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Is it possible GWR will run direct Paddington - Windsor service for royal wedding?
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PHILIPE
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It hasn't happened in the past. Weddings have taken place in London.
The problem is that you can't easily get back - the connection to the up line is east of the station at Slough, so you block the down main for even longer a normal crossing move.
Riverside is far better for the extra traffic.
ISTR there was at one time an 0900 down but no return working, but that was when the Down Main was quieter!
Riverside is far better for the extra traffic.
ISTR there was at one time an 0900 down but no return working, but that was when the Down Main was quieter!
STEVIEBOY1
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Prince Edward got married in Windsor as did the Prince of Wales to his second wife.
Fawkes Cat
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Rather as with the Lewes bonfire (but for rather different reasons) is it actually desirable to improve access to Windsor that day?
Given that St George's chapel is firmly within the castle, one might even ask if there will be anything for anyone to see in the town: it would be entirely feasible for all the guests to arrive in advance and be put up in the security of the castle, only leaving later.
Given that St George's chapel is firmly within the castle, one might even ask if there will be anything for anyone to see in the town: it would be entirely feasible for all the guests to arrive in advance and be put up in the security of the castle, only leaving later.
IainG81
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I email GWR and suggested this service to Windsor and Eton Central with one stop at Slough but they said it wasn't practical because there's no cross over to the main London bound line at the junction so they said it wasn't practical to stop services at Platform 2 heading to London. So I believe they won't do any direct services from Paddington.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
The shuttle can be and often is a 3-car set. I expect they'll just do this (with it running back and forth continuously rather than to a timetable) and have some kind of queueing system.
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
Remove one of the 'branches' from isolation, provide a useful terminating point, less ending at Paddington, relief of Windsor lines... win win
STEVIEBOY1
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SWT_USER
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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)
randyrippley
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Prisoner of War???
Bessie
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Prince of Wales
There’s more capacity and a direct train from Waterloo so I’m sure the royal watchers will use that line more.
To be honest you’ll get a better view on TV and Windsor will be rammed.
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.
There’s more capacity and a direct train from Waterloo so I’m sure the royal watchers will use that line more.
To be honest you’ll get a better view on TV and Windsor will be rammed.
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 ....
STEVIEBOY1
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Yes I think you are right, it was something like that.
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...
43096
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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.
JamesRowden
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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.
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.
Yes I'd have thought it would need some work. Probably too late now. Shame, really - would have been a smart spur to attempt.
And yes the Paddington terminating is definitely not here to stay. I think eventually it will be some variation of:
OOC - 6tph
T23 and T4 - 4tph
T23 and T5 (possibly absorbing HEx and running beyond?) - 8tph
Some of WD/Slough/Maidenhead - 2tph
Reading - 4tph (possibly up to 6tph with the two above in various patterns)
But that ridership will explode along the GWML, and there won't be spares for Tring, Wycombe etc...
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.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
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, as well as removing quite a few useful peak services that are Tring stoppers that either start or terminate a bit further north. AIUI it has gone away, and I hope it stays away.
If you're going to put south WCML services onto any form of cross-London line, Crossrail 2 would be a better bet as it will serve Euston. The only way it would really work would be putting the whole slow line service onto Crossrail in the manner of Thameslink (meaning Euston would only have trains with a stopping pattern WFJ-MKC-wherever) - but that's rather more than 2tph and it would be rather cack handed for passengers.
[1] Tring (and some other stations served by the half hourly stoppers being talked about) is also served by semifasts which would remain at Euston.
If you're going to put south WCML services onto any form of cross-London line, Crossrail 2 would be a better bet as it will serve Euston. The only way it would really work would be putting the whole slow line service onto Crossrail in the manner of Thameslink (meaning Euston would only have trains with a stopping pattern WFJ-MKC-wherever) - but that's rather more than 2tph and it would be rather cack handed for passengers.
[1] Tring (and some other stations served by the half hourly stoppers being talked about) is also served by semifasts which would remain at Euston.
backontrack
Established Member
Windsor already has direct services - to London Waterloo. So I don't see why these extra services are needed.
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.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Indeed.
I can think of a type of DMU that would be absolutely ideal for it - particularly if some platform extensions were possible to make a 4-car unit work.
sjoh
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Doctor Fegg
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It's not a service split between Euston and Paddington, though. It's a service split between Euston and Crossrail, which has multiple central London stations. For those who live in the (ahem) Grand Union corridor and work in the City, it would be a clear win.
If only NR had properly managed their modernisation project finances!
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