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Former service from Paddington

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Harlesden

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Is it true there was once a full train (locomotive and coaches) from Paddington sometime during the morning rush hour that stopped at Ealing Broadway in the early 1970's.
Does anyone remember this service?
 
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steevp

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Was that by any chance the service that came in from the Chiltern lines (via Haddenham & Thame Parkway) and returned in the evening? I remember seeing the service on the maps and timetables, but I'm sorry I don't recall where it stopped. That was probably later than the 70s though (NSE period)
 
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CarltonA

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I'm not sure at which point the "Network Express" was introduced, certainly they were running in the 1980s. Possibly at some point one was calling at Ealing B. Anything coming from the "Chiltern line" would likely have gone via Hanger Lane and Old Oak West Jnc I would have thought. There was a "Chiltern" Network Express form Banbury but I'm not sure if it went to/from Marylebone or Paddington. In the sixties there was a Blue Pullman service as well, not sure when that ended.
 

yorkie

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Was that by any chance the service that came in from the Chiltern lines (via Haddenham & Thame Parkway) and returned in the evening? I remember seeing the service on the maps and timetables, but I'm sorry I don't recall where it stopped. That was probably later than the 70s though (NSE period)
I don't know if that train ran in the 70s (probably did), but it's unlikely to have run via Ealing Broadway and even more unlikely to have called there.
 

dzug2

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I think the service referred to ran via Oxford rather than Greenford - whether it called at Ealing Broadway - pass.
 

CarltonA

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I think the service referred to ran via Oxford rather than Greenford - whether it called at Ealing Broadway - pass.

That was a western region Network Express from Oxford, another one ran from Didcot. A separate service ran from Banbury via High Wycombe I believe.

I used the Didcot one and in the late eighties, the last pick up was from Slough. As far as I know the other picked up last in Maidenhead. Perhaps someone will come along who has access to the old timetables.
 

30907

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OP refers to an outbound service, and I think this is correct. My memory says 08.08 off Padd to/via Oxford, but I'll try and check.

I wonder if the stop was primarily to pick up Reading bound commuters off the tube - specifically WR office staff?
 

CatfordCat

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In the 1974 / 5 timetable, the 0805 (Mon - Fri) Paddington - Worcester (Shrub Hill) via Reading and Birmingham New St is shown as 'also stops at Ealing Broadway 0813 and Slough 0826' (this arrived Reading 0846 so it would fit the idea about being of use to office workers commuting to Reading)

Likewise on Saturdays the 0805 (Sat) is 'also stops at Ealing Broadway at 0813' and on Sundays the 0825 Paddington - Birmingham stops at Ealing Broadway 0833.

No weekday up working shown, but the 2040 (Sundays) Birmingham - Paddington called at Ealing Broadway 2310.

Obviously the public timetable does not show what haulage / stock was involved. The 0805 ex Paddington is shown as 'buffet service' on Mon - Fri.

There is an 0720 Birmingham NS - Paddington and 1731 return via High Wycombe - these appear to have been non stop between Paddington and Wycombe.
 

Taunton

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There were a significant number of Mk 1 loco-hauled trains running between Paddington and Oxford in the 1960s-80s, which later in NSE days, as described above, became "Newtork Expresses". They made quite a lot of use of the Relief lines, especially further out, but a service only stopping at Ealing and Slough, and running against the peak flow (not this line had anything like the commuter traffic that it has nowadays) might well have been on the Mains. In the 1970s they often had the last of the Westerns and Hymeks, later Class 47 became the norm. The stock for these services, and for the Birmingham via Oxford and for the Worcester services, was all in a common pool in Western Region days, and there were a number of half-length sets which were added to services from Worcester etc at Oxford.
 

30907

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In the 1974 / 5 timetable, the 0805 (Mon - Fri) Paddington - Worcester (Shrub Hill) via Reading and Birmingham New St is shown as 'also stops at Ealing Broadway 0813 and Slough 0826' (this arrived Reading 0846 so it would fit the idea about being of use to office workers commuting to Reading)

Likewise on Saturdays the 0805 (Sat) is 'also stops at Ealing Broadway at 0813' and on Sundays the 0825 Paddington - Birmingham stops at Ealing Broadway 0833.

No weekday up working shown, but the 2040 (Sundays) Birmingham - Paddington called at Ealing Broadway 2310.

Obviously the public timetable does not show what haulage / stock was involved. The 0805 ex Paddington is shown as 'buffet service' on Mon - Fri.

That's the one! 0800-0838 in 1980 (Thomas Cook, so doesn't show the intermediate stops).
Class 31 plus Mk1s at the beginning, 47 plus Mk2 later.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
...a service only stopping at Ealing and Slough, and running against the peak flow (not this line had anything like the commuter traffic that it has nowadays) might well have been on the Mains. In the 1970s they often had the last of the Westerns and Hymeks, later Class 47 became the norm. The stock for these services, and for the Birmingham via Oxford and for the Worcester services, was all in a common pool in Western Region days, and there were a number of half-length sets which were added to services from Worcester etc at Oxford.

Undoubtedly on the Main, as even the semifast Reading DMUS did that off peak - and I recall the 1615 Padd-Oxford fast being a suburban dmu in 1970.

I spent many evenings as a student observing the evening arrivals at Oxford in the mid 70s - no two commuter sets were the same, whereas there was a pretty standard formation on the InterCity sets (except the Cathedrals IIRC).
However I never saw any sets split there - the layout just wasn't suitable (in the early 70's Hereford trains left all but 3 coaches at Shrub Hill instead).
 

SouthDevonian

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I took the sole Paddington - Birmingham via Greenford in 1976 and can confirm that the first stop was High Wycombe and that it took the direct Perivale line rather than travelling via Ealing Broadway.

If you go back to late 1950s / early 1960s, there was a train on peak summer Saturdays that started from Ealing Broadway and went through to Penzance. Pick up points included Slough, Maidenhead, Twyford & Newbury. There was no corresponding return working.
 
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