My 3rd visit to Didcot Parkway in 6 months however this time not just including Great Western Railway Trains from the Great Western Mainline and Cotswolds Line but also some CrossCountry Trains.

Featuring a mixture of Class 800 and 802 IETs and also Class 220 Voyagers as well.

When the Great Western Main Line first opened in 1840 from Reading to Steventon there was no station at Didcot until June 12th 1844 when the line between Didcot and Oxford opened.

Between here and Swindon there were several stops at Steventon, Wantage Road, Challow, Ufffington, Shrivenham and Stratton Park served by stopping services however all these closed on December 7th 1964.

The former Didcot, Newbury and Southampton Railway had link to Newbury from Didcot however like the intermidate stations between Didcot and Swindon fell victim to the Beeching Cuts.

The station was renamed by British Rail to Didcot Parkway on July 29th 1985 when a new station building along with a car park was built to provide a Park and Ride.

Today there are 1800 spaces with a new car park being constructed in 2018.

Electric Trains began running to Didcot Parkway in January 2018 provided by the half hourly Class 387s which call at all stations between here and Reading and then alternate with certain stations with Reading services and as recently an additional service to Newbury.

Oxford services along with CrossCountry services mostly bypass here via Didcot East Jn to Oxford with certain GWR services extended to Great Malvern, Worcester Foregate Street and Hereford.

As for the Great Western Main Line services to Cheltenham Spa call here along with hourly services from Bristol Temple Meads and Weston-super-Mare, Cardiff Central services (Mon-Fri), Swansea services mostly run non stop except for occasional services on Sundays.

Sometimes during the day occasional Oxford services can pass through Platform 3 and 4 which are used for terminating Class 387s. Platform 5 is used by shuttle services from Oxford and Banbury used by Class 165 Turbos.

IETs can run in Electric Mode on the GWML when electrification to Cardiff Central is completed however at the time of filming was still ongoing between Bristol Parkway and Cardiff Central.

Unsually the IETs have to changeover power modes from electric or Biomode whilst on the move at speed unlike the Class 395 Javelins on Southeastern for HS1 switch at Ebbsfleet Intl or Ashford Intl to 3rd Rail mode on the platform.

Filmed on Saturday June 15th 2019 on iPhone 8 and edited on iMovie

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