrudes into the bottom-left of this map extract. [12]
Embed from Getty Images
Didcot Junction, Oxfordshire, 1904. View looking from the east at a signal box towards the junction station, with an engine approaching and a line of carriages to the left. The Branch Junction to Oxford and the erection of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s covered station was completed in 1844, Artist Henry Taunt. (Photo from English Heritage/Heritage Images/Getty Images), Public Domain. [2]

Didcot Railway Station sat at the point where the line to Oxford diverged from the London-Bristol main line. It was an important interchange. The railway reached Didcot in 1839 and the station opened in 1844. It was rebuilt after fire in 1855. The timber island platforms in this view date from that rebuilding. The two-storey brick booking office in the image below was a later addition, dating from the early years of the 20th century. The booking office was rebuilt in the 1980s when the station was renamed Didcot Parkway. Only in the latter half of the 20th century has the town itself grown to match the importance of its railway station.

Didcot Railway Station as shown on the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1910, published in 1912. The carriage shed appears to have been removed although the sidings are still present. The provender store top-right has become a complex of three significant buildings. [13]
Didcot Railway Station, seen from the air in 1928. This is an excellent study of the station. The original locomotive depot which is seen beyond the station has changed significantly. It underwent a complete rebuild just a few years after this photograph was taken, in 1932. It was closed in 1965 and eventually it was sold to the Great Western Society to be redeveloped as their Didcot Railway Centre. The London-Bristol line runs right to left across the photograph – top-right to bottom-left. The East to North avoiding line is in the background beyond the depot. Trains from London to Oxford can pass through the station and then sweep round to the North immediately beyond the station of they can take the avoiding line. Trains from the Swindon direction can turn North at Foxhall Junction before reaching the station, but if scheduled to call at Didcot they would need to reverse to gain the Oxford line. Various 0-6-0s, 2-6-0s and 4-4-0s can be seen in the image. One 4-4-0 has left several coaches in the down platform and is running round its train, (c) Historic England (1928) EPW024646. [1]

This extract from another aerial image, this time facing South and looking across the site of Didcot Railway Station. The station buildings are in the top-right quadrant of the image (c) Historic England (1928) EPW024648. [8]

The first of these two images is a view looking west from the west end of Didcot Station around 1970 The down main line is furthest left. The bridge in the distance is Foxhall Road. The building in the middle distance on the right side of the main line is the old broad gauge/standard gauge goods transfer shed. In the heyday of Brunel’s broad gauge goods to and from the GWR system had to be laboriously transferred between GWR wagons and those of the standard-gauge. That building was preserved by relocating it on the Great Western Society’s Didcot Railway Centre site, where it has been recreated (apparently in a shortened form) as Burlescombe Shed (second photo), complete with mixed gauge track. The view in the first photo has changed in almost every way possible since I took it: transfer shed relocated, provender store (right of transfer shed) demolished, power station closed and demolished, main lines overhead electrified, bridge rebuilt. It all seemed so permanent at the time! These two photographs were shared by Vaughan Snook on the 19th Century Railway Enthusiasts’ Facebook Group in March 2026 © Vaughan  Snook. [3]
This extract comes from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1932, published in 1933. The new engine shed is in place. The number of sidings has increased again. The old engine shed has not yet been removed and the coaling stage has yet to be built. [14]

In 1932, a large four-road engine shed (210ft x 67ft) was built which could accommodate sixteen to twenty-four locomotives. In addition to the shed, a new lifting shop, with 50-ton hoist, has been provided, together with a large coaling stage with an overhead 74,250-gallon water-tank (44ft x 36ft). There was also new boiler-washing apparatus and plant for calcinating sand.

Following on the standardisation of locomotives, The GWR also sought to streamline and improve its maintenance facilities. It provided a number of new locomotive depots incorporating arrangements for enabling repairs and maintenance to be efficiently carried out. One of these was at Didcot, where the old locomotive depot was swept away and an entirely new depot provided on the triangle between the western main line and the line to Oxford and the North.

932: The New Engine Shed at Didcot. This unattributed image was carried in the Great Western Railway Magazine, Volume XL IV No. 10 of October 1932, p371. © Public Domain. [5]
A plan of the engine shed, coaling stage and carriage sidings at Didcot in 1933. Great Western Railway Development Works – Supplement to THE RAILWAY GAZETTE – 8th December 1933. [10]
1932: three images showing the interior of the New Engine Shed and Stores at Didcot. These unattributed images were carried in the Great Western Railway Magazine, Volume XL IV No. 10 of October 1932, p370. © Public Domain. [6]
A general view of the locomotive facilities at Didcot, featuring the new coaling stage on the left of the image. [10]

The 1932-built locomotive shed also included offices, stores and enginemen’s rooms, arranged along the south-west side of the building. They are commodious, well-lighted and warmed, and washing facilities are provided for enginemen, chargemen, fitters, mechanics, cleaners and shedmen. All the enginemen’s notices, instructions and roster sheets are contained in glass cases by which means they are kept flat, clean and easily discernible, and are posted up in a lobby between the stores and the offices. [10]

Various locomotive on shed in the 21st century. More can be found here. [11]

Photographs of the Coaling Stage at Didcot in May 2003. [My photographs, May 2003]

1932-1985

Little changed at Didcot in the years after WW2. The whole site remained virtually unchanged during the nationalised ownership of British Railways, but for the engine shed taking on the new code of 81E. The standard allocation of locomotives remained much the same as before nationalisation, with Halls, Dukedogs and Panniers making up the bulk of the depot’s fleet.

The gradual replacement of steam by diesel traction resulted in the closure of the locomotive facilities in June 1965.

In 1967, the Great Western Society took over the 1932 engine shed and surrounding infrastructure to establish a living railway museum – Didcot Railway Centre.

Didcot Parkway

Didcot Railway Station was renamed ‘Didcot Parkway’ in 1985. “A new main building for the station was built along with a new 600-space car park on the site of the former provender store to the west of the station for Park and Ride use. These were opened on 29th July 1985 by David Mitchell MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, and on that date the station was renamed Didcot Parkway.” [9]

More recently, in 2018, a multi-storey car park was opened, costing £20 million and increasing the number of spaces by 65% to 1800. The car park also has a sheltered footbridge. In 2021, a new cycle storage hub was constructed, providing 600 covered spaces, LED lighting, CCTV cameras and a bike repair station. The project cost £1m, and was completed by a partnership of GWR, DfT and Network Rail. The station was served by some ‘Cross Country’ services until 2003, when Virgin ‘Cross Country’ ceased to call at the station, with all services using the Didcot East curve to and from the Oxford line. As at December 2018, one late night ‘Cross Country’ service from Reading to Birmingham New Street passed through Didcot Parkway to allow drivers to retain route knowledge. Passenger services on the West Curve ceased for a time after Thames Trains’ Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads service was withdrawn in 2003 but was reinstated on Saturdays in 2024. [9]

A 21st century satellite image showing the modern station at Didcot – Didcot Parkway and the Southern end of the Didcot Railway Centre. The avoiding line can be seen running from the bottom-right to the top-middle. The carriages sit on sidings alongside the line for Oxford which leaves the main line to the West of the station. [Google Maps, September 2026]
Didcot Parkway Railway Station, seen from the Southwest. [Google Streetview, April 2015]

References

  1. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/en/image/EPW024646, 9th September 2026.
  2. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/961476136, accessed on 11th September 2026
  3. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1614960195255335/posts/26251905641134115, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  4. https://www.greatwesterntrust.org.uk/PDFViewer/web/viewer.html?file=%2fFilename.ashx%3ftableName%3dta_journals%26columnName%3dfilename%26recordId%3d469%26page%3d12%26end%3d13, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  5. https://www.greatwesterntrust.org.uk/PDFViewer/web/viewer.html?file=%2fFilename.ashx%3ftableName%3dta_journals%26columnName%3dfilename%26recordId%3d474%26page%3d12%26end%3d12, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  6. https://www.greatwesterntrust.org.uk/PDFViewer/web/viewer.html?file=%2fFilename.ashx%3ftableName%3dta_journals%26columnName%3dfilename%26recordId%3d547%26page%3d8%26end%3d8, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  7. https://www.greatwesterntrust.org.uk/PDFViewer/web/viewer.html?file=%2fFilename.ashx%3ftableName%3dta_journals%26columnName%3dfilename%26recordId%3d547%26page%3d7%26end%3d7, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  8. https://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw024648, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didcot_Parkway_railway_station, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  10. https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/article.php/310/the-1932-engine-shed-when-new, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  11. https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/article.php/17/1932-engine-shed, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  12. https://maps.nls.uk/view/104196166, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  13. https://maps.nls.uk/view/104196163, accessed on 11th September 2026.
  14. https://maps.nls.uk/view/104196160, accessed on 11th September 2026.