Thatcham railway station serves the town of

Thatcham Thatcham is an historic market town and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire, centred 3 miles (5 km) east of Newbury, 14 miles (24 km) west of Reading and 54 miles (87 km) west of London. Geography Thatcham straddles t ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

, England. It is measured from the zero point at . It is served 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 ...

local services between and and . It was served before privatisation by

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 ...

and from 1996 until 2004 by Thames Trains. A limited semi-fast service between London and , , , and also calls.

Services

Thatcham station is served by GWR local services from Reading to Newbury and from to Bedwyn. 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 The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glouc ...

. These services are summarised as follows.

History

Thatcham station was opened on 21 December 1847 as part of the Berks and Hants Line to Hungerford. Traffic through the station increased when the line was extended to in 1906. The station remained as 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

until the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the indust ...

. From 1996 services were provided by Thames Trains until the franchise was merged with

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.332nd Engineer General Service Regiment 332nd Engineer General Service Regiment or 332nd Engineer Regiment was activated as a Special Service Regiment in May 1942, as a unit in the United States Army. Later this unit was redesignated a General Service Regiment. The unit was formed ...

of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

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. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the site was developed as a base for what later became the

Royal Logistic Corps The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army. History The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was formed on 5 April 1993, by the union of five British Army corps: * Royal Engine ...

and had a number of

steam locomotives 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 locomot ...

used for shunting. The base was closed in 1999 and its site has now been developed as a housing estate.

Current layout

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. 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 , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

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 The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the cen ...

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 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 The British Rail Class 800 ''Intercity Express Train'' or ''Azuma'' is a type of bi-mode multiple unit train built by Hitachi Rail for Great Western Railway and London North Eastern Railway. The type uses electric motors powered from overhead e ...

and Class 387 commuter trains.InterCity 125 v Hitachi: What are the UK's new trains like?
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References

External links

{{Railway stations in Berkshire Railway stations in Berkshire DfT Category E stations Former Great Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1847 Railway stations served by Great Western Railway Thatcham 1847 establishments in England