Berks and Hants Railway

v t e Berks and Hants Railway
Legend
Great Western Main Line to Bristol │ to London Paddington 0¾ Reading ¾ Reading West Coley branch to Central goods Southcote junction 7¼ Mortimer Berkshire Hampshire boundary 10½ Bramley London & South Western Railway to London Waterloo 15½ Basingstoke London & South Western Railway to Exeter 5¼ Theale 8¾ Aldermaston 10¼ Midgham 13½ Thatcham Newbury Racecourse Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Rwy to Didcot 17¾ Newbury Lambourn Valley Railway Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Rwy to Winchester 22½ Kintbury 25½ Hungerford Berkshire Wiltshire boundary 30½ Bedwyn Midland & South Western Jn Rwy to Andover 34¾ Savernake Low Level Midland & South Western Jn Rwy to Swindon Marlborough branch Burbage Wharf goods station Wootton Rivers Halt 39¼ Pewsey Manningford Halt 42¾ Woodborough 45¾ Patney and Chirton Reading–Taunton line to Westbury 50¾ Devizes Wilts, Somerset & Weymouth Rwy to Trowbridge miles from Reading

The Berks and Hants Railway comprised two railway lines built simultaneously by the Great Western Railway (GWR) south and west from Reading in an attempt to keep the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) out of the area that it considered to be its territory in England.

One line ran from Reading to Hungerford and was entirely in the county of Berkshire ("Berks"). A later Berks and Hants Extension Railway continued the Hungerford line to Devizes in Wiltshire. Since 1906 part of this route has formed the direct Reading to Taunton Line used by trains to Devon and Cornwall. The term 'Berks and Hants Line' has been used intermittently by officials and passengers for the whole route from Reading to Taunton even though it does not enter Hampshire and most was never built by the Berks and Hants Railway.

The second line ran from Reading to Basingstoke and terminated adjacent to the LSWR station there. Later the GWR station was closed and trains on the Reading to Basingstoke Line now use a platform of the rebuilt LSWR station.