On 9 January 2023, Laurence Waters gave a very well-attended talk on The History of the Railway from Didcot to Oxford.
The Great Western Railway was founded in 1833 to build a line connecting Bristol to London, with Isambard Kingdom Brunel appointed engineer. Brunel was a believer in the advantages of a broad gauge (7 foot) track and it was not until 1892 that GWR wholly moved to the standard gauge. A branch line to Oxford was envisaged in the original GWR plans but a shortage of money, and opposition from some quarters, led to this idea being scrapped. However, in 1843 Parliament passed the Oxford Railway Act and in June 1844 GWR’s line connecting Didcot Junction (as it was then known) to Oxford was opened. At Culham Brunel built a brick and stone station, which is now a listed building. The station in Oxford was located at Grandpont, close to a wharf on the Thames. The line was later extended northwards, reaching Banbury in 1850 and Birmingham in 1852. In the latter year, the station at Oxford was moved to its present location. In 1854 a spur was built to link Abingdon and Oxford. The station at Radley opened in 1873 as a new junction station for the Abingdon branch.
In telling the story of the Didcot to Oxford line, Laurence showed many fascinating pictures and photographs of its stations, locomotives and people, from the earliest years to the present day. It was striking to see the large numbers employed at the stations and also to learn that horses were widely used on the railway for shunting. Didcot played a crucial role in this, being the location of the feed store for the horses of the entire GWR network.