Railway visit to Didcot Railway Centre

Following the cancellation last year, the Friends of Malvern’s Railway Group is now arranging a visit to the Didcot Railway Centre to Saturday 26 August (an “August Bank Holiday steam up”). If you would like to take part in this trip, please send an e-mail to David Gowan at david.gowan@btinternet.com or telephone him on 01684 565707.

We envisage that most participants will wish to travel by train. We shall travel on the 0958 from Great Malvern (leaving Malvern Link at 1002 ) to Oxford, and take a connecting train to Didcot Parkway arriving at 1151. The Railway Centre is next door to Didcot Parkway station.

We suggest that participants should purchase their own individual entry tickets to the Railway Centre in advance or on arrival. Prices are as follows: adults and seniors £16.50p, children (3 to 15 inclusive) £12.25p. Entry includes unlimited travel on trains within the centre and access to all the areas and buildings that are open on the day. (If there are enough participants, we shall see whether a group ticket would be worthwhile, but the saving would be small.) A refreshment room is available for lunch.

We also suggest that members of the party travelling by train should buy their own individual railway tickets. The cheapest combination that we have found is an Off-Peak Day Return to Oxford (£26.10p) and an Off-Peak Day return from Oxford to Didcot Parkway (£7.90p). The prices with a Senior Rail Card are £17.20p and £5.20p respectively. Prices can be reduced further by the use of Advance Tickets. The advantage of individual tickets is that each member of the party can make his own decision on the choice of return train.

If any participants who do not have Rail Cards would like to combine to purchase a group ticket (providing a one third discount), please let David Gowan know.

Please inform David if you are planning to travel by car and able to offer a lift to other participants, or if you are looking for a lift. If the day of the visit turns out to coincide with a railway strike, David will coordinate car sharing arrangements.