Class 387 coming to Thames Valley - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[grahame]

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) they were usually 'airport passenger' spec. with extra luggage racks. Oh well.

Can we call them "international spec" please    ... in the hope that a similar spec is put in to the Cardiff - Portsmouth units as they're refurbed at some point.

If you think an airline passenger can take a lot of luggage, you haven't seen what a holiday maker heading off on a cruise through Southampton can take!

[IndustryInsider]

As I recall there were at one time two such services weekdays, 04:XX and 06:YY. One ran a bit later on a Saturday. Also think there was at least one in the opposite direction at the other end of the day.

Yes, on weekdays roughly an 04:40 from Banbury/05:00 from Oxford and a 06:05 from Oxford.  Returns around 21:20 and 23:20 also featured.

Saturdays saw up to three morning trains, including the 04:00, and two returns including a day train at 09:27 which only stopped Redhill, Guildford and Reading.  It reached Reading in 69 minutes and Oxford in 1h 36m.

On Sunday’s there was just the one morning train and three return evening ones.

Not sure why they faded out of the schedules in the mid 2000s, other than pressures on the Turbo fleet meaning the sets were put to better use elsewhere, though mostly they were just extensions of existing Reading to Gatwick services.  I don’t remember them being particularly widely advertised or patronised.

[Adelante_CCT]

I see on Thursday all stoppers from Paddington terminate at Reading bar three in the late afternoon which continue through to Didcot. All stopping Oxford services run to/from Reading and Didcot, allowing the introduction of class 387s on many diagrams if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) wish.

[TaplowGreen]

I see on Thursday all stoppers from Paddington terminate at Reading bar three in the late afternoon which continue through to Didcot. All stopping Oxford services run to/from Reading and Didcot, allowing the introduction of class 387s on many diagrams if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) wish.

I sincerely hope they'll all be 387s or at least 6 car and not 2/3 car Turbos as is the way of late.......it's often forgotten that a lot of people work between Christmas & New Year, and with Waterloo not an option those trains running to/from Paddington will be under even greater demand.

[IndustryInsider]

Virtually all of them are booked for 387/8 including the Didcot ones.

[Adelante_CCT]

First trip of the day, 03:54 had some problems this morning, whilst one diagram is currently running around with 4 coaches instead of 8, other than that things seem ok so far

[johoare]

Yes I experienced that 4 car train this morning (8.18 MAI^▸ (Maidenhead station) to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)) .. Not ideal when there was only a half hourly stopping service running today Reading to Paddington. Train was full by West Drayton.. Not so Great Western 

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

From January it looks like the Padd - Reading stoppers have been retimed and accelerated slightly so they can do a quick turnround in Reading of 6 - 10 minutes, much better than the 30 minutes or so at present.  This means that the service only needs 1 platform instead of 2, which is good as they can't squeeze in an A end.

[TaplowGreen]

Yes I experienced that 4 car train this morning (8.18 MAI^▸ (Maidenhead station) to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)) .. Not ideal when there was only a half hourly stopping service running today Reading to Paddington. Train was full by West Drayton.. Not so Great Western 

Rather than brave the replacement buses from Taplow I persuaded a reluctant Mrs TG to drop me off at Slough for the 0741 express to Paddington......it had started at Oxford and was a 3 car Turbo........I'll say no more!

[johoare]

Yes I experienced that 4 car train this morning (8.18 MAI^▸ (Maidenhead station) to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)) .. Not ideal when there was only a half hourly stopping service running today Reading to Paddington. Train was full by West Drayton.. Not so Great Western 

Rather than brave the replacement buses from Taplow I persuaded a reluctant Mrs TG to drop me off at Slough for the 0741 express to Paddington......it had started at Oxford and was a 3 car Turbo........I'll say no more!

Nice commute today then for us both.. Shame they couldn't use any of the six 8 carriage electric trains parked in Maidenhead sidings...

[Adelante_CCT]

Oops:

10:34 Reading to London Paddington due 11:32 has been cancelled.
This is due to a safety inspection on this train earlier in its journey.

11:37 London Paddington to Reading due 12:40 will be cancelled.
This is due to a safety inspection on this train earlier in its journey.

[IndustryInsider]

From January it looks like the Padd - Reading stoppers have been retimed and accelerated slightly so they can do a quick turnround in Reading of 6 - 10 minutes, much better than the 30 minutes or so at present.  This means that the service only needs 1 platform instead of 2, which is good as they can't squeeze in an A end.

Though bad in terms of service recovery from delays!

[Adelante_CCT]

And now 2 turbos come out to play

Facilities on the 13:04 Reading to London Paddington due 14:00.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 6 coaches instead of 8.

[IndustryInsider]

You could argue that it’s better to get teething troubles out of the way before the hoards return next Tuesday.  Though I have a feeling it will be a few weeks at least before the new service beds in!

[stuving]

And here - at last! - is a 387 in service at Reading (2P64 at 16:04). This one's in P12, where it stopped on arrival at the B end (and its light haven't been swapped over yet). I was going to wait to see it to depart from P7, but something got in the way. RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) says it did leave on time, but lost 6 minutes at Maidenhead.

Anyway, welcome to the forum Reading, 387134.