Tilehurst railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Tilehurst


caption = Station buildings and footbridge.
manager = First Great Western
locale = Tilehurst
borough = Reading
usage0405 = 0.405
usage0506 = 0.393
usage0607 = 0.401
platforms = 4
start = 1882

Tilehurst railway station is a railway station in the suburb and former village of Tilehurst to the west of Reading in England. The station is served by local services operated by First Great Western.

History

The station is on the original line of the Great Western Railway, which opened in 1841, and was itself opened to traffic in 1882.cite book| author=Waters, Lawrence| title=Rail Centres: Reading| publisher=Ian Allan, Ltd.| year=1990| id=ISBN 0-7110-1937-1]

Description

Tilehurst station is situated on the extreme northern edge of the rather sprawling suburb of Tilehurst, and at a much lower level than most of that suburb. The railway line and station are squeezed into a rather narrow strip of land between the A329 road and the River Thames, with the up relief platform on an embankment above the river bank.

The station has four platforms, one on each of the fast and relief (slow) lines, although the platforms on the fast lines see little use. The platforms are linked to each other and the station entrance, on the down fast platform, by a footbridge.

Services

Tilehurst station is served by stopping services run by First Great Western between Reading and Oxford. Most of these services start or continue as semi-fast services between Reading and London Paddington, and run twice an hour throughout most of the day, but only hourly on Sundays. Typical journey times are approximately 5 minutes to Reading, 35 minutes to Oxford, and just under one hour to Paddington.cite web | url = http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=3 | title = Train Times | publisher = First Great Western | accessdate = April 12 | accessyear = 2007]

###@@@KEYEND@@@###

In literature

Unfortunately, the railway at Tilehurst was mentioned in less than glowing terms by Jerome K. Jerome in chapter 16 of "Three Men in a Boat": "The river becomes very lovely from a little above Reading. The railway rather spoils it near Tilehurst, but from Mapledurham up to Streatley it is glorious."cite web | url = http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/308 | title = Three Men in a Boat | author = Jerome K. Jerome | publisher = Project Gutenberg | accessdate = April 14 | accessyear = 2007]

References

External links

* [http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk/ldb/summary.aspx?T=TLH Train times] and [http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/TLH.html station information] , from National Rail