Remembering the Good Old Days

[whole diary]

[Btline]

To be honest, all trains should call at Reading. It is now a major destination, as well as a major interchange.

But a limited stop service could be followed by a train with the normal stopping pattern - similar to Chiltern's evening peak 1600 to B'ham, first stop Banbury, closely followed by 1603 to Banbury, calling at the normal stops. (repeated at 1700, 1800 etc.) And the Virgin morning peak Birmingham to Euston service. The other main benefit is to reduce overcrowding for ALL passengers, whether they are going to High Wycombe or Warwick Parkway.

Obviously, the problem is track capacity! (or lack of it)

[JayMac]

I'm not one for 'rose-tinted spectacles' when it comes to the past being better. The rail network we have today is, in many ways far superior to the days of British Rail. Yes, there have been some dark days. Post Hatfield comes to mind. We have far more trains running today on many routes (deepest dark Wiltshire excluded ). The stopping patterns and journey times may be different, but this is, I think, a reflection of the expectations of today's travelling public.
The amount of passengers using the network today is surely a reflection that things have improved. Yes, there are still more improvements that can be made; that's the way society progresses. But I think that headline grabbing express timings are anathema to the needs of the majority of the travelling public. On the network we have at present what most passengers want is a train that gets them to their destination in a reasonable time frame compared to alternative modes. A frequent service that gives them flexibility and a service that is inclusive for all stratas of society. So shaving 10-15 minutes off the timing for a BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) may benefit a few, but the losers at Bath, Chippenham etc will outhweigh the benefit felt by Bristolians.
I concede that as individuals we all want a service that benefits our particular needs and desires, but we have to make concessions to society as a whole. We could of course convert all railways to roads and subsidise car purchases instead.
Speed isn't everything. Slow down folks and enjoy the view

[willc]

But if indeed there is going to be 4 tracks all the way from Didcot to Swindon, this really does open up the possibility of true express services running once again between London and Bristol.

Actually it opens the possibility of increasing capacity by running more trains to cope with the growing numbers of people likely to be commuting from Swindon - projected to grow massively in the next 20 years under government plans, taking the population from about 185,000 now to 250,000 by 2030 - Didcot - where thousands of new homes are due to go in over the next seven or so years, lifting the population to 35,000 by 2016 from 15,000 in 1981 - and enhances the possibility of reopening Wantage Road station to serve Grove and Wantage, both slated to get thousands more homes, 2,500 on the old Grove airfield alone, and ease the pressure on Didcot Parkway.

As I keep saying, the world has changed and is changing - and the railways have to change to keep up, which means fliers with empty seats whizzing past Swindon in the peak just isn't on any more.

The existing quad-track section is mainly there to keep the coal trains to Didcot power station from Avonmouth docks out of the way of HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)).

[XPT]

Well people like myself and John R(the thread OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter)) will just have to wait for the return of the Berks and Hants engineering work and the diverted Devon/Cornwall services via Bristol to be able to travel the train services we crave/wish for.    Or rail tours.   Or some late running services missing out stops/running non-stop to make up time, but this very rarely happens on London-Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) services.  From looking at the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) live updates though it does happen quite often on services to/from South Wales.  Non-stop to/from Bristol Parkway or Cardiff Central.

There are frequent engineering works between Chippenham and Didcot which results in Bristol services diverted via the Berks and Hants line and a non-stop run between Reading and Bath.  A good hour and a quarter journey time non-stop.   Not quite the same as non-stop via the normal route.  But it makes for a pleasant change, and it does feel much more like you're on a long distance express service(even though the overal journey time is actually longer).

On Saturday October 10th, a more interesting/change from the norm journey can be experienced if travelling between London and Bristol Parkway or South Wales.    Due to engineering works on the Swindon-Bristol Parkway direct line, services are diverted via Chippenham, Bath, St. Annes, and the Rhubarb Loop up to Patchway(instead of Parkway).  Running non-stop from Swindon-Patchway. And the unusual experience of not stopping at Chippenham and Bath!  Not half as good as a proper limited/non-stopped from London, but a change from the same old nevertheless. I think I might book a journey on this one myself.

Hopefully the next Berks and Hants engineering works is not too far away now!

[Btline]

Having 4 tracks between Didcot and Swindon would not allow faster Bristol/Cardiff service because there are no stops to miss out in this section!

It would, as Willc says, allow new stations to be opened along the stretch without having HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) stopping/slowing down.

Perhaps the Oxford slows could be run as 2 units splitting at Dicot for a service to Swindon and Oxford/Banbury.

Or as an extension of Crossrail...

[devon_metro]

Having 4 tracks between Didcot and Swindon would not allow faster Bristol/Cardiff service because there are no stops to miss out in this section!

Train I was on the other day followed another HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) between Moreton - Swindon, four tracks all 125mph might have made the journey less slow.

[stebbo]

Oh yes, the Cathedrals Express was non-stop Oxford to Paddington both ways and didn't stop at a lot of the stations between Oxford and Worcester so Herefordshire people got a decent service (OK I hear the brickbats coming now). And of course, the Cheltenham Flyer ran non-stop Swindon to Paddington and the Cornish Riviera.......

[XPT]

Still waiting for the return of these rare Bristol-London express services to return.  Bit of a long wait!  It looks like there is very very rarely any engineering works on the Berks and Hants line.

[12hoursunday]

I worked 1 of these and it was done well inside the 57 minutes stated. Non stop Reading and the first restrictive signal on Filton Bank. Passed Bristol around 11 early!

Good eh?

[XPT]

Looks as though the express services at long last returns on Sundays 15th and 22nd August.   Due to engineering work on the Reading-Westbury line.   The services not scheduled to call at Westbury will run non-stop between Reading and Taunton via Bristol Temple Meads.   

The bad news for people living in Bristol however is that none of these express workings are scheduled to call at Bristol in either direction. (Unlike the period back in Spring 2008 when a limited number of the services called at Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) enroute).   So you'd have to travel to or from Taunton to experience a journey on them.