The station is managed by Great Western Railway, which operates local services to Didcot Parkway, Oxford, Reading and London Paddington. Cholsey is also the junction for the heritage railway services on the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway. The station has five platforms, but two of them are generally out of use so fast trains can pass through, with gates closed. These platforms are opened when the lines through the other two main line platforms are closed for maintenance. Platform 5 is only used for services on the preserved Cholsey and Wallingford railway.
Layout
The station frontage building is on two levels, with station offices in the lower (street) level and the London bound waiting room on the upper (platform) level. There are two small car parks, one at street level in front of the station building, the other at platform level to the south of the station.
The station has platforms on each of the fast and relief (slow) lines, although the platforms on the fast lines see little use. It also has a terminal platform used by trains on the Wallingford line. The platforms are located on an embankment, with access to street level by stairs and a pedestrian underpass.
Platform 1– is only used when the relief lines are out of service. It is for down GWR services during engineering and maintenance work.
Platform 2– is only used when the relief lines are out of service. It is for up GWR services during engineering and maintenance work.
Platform 3– for down GWR local services towards Didcot Parkway and Oxford.
Platform 4– for up GWR local services towards Reading and London Paddington.
High-speed passenger and freight trains pass through platforms 1 – 4 with little or no warning. As with any station, it is advisable to keep a safe distance from the platform edge, particularly on platforms 1 and 2 as trains can pass through at speeds of up to 125 miles per hour (201km/h).
History
Wallingford branch train in 1959
The station is on the original line of the Great Western Railway, which opened on 1 June 1840.[1]
The original station, opened with the line known as Wallingford Road, was several hundred yards further up the main line towards Goring & Streatley, just east of the point where the A329 road crosses the line (grid referenceSU592851). Some of the original station buildings can still be seen at this point. On 2 July 1866 Wallingford Road station was renamed Moulsford and the branch to Wallingford was opened five days later;[2] whilst the junction for this was at Moulsford station, the branch line track ran parallel to the main line for nearly 1 mile (1.6km) before curving away.
In 1892, during quadrupling of the main line, the junction for Wallingford was resited closer to the point of divergence and a new station was built there. On 29 February 1892 the new station opened and Moulsford station closed.[3]
The Wallingford branch closed to passenger trains in 1959 and to freight trains in 1981. Part of it is now preserved as the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway.
Cholsey station is mostly served by stopping services run by GWR between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway with some services running between Reading and Oxford in the morning and evening peak times. Services run every 30 minutes in each direction Monday to Saturday and hourly on Sundays. Typical journey times are approximately 7 minutes to Didcot Parkway, 20 minutes to Reading and Oxford, and just over 1 hour to Paddington.[4]
Services on the volunteer-run Cholsey and Wallingford railway run intermittently, usually on weekends and bank holidays.
More information Preceding station, National Rail ...
MacDermot, E.T. (1927). "Chapter IV Construction". History of the Great Western Railway. Vol.I Part I (1sted.). Paddington: Great Western Railway. p.102.
MacDermot, E.T. (1931). "Chapter I A Critical Period (1863–1869)". History of the Great Western Railway. Vol.II (1sted.). Paddington: Great Western Railway. pp.42–43.
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