Stop guessing! I was on duty this morning. 1P21 05:35 ex Hereford was stopped from using the Marches route running empty from SPM▸ due to an engineering over-run. It had to back track via Newport & Gloucester to reach Worcester and was sent onto Hereford to form 1P26 06:43 to Paddington. The original 1P26 had made Worcester SH in time to be able to run at least some of the earlier service - i.e. Worcester - Paddington. Ironically, the new 1P26 had to miss Honeybourne stop due to traction problems, but at least both 1P21 and 1P26 ended up almost on time in London.
Which is interesting - IP21 left
WOS» as far as I can tell - 15 late but got into Reading ahead of schedule! Buyt was still late into London?
Also - how come the crew - on arrival at WOS - had no idea what was going on! They admitted that themselves