Great Western Coffee Shop

Heard a rumour that there has been a landslip in Sonning cutting blocking the Main Lines.  A quick check with RTT shows all trains through Twford are on the Relief Lines, Appear to be crossing at Rushcombe and Kennet Bridge. n

Info posted elsewhere says its repairs to a previous bank slip.  The Main Lines have been blocked to all traffic between Reading East and Twyford East Junctions all week.  Best time to do it during the reduced services at present.

I had to make a local car journey today from Woodley to Charvil along Waingels Road which goes past the site of the Twyford West crossovers and there was a lot of activity there with the Orange Army and their parked road vehicles including a tipper lorry.

Not the first occasion

Early on 24 December 1841, a mixed goods and passenger train ran into a landslide in the cutting, caused by earlier persistent heavy rain.[3] Many passengers who were carried in open-topped wagons were thrown out or crushed between the wagons. Eight people died there and seventeen, one of whom died later, were injured. Among the casualties were artisans returning home after working on the new Parliament building. The tragedy stimulated William Ewart Gladstone, while President of the Board of Trade (1843–1845), to introduce legislation to improve safety on the railways

Line open again today, Saturday 11 April 2020.