Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 20:35 09 Jan 2025
 
- Fresh weather warnings for ice across UK
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 today - Bath Railway Society
24/01/25 - Westbury Station reopens
24/01/25 - LTP4 Wilts / Consultation end
24/01/25 - Bristol Rail Campaign AGM 2025

On this day
9th Jan (2004)
Incorporation of Railway Development Society Ltd (now Railfuture) (link)

Train RunningShort Run
19:15 Paignton to Exmouth
19:17 Exeter Central to Barnstaple
19:25 Exmouth to Paignton
20:19 Exeter Central to Barnstaple
Delayed
17:52 Trowbridge to Great Malvern
18:18 London Paddington to Swansea
18:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
18:34 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
January 09, 2025, 20:41:43 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[149] Railcard Prices going up
[126] 'Railway 200' events and commemorations 2025
[97] Thumpers for Dummies
[53] Ryanair sues 'unruly' passenger over flight diversion
[36] Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsew...
[34] Mick Lynch announces retirement as head of RMT
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: 1 [2]
  Print  
Author Topic: Slough commuters  (Read 5804 times)
eightf48544
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4574


View Profile Email
« Reply #15 on: October 11, 2009, 11:43:09 »

As one who travelled from Slough or Taplow from 1968 to 2005 except for a year in the early seventies and 5 years when I went the other way to Reading from Taplow. 

Right up through top end of Loco hauled teh basic Slough service off peak was 2 tph semis from Reading to Padd All stations to  Slough then  (Hayes) Ealing Padd and 2 tph stoppers from Platform 6. A few Mainline tains stopped at Slough off peak. However there were regular loco hauled fasts in the peak which either ran on the Reliefs and crossed at Dolphin or on the mains probably having crossed to the mains at Maidenhead East or Rushcobe in both directions.  In NSE (Network South East) days two of these trains terminated at Twyford and ran ECS (Empty Coaching Stock) to Reading where the loco ran round on the goods lines, doing virtually to Tilehurst to crossover and ran back main line ECS to Padd to form a later service. At  the end these were formed of Mark 2  from the Liverpool Street Cambridge Kings Lynn line when EMUs (Electric Multiple Unit) took over the service. In 68 there was even one train a day in each direction fast from Taplow to Padd stopping on the mainlines at Taplow.

With the Turbos the same basic pattern was retaied although I seem to think the timings were tightened up compared with the 117s. With the loss of the loco hauled Slough still had mainline fast trains in the peak but they tended to be the through trains to Bourne End and Henley and crossed at Dolphin (Sometimes at Hayes West Down only). Also the semis had Hayes stops introduced. 17:36 was my regular train for years starting with when it was loco hauled.

2005 saw the change to current pattern. Whereby Slough got fast trains on the Relief Lines. This was an absolute disaster of a timetable. I graphed the up peak and you could see the trains piling up from Ealing to Padd because of the dead time a fast was occuping the line   in theory you  had longer gap after the fast train arrived at Padd before the start of the next sequence. However in reality the slightest delay to any tain in the previous sequence that margin was used up and the next sequence was affected and thus the delays rolled back.

The curent timetable seems  betterer timekeeping wise  but at the expense of lots of Padding such that the journey time from Taplow in the peak is now 46 minutes compared with 32 when I travelled regularly. All the extra time being more stops East of Slough so Slough suffers with the semis.
« Last Edit: October 12, 2009, 10:03:47 by eightf48544 » Logged
paul7575
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 5335


View Profile
« Reply #16 on: October 11, 2009, 12:29:47 »

It's already six track. It's just that one of them isn't currently passed for passengers. It's a lot cheaper to convert an existing track to passenger use for a 3 mile stretch than build an extra 2 tracks that don't exist for around 30+ miles.

Agreed - an oversimplification on my part - upgrade/resignal/renew platform faces to allow a 6 track passenger route would have been a better description of what they are planning.

Paul
Logged
Electric train
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4496


The future is 25000 Volts AC 750V DC has its place


View Profile
« Reply #17 on: October 11, 2009, 13:25:10 »

That will probably be the case, and hopefullymay free up some of the trains that have come from Slough and the west to miss out stops at places like Hayes & Southall, hence speeding them up. Just getting rid of those Greenford trains in the peaks will do a lot to remove the suburban capacity issues.
The Hayes stop is worth while as it allows us from the west to change at Hayes to / from the Heathrow Connect although Crossrail will change this.  I believe NR» (Network Rail - home page) are planning to do the bay at West Ealing in CP4 (Control Period 4 - the five year period between 2009 and 2014)  ahead of Crossrail who down to do it
Logged

Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unscheduled disassembly, or a RUD, during ascent,”
eightf48544
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4574


View Profile Email
« Reply #18 on: October 12, 2009, 10:10:23 »

I've always believed the bay at Hayes is an underutilised resource especialy as it is electrified. The problem with it is that you have to run down the Up Relief from Southall West to Access it. However, if you look there is a track from the goods loop, which is also electrified acroos the canal bridge. A simple crossover from the end of the bay and a few yards of wire, would mean terminating and orginating trains from teh bay could use the goods loop to Soutahll West and thus not block the Up relief.


Up to 2005 my train in the Up used to connect  at Hayes all staions start up.
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: 1 [2]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page