Victorian

The Great Western Railway comes to Reading

Railway Accidents

Southern Railway

Reading Station

The GWR in the twentieth century

Great Western Branches

After the building of the GWR through Reading, other railways were built which met at the towns station. Some of these were built by the GWR and some were built by other companies trying to take away some of its business.

The Berks and Hants Railway was the first to be built. This left the main line at Reading West and then cut through the Tilehurst Ridge in a cutting before coming out into the Kennet Valley and running along the valley to Newbury and Hungerford. For much of the way it was alongside the Kennet and Avon Canal. Later this was extended in 1862 to Devizes.

A second branch of the Berks and Hants went to Basingstoke. This was opened in 1848 and was 15 miles long. It left the original Berks and Hants at Southcote Junction where the Newbury line started to go west.

At almost the same place, a last branch left the Berks and Hants. This was a short mile long branch to a new goods yard and was known as the Coley Branch. The original goods yard to the north of the town was overcrowded and this new yard shared the goods. It also linked with some factories. Simonds brewery was connected to the rail network, as did the Cooperative Jam Factory which was nearby. There were also sidings at Bear Wharf on the Kennet so that goods could be loaded from railway to canal which occasionally happened. The sidings themselves could take up to 300 wagons in 12 sidings. The goods yard closed in 1983 and its connection to the main line was removed in 1985. The route of the branch and the underbridge on Berkeley Avenue is now used by the A33 Relief Road.