When: 22 October 2025, 10:15 - 12:30
Where: Didcot Railway Centre, Station Road, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 7NJ
Speaker: Roger Orchard – Great Western Society
The Thames Valley Group are delighted to have secured a visit to Didcot Railway Centre, home of the Great Western Society. We will be hosted by Roger Orchard of the Great Western Society, who will facilitate members understanding just how far rail travel has been developed, what more we could and should have learned, and what the future might hold.
Didcot Railway Centre is a former Great Western Railway engine-shed and locomotive stabling point located in Didcot, Oxfordshire, England, which today has been converted into a comprehensive railway museum and preservation engineering site.
The Great Western Society (GWS) was offered the use of the former Didcot locomotive depot, taking it over in 1967. In the 1970s, the society negotiated a long-term lease with BR which was to expire in 2019. But this was subject to a six-month termination clause which could force the GWS to quit the site, and which could be operated at any point in time by lease-holder Network Rail (NR)
Today the GWS have developed the site, which still retains many of the original GWR buildings and features, as both a working steam locomotive and railway museum, engineering maintenance centre, and railway line offering short rides to visitors.
Access via Didcot Parkway station brings the visitor into the southern end of the site, at the start of the ramp coal wagons would take up to the coaling stage. Beyond this is the original 1932 four-road engine shed, and beyond this the original repair shed and 1988 constructed locomotive works, both of which have restricted access due to safety concerns. Beyond this lies a Ransomes & Rapier 70 feet (21 m) turntable, originally built for the Southern Railway at Southampton Docks, installed in the original pit.
The visit and tour will take approximately 2 hours & delegates with have to pay for admission.
**Please note for parking, it is best to park at the station car park or one of local ones or use public transport**
Booking for Members - Free & Non-Members -£5.00 inc. VAT
Competency;
TP1.1 Transport Infrastructure and Network Resilience
Note: If you are not a current Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, please be aware our membership team may be in touch with you using your email address provided regards membership opportunities. If you do not wish to be contacted please email and let us know at regions@ciltuk.org.uk
