As per title. Non sure what's been done in the past, but I imagine at least some kind of strengthening from the usual 2-car shuttle? Just wondering as I've never had the connection!
It hasn't happened in the past. Weddings have taken place in London.
As per title. Non sure what's been done in the past, but I imagine at least some kind of strengthening from the usual 2-car shuttle? Just wondering as I've never had the connection!
I always thought a dive-under from the Relief lines should have been built as part of Crossrail. If they could terminate 4tph at Windsor, that would be a huge boon for the town. But even 2tph direct into the core would be very useful.
Remove one of the 'branches' from isolation, provide a useful terminating point, less ending at Paddington, relief of Windsor lines... win win
Prisoner of War???I'm sure there will be some kind of walkabout. Got to keep the monarchists happy. There certainly was after the POW married Camilla.
If I recall correctly they didn't use the Royal Train, but a scratch set hauled by the Electro-Diesel with the old Southern Region route learning/General Manager's saloon 975025, converted from the Hastings diesel buffet car which had been damaged but not irreparably in the Hither Green derailment. Journalists shown round it in advance reported that the reading material laid out on the table for the couple included copies of the current Rail News, BR's house magazine of the era ....I wonder if Harry will follow is father (the POW) when he married Diana as they went on honeymoon by train. 73142 hauled their special train to Romsey as they started their honeymoon in Broadlands, stately home of the Mountbatten family.
If I recall correctly they didn't use the Royal Train, but a scratch set hauled by the Electro-Diesel with the old Southern Region route learning/General Manager's saloon 975025, converted from the Hastings diesel buffet car which had been damaged but not irreparably in the Hither Green derailment. Journalists shown round it in advance reported that the reading material laid out on the table for the couple included copies of the current Rail News, BR's house magazine of the era ....
I must admit I'm far from convinced that the 12(?)tph that will terminate at Paddington will forever terminate there. And one of the places I've thought that you could send a few too would be Windsor. Possibly even then take some stops out of other services between Slough and Paddington...I always thought a dive-under from the Relief lines should have been built as part of Crossrail. If they could terminate 4tph at Windsor, that would be a huge boon for the town. But even 2tph direct into the core would be very useful.
Remove one of the 'branches' from isolation, provide a useful terminating point, less ending at Paddington, relief of Windsor lines... win win
Services are generally 10 car (458 or 707) all day at least on weekdays and Saturdays, running twice per hour. This goes up to 4tph from December.Not sure what the signalling is like on the Windsor branch from Staines but I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to run some extras from Waterloo. A 10 coach 458/ 707 would provide much more capacity than anything from Central to Slough could provide (branch is a 3 coach turbo as a maximum iirc)
4tph Reading-Heathrow + 6-8tph Crossrail + 2tph Reading-Paddington (semi-fast) + 2tph Freight all running on the relief line out of Slough might be a performance risk.I must admit I'm far from convinced that the 12(?)tph that will terminate at Paddington will forever terminate there. And one of the places I've thought that you could send a few too would be Windsor. Possibly even then take some stops out of other services between Slough and Paddington...
I always thought a dive-under from the Relief lines should have been built as part of Crossrail. If they could terminate 4tph at Windsor, that would be a huge boon for the town. But even 2tph direct into the core would be very useful.
Remove one of the 'branches' from isolation, provide a useful terminating point, less ending at Paddington, relief of Windsor lines... win win
No chance of getting that to fit in the available space without underground platforms for the service at Slough or moving Slough station some distance eastward and the bend would still be too tight for modern standards. You wouldn't get 4tph down the line either without installing some double track.
I'm a local, and I'm not entirely convinced this will happen. The price of housing here is already stratospherically high, and the cost of living is only slightly lower than in London. It really depends on how existing commuters will take to the tube train style 345s and what commuters who lose their direct stopping trains do (Thames branches & beyond Reading at peak times). Many may commute by car instead.But that ridership will explode along the GWML, and there won't be spares for Tring, Wycombe etc...
The Windsor Riverside services are regarded by most in the town as slow and tedious. Which they are. In the 15 minutes it takes to just run on the branch between Staines and Riverside, GW manage to run from London Paddington to Slough. Getting to the West End of London can be 30 minutes quicker with a short connection at Slough. And 30 minutes coming back. That's quite a timesaving. The Slough shuttle commonly runs 3 car when there's one available, even then it regularly has standing passengers. It must be one of the busiest short shuttles in the country.
If I recall correctly they didn't use the Royal Train, but a scratch set hauled by the Electro-Diesel with the old Southern Region route learning/General Manager's saloon 975025, converted from the Hastings diesel buffet car which had been damaged but not irreparably in the Hither Green derailment. Journalists shown round it in advance reported that the reading material laid out on the table for the couple included copies of the current Rail News, BR's house magazine of the era ....
Tring would, as I mentioned before, not be popular, because unlike the other cross London schemes it would result in a service split[1] between two main London stations a fair distance apart, which would be highly inconvenient
If only NR had properly managed their modernisation project finances!... DMU...