Reading–Taunton line marketed as the "Kennet Line", follows the River Kennet through the outer suburbs of Reading to Theale. The line passes through Berkshire countryside and local stations at Aldermaston, Midgham and Thatcham. Newbury race course lies alongside the line on the left and has its own station a short distance east of the main Newbury railway station, where the town centre is close by on the right of the line. The station has a bay platform on the right for local terminating trains, and the through platforms are on loop lines that allow fast trains to overtake the local services that
B&O Railroad Bridge the B&O replaced the original bridge with the current one. The three-span through truss bridge with a center swing span was built by the American Bridge Company. During construction, a tugboat grounded on the nearby riverbank and was freed by a B&O locomotive. The bridge was struck by the tugboat "Radnor", hauling a barge loaded with oleum, on March 12, 1924. The bridge was originally protected by a mechanical interlocking, which was revised in 1914. It was replaced in 1946 with an electrical interlocking, which also controlled the nearby junction with the Reading Company at Eastwick. In 1977, the Chessie