Didcot Parkway railway station 4.53

Didcot Parkway is a railway station serving the town of Didcot in Oxfordshire, England. The station was opened as Didcot on 12 June 1844, and renamed Didcot Parkway on 29 July 1985 by British Rail to reflect its role as a park and ride railhead.The station is served by local services operated by Great Western Railway from to Didcot and, and by Main line services from to Bristol and South Wales, but some of the main line services do not call at the station.Just to the north of the station is the Didcot Railway Centre, which is accessed through the station. The centre is a comprehensive exhibition of original Great Western Railway rolling stock, with demonstration running tracks and including a reconstructed station named Didcot Halt.HistoryThe railway has run through Didcot since 1 June 1840, when the Great Western Railway extended its main line from Reading to. During this period a stagecoach transported passengers to Oxford from Steventon. A few weeks later the line was extended to Faringdon Road station near West Challow, and eventually to Bristol. On 12 June 1844 the line from Didcot to Oxford was opened and Didcot station was opened at the junction. The original intended route would have taken a line from Steventon to Oxford via Abingdon, but Abingdon's townspeople objected to this idea. Otherwise, it is unlikely that Didcot would have evolved into the town it is today, as its initial growth was prompted by the coming of the railway.