Our own Forth Railway Bridge - Ann Middleton, Didcot Railway Centre

AT the railway centre, our aim is to recreate the golden age of the Great Western Railway.

So, as well as a wonderful collection of railway engines, carriages, wagons and small artefacts, we have a number of small historic buildings that we have moved from around the great western area and re-erected at Didcot Railway Centre.

Our branch line, where we run trains on running days, runs down the western side of the railway centre from Didcot Halt, located near the turntable in the centre of the site, to the transfer shed at the north end of the centre.

While it looks as though it has always been there, it was built in the 1970s soon after we moved to Didcot Railway Centre in 1967.

Didcot Halt gives visitors the feel of a typical rural branch line station with its small platform and collection of original buildings.

The wooden ticket office is from Welford Park and the corrugated iron "pagoda" shelter on the platform was originally at Stockcross and Bagnor Halt.

Both were stations on the now disused Lambourn Valley branch line which used to run between Newbury and Lambourn in Berkshire.

We think the Welford Park ticket office dates from the opening of the line in 1898 and it was originally a waiting shelter.

After the Lambourn Valley Railway was taken over by the Great Western Railway in 1905, the building was converted to a ticket office and it survived until the line closed in the 1960s.

When conserving historic buildings, it can be a challenge to agree which period to represent.

We decided to restore Welford Park as a ticket office and also to adapt the original wooden building by adding a small brick base to prevent further deterioration.

But inside, visitors can see the seat back rest from its earlier days.

The station at Didcot Halt has always been looked after by a small group of volunteers – Andrew from Reading and John from Newbury are the stalwarts, with help from others during our Volunteer Work Week in August.

It’s a constant case of rubbing down the paint work, repairing the inevitable small sections that have rotted, and repainting both inside and out.

It is our own version of the Forth Bridge – as soon as the group has finished the wooden fence, the Pagoda and Welford Park ticket office, it is time to start all over again.