Didcot Railway Centre – HOW IT ALL BEGAN
THERE is a uniqueness about Didcot Railway Centre and its facilities. Apart from retaining its character, charm and authenticity as a former Great Western steam locomotive shed, Didcot is the only heritage railway operation of its size in the country that sits in a triangle of railway lines with no road access. It is a rail locked site and its current 25 acre footprint is constrained by the curvature of adjacent railway lines serving London, Oxford and Bristol.
However, its survival and development into a premier tourist attraction in the heart of the Thames Valley commuter belt is owed in no small part to readers of The Railway Magazine who responded to an letter in the August 1961 edition, aiming to preserved a ‘14XX’ locomotive. The letter had, apparently, been sent in the April but no one had any idea it was being printed until the August issue was published.
While that letter was just the beginning, members of the Great Western Society (GWS) have gone well and truly beyond their original remit and have created an outstanding heritage attraction with an unrivalled variety of Great Western locomotives spanning decades.
I met founder member Jon Barlow at the centre during July, along with Frank Dumbleton, who was away at boarding school at the time, but joined the gang soon afterwards, and Richard Croucher, another early member.
The loco appeal proved to be far from a lost cause as money began rolling in while Jon was in the Lake District and two other founders, Graham Perry and Mike Peart, were on a shed bashing trip in Scotland.
Change of name
It was also a stroke of genius to rename the 48XX Preservation Society at its inaugural meeting in 1962 the Great Western Preservation Society – the ‘Preservation’ was dropped a year later to broaden its appeal. At the time, Western Region general manager Stanley Raymond seemed intent on destroying what still remained of Great Western. Using such a name and its connotation also garnered enthusiasm for future aims and aspirations. (The society also owns the name Great Western Restaurants Limited and has refused many offers to buy it.)
Acquisition of ‘14XX’ No.
