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
Short Line Reading Series voices and well-established guest readers. The Short Line began on January 9, 2007 with a reading by Michael Turner, author of "Hard Core Logo" and organizer of The Reading Railroad, a regular literary event of the mid-1990s, and inspiration for the founders of the Short Line. The Short Line reading series was founded in November 2006 after conversations between Vancouver writer Carmen Papalia and Vancouver poet and musician Andrew Lee. The two drew their inspiration from author Michael Turner’s Reading Railroad series—a similar event of the mid-1990s which featured readings by various, and often conflicting, literary and musical artists. Instead