Tilehurst railway station is a railway station in the suburb and former village of Tilehurst

Tilehurst

Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is also, with different boundaries as described below, a civil parish in West Berkshire district.-History:...

 to the west of Reading

Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

 in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The station is served by local services operated by First Great Western

First Great Western

First Great Western is the operating name of First Greater Western Ltd, a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that serves Greater London, the South East, South West and West Midlands regions of England, and South Wales....

.

History

The station is on the original line of the Great Western Railway

Great Western Railway

The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...

, which opened in 1841, and was itself opened to traffic in 1882.

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

A329 road

The A329 is an east-west road in Southern England that runs from Wentworth in Surrey to Thame in Oxfordshire. The A329 starts at the A30 in Surrey and passes through the towns of Ascot, Bracknell, Wokingham, Earley, Reading, the village of Pangbourne, and Wallingford in Oxfordshire...

 and the River Thames

River Thames

The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...

, 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

Reading railway station

Reading railway station is a major rail transport hub in the English town of Reading. It is situated on the northern edge of the town centre, close to the main retail and commercial areas, and also the River Thames...

 and Oxford

Oxford railway station

Oxford railway station is a mainline railway station serving the city of Oxford, England. It is about west of the city centre, northwest of Frideswide Square and the eastern end of Botley Road, and on the line linking with . It is also on the line for trains between and Hereford via...

. 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.

In literature

Unfortunately, the railway at Tilehurst was mentioned in less than glowing terms by Jerome K. Jerome

Jerome K. Jerome

Jerome Klapka Jerome was an English writer and humorist, best known for the humorous travelogue Three Men in a Boat.Jerome was born in Caldmore, Walsall, England, and was brought up in poverty in London...

 in chapter 16 of Three Men in a Boat

Three Men in a Boat

Three Men in a Boat ,The Penguin edition punctuates the title differently: Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog! published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K...

: "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."

External links

• Train times and station information, from National Rail
  National Rail
  National Rail is a title used by the Association of Train Operating Companies as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain...