Midgham Station

[whole diary]

[Marlburian]

All you need to know - and more beside.

[grahame]

All you need to know - and more beside.

Today, Tomorrow, and Thursday morning ...

Alterations to services at Midgham

Following engineering works not being finished on time at Midgham the line is now open.

Train services running through this station may be revised. Disruption is expected until 08:45 17/12.

Customer Advice

The level crossing is out of use at Midgham station and passengers are unable to cross between platforms.

Passengers travelling towards Newbury who need to cross to the other side of the station will need to travel onwards to Thatcham and change there, where they can catch a Reading-bound service and alight at Midgham.

Passengers travelling towards Reading who need to cross to the other side of the station will need to travel onwards to Aldermaston and change there, where they can catch a Newbury-bound service and alight at Midgham.

Further Information

If you hold a valid single, return, or weekly ticket, you will be able to claim compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).com/DelayRepay

Obvious question - is there another crossing nearby that could be used?   Not really (from a map exercise) ... looks like there's a public foot crossing somewhat to the east, but I wouldn't like to try that in the dark along the canal bank.

[Marlburian]

Glad I'm not walking out that way! occasionally I leave my car by Elstree School (what a very wide road that is for a "country lane") and walk down into Woolhampton and cross the A4, the railway and canal for a walk, usually returning the same way. Having to find a diversion as dusk falls would be a bit stressful and, knowing my luck, the train to Thacham would just have left, leaving almost an hour's wait for the next one.

[Marlburian]

I walked alongside the canal today and glanced at crossings that might have been used in the above scenario. Some 600m to the west is a private occupation crossing at Oxlease Bridge that can't have been used as such in years, although it enjoyed the panoply of warning signs, including one about the overhead lines, and a telephone to alert the signalperson. One could just about push a bike up to the locked gate, which an athletic pedestrian could scramble other, but no farm vehicle could get through. Nine hundred metres to the west there's a bridge over the canal (supported by some newish natty brick pillars), with a right-of-way over the railway line. This takes one to the Bath Road, with a pavement leading into Woolhampton.

After I'd negotiated the railway line, I had to wait for a Network Rail "Responder" vehicle ("as seen on TV" - in the Channel Five "Paddington Station 24/7" series) to reverse down the track towards me. The affable driver had been called to investigate something or other minor.

Incidentally, my walk took me past Thatcham Station, where the traditional very long tailback of traffic was waiting for the level-crossing gates to open I did wonder what all the occupants were up to when we're all meant to be Staying at Home.