Great Western Coffee Shop

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-27460507?


Parkways started from the odd one and became a trend.  Is this the first hospital station?  Will it start a trend?

It could do. The main hospital for South East Wales, at the Heath in Cardiff, is but 500m from the line from Queen St to Coryton and Rhymney (so potentially 6 tph - somewhat more than James Cook will enjoy).  Given it would only be around 4 minutes north of Queen St, it would be an attractive option for all the valley line catchment area. And I'm not only thinking of outpatients or visitors, the hospital employs a huge number of people, many of whom could find a rail service attractive.  (Though would probably need to improve the Sunday service a little, as its only 1 train every 2 hours.)

As an added bonus, a station sited at the closest point to the Heath would also be very close to Roath Park, an amenity which is very popular on sunny days, (as indeed it was yesterday when I strolled around the lake).

The Henbury line passes within 2.5km of Southmead Hospital - obviously too far for an ill person to walk, but do-able for visitors who would rather avoid the insanity and stress of trying to park at there. And a shuttle bus really ought to be possible.

Slough has a regular bus service from outside the station to Wexham Park Hospital until 22:00 weekdays. There is no Saturday or Sunday service service

See Link www.heatherwoodandwexham.nhs.uk ^ Find Us ^ Wexham Park Hospital (http://www.heatherwoodandwexham.nhs.uk ^ Find Us ^ Wexham Park Hospital)

Extraxct from link

This is the WP1 service, and it is a direct, ten minute bus service which runs from Slough bus Station to Wexham Park Hospital from 6.00am to 10pm, five days a week Monday to Friday. The bus runs from stop 13 which is outside Slough Railway Station, direct to the hospital, stopping once along the route at the junction of Elliman Avenue and Shaggy Calf Lane. This service is integrated into local travel card schemes to maximise travel savings benefits for staff, patients and visitors. A return journey costs ^2.90 and a single fare is ^2. The freedom bus pass will also be accepted. Click here to see a bus timetable. 

View poster

All buses to Wexham Park Hospital pick up and set down passengers at a dedicated bus stop directly adjacent to the main entrance.

Bus services that serve the hospital travel to a number of destinations in the local area, including Slough, Maidenhead, Bracknell and Chalfonts, as summarised in the table below (approximate frequency): Note table hasn't formatted
Route    Provider    Key Destinations    Weekdays    Saturdays    Sundays
WP1    NationalRail.jpg    HWPH/ Redline    Slough Bus Station, junction of Elliman Avenue and Shaggy Calf Lane and Wexham Park Hospital    Every 15 minutes from 6.00am to 10pm    No service    No service
6/6a    NationalRail.jpg    First    Slough Bus Station, Uxbridge Road, Wexham Road, Knolton Way, The Frithe, Wexham Park Hospital    30 minutes    30 minutes    60 minutes
53    First     Binfield, Bracknell, Maidenhead, Burnham, Britwell and Wexham Park Hospital    Hourly    2 hourly    No Service
335   NationalRail.jpg    Redline    Chalfont, Gerrards Cross, Wexham Park Hospital, Uxbridge Road, Slough Bus Station    2 hourly    2 hourly    No Service

Please Note:

1.              Visitors to the hospital arriving in Slough by train should look for the National Rail logo NationalRail.jpg to determine those bus routes that facilitate easy access to Slough Railway Station. Please allow up to 30 minutes travel time between the bus station and the hospital. For information on train services please click here Wexham Train Services.

For the latest information and assistance in planning your journey to the hospital by bus, including detailed maps, timetables and fares, please visit the First Bus website for services in the Berkshire and Thames Valley.


It is much sparser at weekends.

i have a bus from Taplow (53) Binfield via Ma idenhead Station A4 at Taplow to Wexham Park hourly weekdays until 18:30 and 2 hourly Saturday no Sunday service so not much good for evening or weekend visiting.

The Great Western Hospital in Swindon is sufficiently common a destination from our TransWilts stations for the bus connections at Swindon to feature in our literature.   Runs all day, every day.   Bit ironic it's the "Great Western" hospital when it's quite a way from the Great Western Railway.

Also to note - our new services are finding a niche market in taking Jurors to court.  People called up for jury service from Melksham previously had quite an adventure of a journey to make, concerns at parking, a public transport nightmare.    I'm not, however, suggesting "court" stations though we already have "Hampton Court"!

Edited to correct an unfortunate typo in the last line - bobm

Ah, 2943...

Had me scratching my head for a while ...

http://www.fsmr.org.uk/saint.html

At Hyndland on the North Clyde route you can walk straight out of the station along a footpath straight into the grounds of Gartnavel Hospital.

Crowthorne Station in Berkshire is quite handy for those wanting to go to Broadmoor Hospital ...  ;) :D ;D

Probably take about 15-20 mins to walk from the station to Broadmoor.

Hammersmith Hospital (and HMP Wormwood Scrubs) are literally the opposite side of the road to the Central Line.  Except the nearest station is a 0.7 mile walk through houses or a bus journey.

Rumours kept kicking around about a station being built at some point in the future.  No idea whether this will ever happen, especially considering it is on the "White City crossover".  It would be very useful for staff, students, visitors and patients for a station to be located this close.

What about Christs Hospital on the Southern??

Christs Hospital (believe it or not) is a boarding school!

... as is Queen Elizabeth's Hospital (http://www.qehbristol.co.uk/) in Bristol - and not near a railway station, either.  ;)

Station code JCH ?  ... But I can't get it on the FGW booking engine.

<pedant state=alert>
according to Wikipedia.  And that seems a very precise and uniform number.    I'm guessing it's the expected average.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook_University_Hospital_railway_station
</pedant>

QEH is no longer a boarding school - it was, for 418 years, but all that stopped in 2008.

At 1.3km, it is eminently walkable (for a healthy boy) from Clifton Down station - not that I ever did that; my dad used to drop me at Redcliffe Roundabout (1.75km away).

A mere scamper, for a fit young squirrel.  ;)