Night Photo Empty Didcot Parkway UK Train Station 2004

 Empty Didcot Parkway UK Train Station

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

A rare sight indeed.  An early evening black and white photo of a totally deserted Didcot Parkway UK railway Station.

Didcot Parkway station was originally opened simply as Didcot by the Great Western Railway in 1844.

The station is served by both local services operated from Reading to Didcot and Oxford, and by mainline services from London Paddington to the south-west of England and Wales.

The Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway (DN&S) once linked Didcot with Newbury, carrying services to Southampton via Newbury, Highclere, Winchester and Eastleigh.

The DN&S was closed to passengers on the 10th September 1962, and to freight workings in 1967.

At the eastern end of Platform 1, there is a raised section of the east car park which used to be the bay platform for the DN&S.

Update:

Since writing this page, the car park has been excavated by archaeologists revealing the footings of numerous buildings.

In 1985 a new main station building was opened on the 29th July by David Mitchell MP, and the name of the station was changed from simply Didcot to Didcot Parkway.

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Wooden Toy Train Floral Art Display Leamington Spa Station Platform 2016

Wooden Floral Train Leamington Spa Station 2016

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

Children from 18 local Royal Leamington Spa schools participated in the 2016 project to grow plants for two floral trains.  One in Jephson Gardens and the one above on a platform of Leamington Spa station.

 

2016 was the fourteenth year the wooden trains, crafted by apprentices of Moreton Morrell College, have been on display.

The names of each school involved are displayed on the side of the little trucks.


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Night Photo Bedford Station Shining Railway Tracks 2018

Bedford Stn Railway Tracks at Night

Photo:  Charles Moorhen

During a lull in my trainspotting activities at Bedford station one early evening in 2018, I happened to be standing near the end of platform 2 when this green signal light caught my attention; how it really stood out against the dark background.

Looking past the signal light I then noticed how the rails were shining so brightly, like narrow silver streams, as they meandered towards Bedford electric multiple unit stabling point, illuminated beyond the bridge.  I knew I had to try to get a record of this image.  The scene was crying out to be 'clicked'.

Unfortunately, fool that I am, I had left my tripod at home.  But, in my defence, I had not expected to stay so long into the night at Bedford station.  

With only one option left open to me I perched my camera on top of the gate post at the platform's end, steadying it the best I could, and took the photo with a long exposure.

I was amazed that this night photo came out at all, let alone with a modicum of quality.  Far from being perfect I had at least managed to capture something of the railway atmosphere that I felt at that moment.  Though to be perfectly honest, it did take three wobbly attempts.

On a purely personal note, the image still remains one of my all time favourite photos.

Satellite image of Bedford Stn.           Courtesy Google Maps

The red asterisk indicates the exact spot from where the night photograph was taken; at the end of platform 2 looking towards 'Ford End Rd' road bridge. 

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Messerschmitt ME 109 WW2 Bullet Holes Truro Station Footbridge 2017

WW2 Messerschmitt Bullet Marks, Truro Station

Bullet indentations on exterior footbridge panel          Photo: Charles Moorhen

 

                 

During World War Two At around 7:30 on the evening of Thursday the 6th August 1942, Truro railway station, Cornwall, came under attack from a lone German Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter aircraft - better known as the Messerschmitt ME 109.

The physical results of this terrifying incident can still be seen in one of the east-facing side panels of the platform footbridge spanning the tracks where two bullets slammed against the bridge metal; one almost penetrating it.

                       Bullet indentations on interior of Truro station footbridge panel                                            Photo: Charles Moorhen

               Bullet holes on Truro footbridge panel just above platform roof gutter on right    Photo:  Charles Moorhen     

At the time of the attack the mail train from Penzance to London was standing in the station, and it is widely believed that it was the presence of the train which momentarily distracted the attention of the German pilot away from his main target - the city of Truro itself.

As the ME 109 flew on towards Truro, to join the raid which killed 14 people and resulted in the injury of another 100, it left behind two fatalities and a number of wounded.

Messerschmitt ME 109

Those who died were railway worker, Mr. P. Williams, 52, and postman, Mr. E. Pentecost, 41.

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While on the subject of Cornish railways and WW2, it is worth noting that many children were evacuated by train to Cornwall at some point during the years of hostilities.

Here are just two brief examples:

On Friday the 1st September 1939, 544 evacuee children and their teachers arrived at St. Austell station, Cornwall, on the 6:30 from Paddington, London, on Evacuation Train No.103.

On the 3^rd September 1939, an evacuation train with the identification number 116 painted across the front of the engine boiler, brought 230 children and mothers to Truro station from Acton, London, to be billetted in Truro and the surrounding area.

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