Coaling Stage Great Western Railway Heritage Centre

A railway coal stage and water tank, built in 1931 for the Great Western Railway. The structure is primarily of brown engineering brick with a sheet iron water tank. The walls are panelled in brown brick with blue engineering brick details, arranged over two storeys with a three-by-two bay pattern. The trackside elevation rises to three storeys, featuring a small door at ground floor level, flanked by metal-framed windows with segmental heads. The first floor incorporates a canopied coal tipping mechanism, again flanked by windows. Above, a 74,250-gallon water tank is covered by a segmental roof. The side elevations provide a window on the trackside at the west end, and a personnel door accessible by a pre-cast concrete external staircase with an intermediate landing at the east end. Behind the door are through-running arches for coal wagons on both side elevations, each with semi-circular heads. The rear elevation displays a plain, panelled wall. Internally, a store occupies the ground floor, with the coal stage above, supported by a central cast iron column. The original 1/2 ton capacity coal loading tubs and dumping mechanism remain in use.

The Didcot coal stage follows a standard Great Western Railway design for a non-mechanical facility and is believed to be the only surviving example in working order. Constructed as part of Depression-era government-funded improvements to the Great Western Railway under the Development (Loans, Guarantees and Grants) Act (1929), it provides a significant historical link to employment initiatives of the time. The shed was closed by British Rail in June 1965 but continues in use by the Great Western Society. It has undergone few alterations and stands as the only example in England still used for its original purpose.