non-stop HST through Reading this afternoon

[TheWalrus]

Hi

When I was at Reading this afternoon, at 16:49 an empty HST ran through the middle towards Padd. and it was going quite fast. Does anyone know why this was? It's not something I've seen before :roll:

 

[royaloak]

Did it have passengers on, if not it could have been an ECS move, cant find anything on CCL.
It does look if 1A87 1415 Paignton to Paddington was held outside to let something through though, it was ontime before Reading but arrived 5 late.

 

[TheWalrus]

Did it have passengers on, if not it could have been an ECS move, cant find anything on CCL.
It does look if 1A87 1415 Paignton to Paddington was held outside to let something through though, it was ontime before Reading but arrived 5 late.

Yes the PGN-PAD was late. The through HST was empty, but there was yellow tape crossed over one of the windows. Do you know why this ECS move ran?

 

[royaloak]

Not for certain, possibly to get it back to Old Oak Common for repair.

 

[91101]

Does Reading have any services that don't call there now?

 

[royaloak]

I believe everything stops there now.
Had a quick look on CCL for paddington 1/2 hour after this and every HST arrival had called at Reading.

 

[Gav678]

5Z70 1425 Swansea - Padd arrived at 1724

Set was OC45 - then worked the 1748 out

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

The 0640 from Bristol TM & 0558 from Swansea are both fast from Swindon to Paddington, I believe these are the only remaining trains not to call at Reading.

 

[devon_metro]

0709 Oxford -Paddington also runs fast from Tilehurst - Maidenhead using the relief lines at Reading, however they are 50mph as far as I know (same as up main). Those 3 are the only HSTs to run fast through Reading.

 

[TheWalrus]

0709 Oxford -Paddington also runs fast from Tilehurst - Maidenhead using the relief lines at Reading, however they are 50mph as far as I know (same as up main). Those 3 are the only HSTs to run fast through Reading.

Why does the 0709 have a strange calling pattern?

 

[jrhilton]

Why does the 0709 have a strange calling pattern?

It is a service that has run like it for years in various incarnations and timings, I used to catch it in 2003 or maybe it was 2004, from Goring to get into London, but it looks like the timings are few minutes different these days and it didn't used to stop at Maidenhead when I used to use it either.

It was a train aimed at commuters started by Thames Trains who lived at the intermediate statio between Didcot and Reading. It was known by locals as the train to catch if you were a London commuter and needed to be in the office by 9am, as it got you quickly into London without needing a change. Anyone who lived in Reading would catch an HST so I assume that it why it never used to stop at Reading. Though I recall it was always a few minutes late!

If you didn't catch this train, the options were to go for the earlier train and change at Reading or sit the whole way, or the one after 8am and again change at Reading and never get a seat. It was a bit quicker, but the best bit was it meant you had a high chance of getting a seat.

It makes a bit more sense if you put it in perspective and recall in the days of Thames Trains and before 2000, the majority of Class 165/166 "Thames Turbos" as they were branded, went between Didcot/Oxford and terminated at Reading (platform 7 which is the west side bay platform). If you wanted to get from Goring to London for example you used to almost always have to change at Reading for either an HST or Stopper between Reading and London.

The was a similar return train in the evening leaving at about 17:50, that was fast to Reading then stopped from there onwards to Didcot but looking at the time table the evening has changed quite a bit!

Also, there used to be a HST leaving Paddington around 18:10 that didn't stop at Reading, first stop Didcot or Swindon...one of the two. Plus if I caught a later train and had to change at Reading, there was a non-stop HST around 8:15 in the mornings too that would always cause some confusion as there were always a few who thought it was going to stop!

** edit:
It also used to go on the fast lines too, as you used to pass the slow stoppers between Reading and London Paddington. One presumes that it now stops at Maidenhead either because of the increased number of trains on the lines between London and Hayes and Harlington/West Ealing, or because something ahead of it is now stopping at Slough, or some other train has changed.

 

[devon_metro]

0709 Oxford - Paddington avoids Didcot, then relief lines as far as Maidenhead, where it follows an HST on the fast lines. Gets into Paddington at 08.24. It isn't that busy until Maidenhead, where it packs out.

 

[adc82140]

If it stopped at Reading the Maidenhead passengers wouldn't stand a chance!!

More often than not though this train is late, and ends up following the 08:04 ex Henley Turbo up the fast lines in to Paddington. For reasons I don't understand, the 08:00 HST uses Maidenhead platform 4 and crosses to the fast lines just after, but the 08:04 Turbo crosses onto the fast lines at Ruscombe junction and uses Maidenhead platform 2.

They do reverse this allocation some mornings- with about a minute's notice leading to fun and games in the pedestrian tunnel!!