NEWBURY

The Railway had arrived in Newbury some fifty years before any perception of a Valley line connecting it with Lambourn.  The opening of the Didcot Newbury Southampton route through from Didcot in 1882, and on to Winchester in 1885, saw many additional trains now using the platforms.  December 1897 saw the completion of the Lambourn Valley line - as least far as the outskirts of Newbury. Pearsons' were engaged by the GWR to continue the branch into the station, the track running parallel to the main line and into a bay at the western end of the platform.

The green light for the rebuilding of the station was granted in 1906 at an estimated cost of sixty thousand pounds. It allowed for - amongst many other changes - two platform loops either side of the main line and bay platforms. Those on the 'up' side to cater for Lambourn, Didcot & Reading services. The re-built station was furnished with new brick buildings and a covered footbridge, and completed in the summer of 1909. Within two years of completion of this project, further additions were added, including the extent ion of the run around alongside the Lambourn bay to form a van shoot and horse unloading facility. This new platform was 110 feet in length.

Water columns were sited in several areas at the station, thus providing the ability to supply locomotives either on the platforms or the through lines. Below right, an ex- MSWJ 2-4-0 rattles through the station in March 1951.    Below left, a Dean Goods hauling un-sheeted straw, coming off the Lambourn branch about to pass Newbury West signal box.

1950 and a Dean Goods with a Lambourn train leaves the bay. The connection from the branch ran into the "up" platform loop. To the left of the last coach can be seen, one of the linesman's huts.  The other building nearby was used by the S & T Department for the storage of locking gear etc.  Both buildings replacing a single one near to the original East Junction signal box.

The conventional chaired track work of the Lambourn line on the far side of the photo, had a much more modern appearance when viewed alongside the baulk road of the main Berkshire & Hampshire line of the GWR

GWR railcar W18W with tail load, awaits departure for Lambourn.  - Above right and we can clearly see there was no physical connection between the Berks & Hants and Lambourn lines beyond the station. This view also shows vividly, the Lambourn branch climbing steeply away from the main line.     Below, same spot - different years.  Left - engine 2007 on the incline in 1936 - heading an autocoach and two clerestory coaches. The brick bridge it has just passed under is Rockingham Road over bridge.  Below right Pannier Tank 4609 pulling a horse box and a single coach, photographed in June of 1957.

(Above right) - Probably around the late 1930's a former MSWJ 2-4-0 leaves Newbury bound for Lambourn. The first vehicle is an autocoach, consequently, this photo confirms that this type of vehicle was still in regular use on the line. A second vehicle and a Vacuum fitted van complete the line-up. The only access to the Lambourn line was via the turnout in the left forground of the photo

(Above) - 4606 ~ sits patiently in the Lambourn bay, waiting to head the last service to Lambourn on a glorious day in May 1959. By this time, four down services and three up were all that remained of the once busier timetable. Departure time would have been 5.20pm with the train arriving at Lambourn terminus at 6.00pm. Just 5 minutes was allocated within the timetable for the engine to negotiate runaround and embark on the return journey. The line itself would then drift into brief hibernation until Monday morning.

The use of tender engines during the 1920's and 30s was mostly confined to Sundays. The crew would
decide as to whether they turned their locmotive at Newbury Racecourse on the way to Lambourn or on the return journey.

Two opposing shots of the Lambourn bay taken some thirty years apart. The left photo shows engine 2007 on the bay in or around 1937.
Above right, David Cannings' study of that same bay in 1968.    This area as we now know eventually evolved into the "Station Car Park"