The spiritual home of the Great Western Railway with a unique collection of material from buildings to bills.
Didcot Railway Centre, Didot, Oxfordshire
The Great Western Society was offered the use of the site and took it over in 1967. The society has a comprehensive collection of Great Western Railway (GWR) locomotives and rolling stock. There are two short lengths of running track, each with a station at both ends.
The shorter of the two lengths - the 'branch line' - has a wayside halt-type station named Didcot Halt at one end while at the other end is the transshipment shed dating from broad gauge days, when it was used for transferring goods from broad to "narrow" (ie standard) gauge rolling stock and vice versa; it has been carefully moved and reconstructed from its original site nearby. This is where the broad gauge (7 ft 01„4 in (2,140 mm)) Firefly replica, completed in 2005, can normally be found.
The other length of track has a prefabricated concrete station platform (from Eynsham) at one end next to the entrance, and a newly built platform at the other end. Long-term plans include the reconstruction of the Brunel-designed building from Heyford station on this platform.
The site retains many original GWR features including the engine shed, turntable pit and coal stage from the 1932 rebuilding. The turntable itself is a Southern Railway item from the Southampton Docks.
The centre regularly holds events such as steam and diesel railcar days. Members of the Great Western Society are active in the preservation of locomotives and rolling stock and as of 2005 several locomotives such as King Edward II are being restored. Certain 'new-build' projects to create locomotives that didn't escape scrapping are also undertaken at Didcot, such as the completed Firefly locomotive mentioned above, a Saint locomotive (using a Hall chassis and boiler), a County locomotive (using a Hall chassis and LMS 8F Boiler), and a steam railmotor (using an autocoach that was rebuilt from a railmotor in the 1930s).
By rail: close to Didcot Parkway Station
By road: it is signposted from Junction 13 on the M4 and from the A34.
The railway centre is accessed through Didcot Parkway railway station, which links the centre by rail to London and much of the south and central England. Wheelchair and pram access is practically non-existent; they have to be carried up a flight of concrete steps. Although this contravenes the Disability Discrimination Act, the Great Western Society is unable to improve it since the site is owned by Network Rail.
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