Thank you very much!  I've spent much time observing the happenings at Maidenhead while waiting for connections.  Would say that the platform staff do a great job but they are let down by the platform information system that sometimes displays incorrect info.

For Marlow commuters the 17:30 from Taunton appeared to be timed to arrive in Maidenhead artificially early to avoid being an official connection (Maidenhead has a connection time of only 3 minutes which must be one of the lowest on the network!) so when the Marlow train was early into Maidenhead one could sometimes catch it with a bit of a run.

But yes, agree - the stop at Maidenhead frequently got cancelled due to late running and there didn't seem to be any other fast trains to London around that time.

From what I can work out, in the December 2013 timetable they swapped the Slough and Maidenhead stops between the Taunton and Oxford trains.  As Southern Stag suggested, Maidenhead got the better deal.

Late last year train describers were installed and commissioned on the Marlow branch line.  At Marlow you also get an automated announcement about 5 minutes before the train is scheduled to arrive and then leave.

Anybody had any experience on whether these just recite the timetable or reflect actual real-time train running?

Ah yes, the 7.41 Maidenhead to Bourne End.  My semi-regular commute is from Paddington to Marlow and I see the confusion this causes.

This train often leaves late - the odds are stacked against it being on time.

When it goes wrong, it normally happens something like this:

The 7:32 service from Henley to Paddington arrives platform 4. After Maidenhead it gets switched to the fast lines to go non-stop to Paddington but has to wait for a couple of High Speed Trains from Reading to pass.  It is delayed in the platform when these trains are a few minutes late.

Once this has left, on some days, a goods train then has to pass through platform 4.  I've not really seen any pattern as to when this happens.

By now it is normally around the time the train from Bourne End to London Paddington is waiting to leave from platform 5 at Maidenhead (also at 7:41).  It seems that the signalling system doesn't allow a train to arrive into platform 4 from Reading at the same time as a train is leaving platform 5 towards London... so normally the London train is allowed to leave first.  Only once the London train has left can the empty train that forms the 07:41 to Bourne End finally arrive into platform 4. 

This is often the time you'd expect the 07:45 London train to be arriving and since the trains all look the same many people run up the stairs and just jump on.

The platform departures board also often gets confused and show this as the 07:45.  The staff do normally make announcements and although a lot of people mistakenly take a seat on the Bourne End train they usually manage to get off again before it leaves.

And those that do get caught out - they could get off at Furze Platt and wait for a train back but they might as well stay in the warm and ride the train to Bourne End and back to Maidenhead as its the same train.

Must also say thumbs-up to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) for introducing a fast train at 17:40 from Maidenhead to London that now officially connects with the 17:06 from Marlow.