Newbury Racecourse railway station serves the East Fields area of the town of

Newbury, Berkshire Newbury is a market town in the county of Berkshire, England, and is home to the administrative headquarters of West Berkshire Council. The town centre around its large market square retains a rare medieval Cloth Hall, an adjoining half timber ...

, England, and the adjacent

Newbury Racecourse Newbury Racecourse is a racecourse and events venue in the civil parish of Greenham, adjoining the town of Newbury in Berkshire, England. It has courses for flat races and over jumps. It hosts one of Great Britain's 36 annual Group 1 flat ...

. It is measured from . It was opened on 26 September 1905. As the station is next to the racecourse it handles heavy traffic and additional trains on race days. Otherwise, the station is served by local services operated by

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

between and and .

Services

Newbury Racecourse - GWR 387147 Newbury service

Newbury Racecourse station is served by local services operated by

from Reading to Newbury. On the current weekly timetable only two or three local services that call at the station continue to Bedwyn. Services are summarised as follows. During race meets or large events at

additional trains serve the station. They include a shuttle service to Reading and an extra stop for services that do not normally call at the station. During some races, a special charter calls at the station. The special trains and the shuttle service usually use the third platform on the south side of the station.

History

The

opened the station on 26 September 1905, several decades after the rest of the stations on this part of the line. It was used for race specials only. It did not even appear on timetables until 1912 but even then, it was still used only for race traffic. In 1990, after the building of new facilities at the racecourse and the building of a new industrial estate on Hambridge Road, a regular stopping service was introduced for the station. 2010 at Newbury Racecourse station - next meeting sign

2010 at Newbury Racecourse station - next meeting sign

The station originally had four platforms. The additional platform was on the south-facing side of what is now platform two. The platform on the south side also included station buildings and a roof through which passengers passed to access the racecourse. There was also a turntable at the station used mainly for turning

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

s that had brought specials at the start of the race day so they could make the return journey.

Service history

The station was part of the GWR until railway nationalisation in 1948. After the sectorisation of

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

in 1982, the station became part of

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the net ...

. Thames Trains provided services from 1996 until it became part of First Great Western Link in 2004 and

First Great Western Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen, Scotland.COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

vaccination centre at Newbury Racecourse.

Current layout

The station now has three platforms, two of which are next to the main line. The third platform is on the southern side of the station on a loop. The loop that previously served the fourth platform has now been lifted. The two main platforms that are currently served by stopping services have been shortened by fencing off the unused parts of the platform. Only short Class 166 DMUs and Class 165 DMUs use these platforms so maintaining their full length is unnecessary. Longer trains can use the third platform. A footbridge links all the existing platforms. There is a car park on the north side of the station with access to Hambridge Road. The car park on the south side of the station is on the property of Newbury Racecourse. Freight trains use the existing loop to allow passenger trains to pass them on the main line.

Steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the loco ...

s on special charters that are not stopping in the station also use the loop as a water stop because nearby road access can allow a water tender to reach the line. It also prevents such trains from blocking the main line or a platform at Newbury. All continuing trains using the loop at the racecourse must also travel through the loop on the down platform at Newbury to rejoin the main line.

References

{{Railway stations in Berkshire Railway stations in Berkshire Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1905 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Racecourse railway station Newbury Racecourse