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
Lehigh Line (Norfolk Southern) River Railroad in 1886 which had been held by the Reading Railroad since 1860 when it had blocked construction in order to maintain its monopoly in the Southern Coal Field which held the largest reserves of anthracite in Pennsylvania. Through neglect, the Reading allowed the charter to lapse and it was acquired by the LV which immediately constructed the Schuylkill and Lehigh Valley Railroad and connected it with the mainline. The line gave the LV a route into Pottsville, Pennsylvania and the Schuylkill Valley coal fields. The Vosburg Tunnel was completed and opened for service on July 25, 1886. The