Campaign to reopen Didcot to Southampton railway

[whole diary]

[ray951]

What sort of service would we see today if the line between Didcot and Newbury remained? An hourly service with a passing place at Hampstead Norreys (Norris)? This could be an extension of the Reading to Newbury stopping service reversing at Newbury. I would think there wouldn't be through running at Didcot to avoid crossing the main line.

As someone who lives in Didcot (and use to live in Newbury), what surpises me as even though Newbury is the next nearest town south of Didcot and the A34 is very busy there is no public transport between these two places. Unless of course you count going via Reading on the train which would take 2 - 3 times longer than driving.

So is there any demand for such a service and if there is, why is there not a bus service between them?

[grahame]

The problem with the DN&S is that it was never treated as a trunk route (except for a short time in the mid 1940's).  It should have been the through route for the Midlands and Northern traffic to Southampton, but that was always, as now, routed through Reading and Basingstoke. 

Here's the 1934 summer timetable - so before your dates - showing via footnote a service that connects with the ship from (Le) Havre, runs up the DNS^▸ (Domain name service) with through carriages to Glasgow and Edinburgh (and Scarborough on Saturdays).  Leaving Southampton Docks at 07:05, it took 3 hours to cover less than 60 miles to Newbury ... must have been a real joy for continental travellers as they stopped to look at the beautiful scenery at Worthy Down Platform and Pinewood Halt.