DIDCOT RAILWAY CENTRE
Steam Trains in Oxfordshire
An
eccentric engineer with the unlikely name of Isambard Kingdom Brunel
conceived of a railway line which would
carry First Class Victorian era steamship
passengers from Plymouth and Bristol to London in speed and style, and
one of England’s
grand and unique railways in the west was built, the Great Western Railway (see Brunel's Great Britain Steamship).
Originally a 7 foot
wide broad gauge track allowed for faster
speeds behind Brunel’s now legendary “Firefly” steam
engine in the 1840’s. The standard gauge won out, but the broad
guage tracks and the Firefly Engine live on at the Didcot
Railway Centre in southern Oxfordshire. The Didcot Rail Museum is a journey
back into steam history while high
speed modern trains roar passed a short distance away.
2011
marked the 50th Anniversary of the Great Western Railway Society and
44 years
at the engine sheds of the Didcot center. The Didcot Railway
Centre covers over 20 acres and includes not only the Grade II listed
engine shed building and coal stage, but the locomotive works, carriage
shed, turntable, transfer shed, signal boxes, museum, two standard
gauge demonstration lines
as well as the Brunel broad gauge railway line for special runs of the
Firefly replica.
The Didcot Railway Centre recently relaunched the restored mighty engine
King Edward II, a glorious blue monster of steam at a ceremony in April,
running again for the first time in almost a half century, joining the
array of 20 locomotives at the rail yard. Edward II the Plantagenet
of the 13th Century was a pretty weak monarch in his family of medieval
royals, but the steam locomotive named for him, the 4-6-0 king class
6023 King Edward II locomotive was one of the most powerful engines to
ever drive
the lines of the Great Western Railway in the 1930's. The engine will
make appearances at railway heritage museums before assuming main line
duties
as an ambassador
of England steam heritage.
Only
about an hour from London, the Didcot Centre has a wonderful collection
of
steam engines,
one of the largest in the
UK after the national msueum system (see York
National Rail Museum)
from grand Great Western Express “Castles” and “Manors” to
smaller tank engines and a variety of period rolling stock on the 23 acre
site laid
out as an old time station and switching yard. Used in many film and
television productions, the site has working signal boxes,
a Science and Learning Center for the kids and on weekends and throughout
the summer, offers steam train rides on
a mix of the available trains, 
including
the open coaches of the broad gauge replica Firefly, and
the “driver
for a fiver” chance
to operate the throttles of an authentic operating steam engine. Steam
days are Saturdays and Sundays May-September and
Wednesdays
in July-August. On special designated days, a “Thomas
the Tank” engine
is available for rides for children in love with the storybook and
television character. (Apparently there are several of them that make
the circuit
around England to different sites.) And a new event at Didcot for steam
and car racings fans, the Steam & Speed allows a steam adventure
and Formula One experince at the RBS Williams F1 private museum (see Steam & Speed
Experience).
The historic property built around the original engine shed and turntable is connected by a foot tunnel to the modern Didcot Parkway Rail Station and can be easily reached by rail from London, or take the A34 motorway toward Oxford and get off at the Didcot exit - easily landmarked by the massive cooling towers of the Didcot power stations, built on the site of WWII era Royal Army and Air Force bomb depots instrumental in the build-up to D-Day. You can actually get a free guided tour of the power station by appointment during the week if your interests lie in things technological. But for those in love with the beauty of an earlier technology and the glorious grand days of steam rail, the Didcot Railway Centre is well worth your adventure in trainspotting. © Bargain Travel Europe
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Didcot
Railway Centre
Didcot
Power Station
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SEE ALSO:
NORTH MORETON - KINGS & WITCHCRAFT
THAMES
CRUISES - BIG BEN TO GREENWICH
BLENHEIM
PALACE - CHURCHILL BIRTHPLACE
LOCOMOTION NATIONAL RAILWAY MUSEUM SHILDON
