The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Line

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This railway has fascinated me from the time I realised it was there. Fact is I knew of it as a teenager when I used to go to Didcot travelling through the arch of the bridge on Lower Broadway by Riches Sidings on my way to visit a girlfriend or go to the motorcycle shop. I also remember travelling over the bridge at Upton by the station there. Years down the line and both bridges have gone and a new road has been built through Didcot on the line of the old railway. This story starts when I noticed some work happening at one of the old bridges along from Upton, I found out to my disgust that a local waste company was filling in a cutting. I felt it was time to record what I could before it all disappeared so, starting with the bridge at Chilton I set out. I will concentrate on what is left of the railway between Didcot and Newbury and where the railway used to run. From Newbury to Southampton I will attempt to cover later with photos from Geograph. Some history about the line can be read here Link .
I have also written a blog on this. Link





We start at Didcot station which has been refurbished over the years and now the old bay where the line terminated and started has gone though the platform edges are still visible as is the line of the old railbed. If you look to the left of Ben Brookbank's photo you can see the line going in the bay and on the second one the train is entering the old bay.


The station was modernised back in the 1980's and called Didcot Parkway; in doing so they removed both Swindon and Newbury Bay platforms, though you can still see the platform edges from the carpark.


Looking at the station it has changed a bit since it was opened but the Brunel awnings are still there.


Heading on away from the station the point where the branch left the main line can still be made out. The place is where the traffic light to the Orchard Centre takes you. The embankment there took the line into Riches Sidings


and a little further along the branch line left on its way to Newbury. The road marks it route to the roundabout


but sadly the bridge I remember was removed many years before along with Jobes Dairy just off to the right. The embankment is still there and now used as a footpath and cycleway and you can still pass under one of the old bridges on the chutting


The railway crosses the road at East Hagbourne


then across a bridge by Grove Farm


and over another bridge as it comes into Upton.


The cycle route finished a little was after the bridge, from there a path continues though this is one made by the person whose house now sits across part of the old line


Upton Station would have been next.It is now a private house, ironically the local council chose to name the close, built on the goods yard, after the person who brought about the demise of the line


The line used to go under a bridge just out of the station which I do remember going over as a kid. It was demolished to straighten the road but the bridge would have been somewhere in the following photos.


From here the railway ran past Chilton through a series of cuttings for the next two miles. A house is built on the end near the road and another at the top of the cutting. The cutting itself is in good condition and used by the surrounding properties as a walk to the footpath.
Link


The line then runs level with the pasture next to it for a short distance


before heading back into a longer cutting, along which you can see some of the old cable runs with open inspection holes. Much of this is impassable due to the shrubbery which has grown there over the years.


Further on you come to the Upton Bridge which is in very good condition and even has a benchmark on it. Take care if you go down the side as it is very steep.

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