Thames valley local services

[Class 317]

I'm interested in a the history of Thames valley local services out of Paddington since the 1970's to the end of diesel services.

Any information provided would be gratefully received.

 

[Route115?]

In the early 80s there were four DMUs per hour out of Paddington, I believe, two all stations to Slough and two Ealing Bdy, Slough & all stns to Reading with one an hour extended to Oxford. The peak inner service was twenty minute services each to West Drayton and Slough (six per hour leaving PAD). There were a lot of loco trains hauled mostly to Oxford but also to Newbury during the peak, Class 47 + Mk 1 steam heated stock based at Old Oak Common. It was very resource intensive. Incidently the loco hauled services were used to work trains to the West Country on summer Saturdays.

The Sunday local service was hourly for most of the day.

Half hourly Ealing Bdy to Greenford & Slough - Windsor, hourly to Marlow & Henley. There were through trains from Paddington - Bourne End in the peak with a shuttle from Bourne End to Marlow as the service was enhanced.

As was usual at the time an intensive peak service, much reduced off-peak service and a skeleton Sunday service.

 

[30907]

That pattern was much the same in the 70s. There was one Westbury peak working and a couple to Henley (DMU by then, originally InterCity type).

 

[Magdalia]

I'm interested in a the history of Thames valley local services out of Paddington since the 1970's to the end of diesel services.

Any information provided would be gratefully received.

The timetable was rewritten in 1976 for the introduction of HSTs.

That pattern was much the same in the 70s. There was one Westbury peak working and a couple to Henley (DMU by then, originally InterCity type).

Use of InterCity DMUs, including the through Henley trains, ceased at that point because there was no longer any capacity for 70mph trains on the main lines.

The evening peak service was quite complicated with trains running as fast as they could for as long as they could on the main lines then switching to the relief lines to make way for the next flight of HSTs behind.

 

[Grumpy]

That pattern was much the same in the 70s. There was one Westbury peak working and a couple to Henley (DMU by then, originally InterCity type).

In the early 70s there were also peak Bourne End to Paddington DMUs

 

[JonathanH]

1989 hour described in this post
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/westbourne-park-br-station.211546/#post-4881077

 

[MarlowDonkey]

The timetable was rewritten in 1976 for the introduction of HSTs.

Use of InterCity DMUs, including the through Henley trains, ceased at that point because there was no longer any capacity for 70mph trains on the main lines.

The evening peak service was quite complicated with trains running as fast as they could for as long as they could on the main lines then switching to the relief lines to make way for the next flight of HSTs behind.

As a substitute for the Henley DMUs which were the posh ones with Mk1 style coaches, they ran some of the evening peaks in the late 1970s to Maidenhead and Twyford with West of England sets, sometimes with Cornish Riviera labels left on. If the timetable was disrupted you could on occasion get a 125 with an extra stop. They could do Paddington to Maidenhead in what seemed no time at all.

 

[Magdalia]

As a substitute for the Henley DMUs which were the posh ones with Mk1 style coaches, they ran some of the evening peaks in the late 1970s to Maidenhead and Twyford with West of England sets, sometimes with Cornish Riviera labels left on.

The up Cornish Riviera did the down Golden Hind (and vice versa). What you are remembering is the 1821 Paddington-Twyford, which used the coaches arriving on the 1345 from Plymouth. In the morning the 0828 from Twyford formed the 0930 to Penzance.

Another odd feature of these trains was down trains crossing to the up relief at Maidenhead and/or Twyford for cross platform interchange onto the branch lines.

 

[Falcon1200]

There were a lot of loco trains hauled mostly to Oxford but also to Newbury during the peak, Class 47 + Mk 1 steam heated stock based at Old Oak Common. It was very resource intensive. Incidently the loco hauled services were used to work trains to the West Country on summer Saturdays.

There were some interesting moves at Oxford when the loco-hauled sets were disposed to the carriage sidings. One train ran through to Banbury and returned (ECS?) to Oxford; I remember because in 1984 I left a bag when on it alighting at Oxford and waited until the stock returned to retrieve it! IIRC the train ran into the Up platform (then 1, now 3) and was propelled into the sidings.

One of the Oxford sets worked the Summer Saturday Oxford-Paignton and return service.

I also recall in the early 70s, stopping DMUs from Oxford crossing from Relief to Main lines at Dolphin Junction, east of Slough, and running fast to Paddington, something which as mentioned had to cease when HSTs appeared!

 

[Taunton]

Although various others turned up from time to time, the local services were dominated from 1960 by Pressed Steel 3-car suburban units, Class 117, augmented by some single unit cars from the same manufacturer, until around 1992 when they were replaced by Class 165/166, a number of which are still around in the area on the non-electrified branches and services. It's actually quite a consistency over the last 65 years.

I also recall in the early 70s, stopping DMUs from Oxford crossing from Relief to Main lines at Dolphin Junction, east of Slough, and running fast to Paddington, something which as mentioned had to cease when HSTs appeared!

Which has now come back half-hourly with the local service to Didcot doing this all day.

One surprise of the local services today is the extent of use of the Slough-Windsor shuttle, which has various peaks for events in Windsor where the normal 2-car set is replaced by a 3-car, but still gets crush load conditions, and I did hear from a regular on there that they occasionally saw people left behind. Even without such events it handles a surprising traffic load all day, I've had to stand in it at 10pm. It's a real difficulty to get the train onto it, just a single connection from the Down Main at Slough; what shunts over at 0500 in the morning is pretty much stuck on there until after midnight.

 

[JonathanH]

It's a real difficulty to get the train onto it, just a single connection from the Down Main at Slough; what shunts over at 0500 in the morning is pretty much stuck on there until after midnight.

In the mid 1990s there was a direct Paddington to Windsor service at 1021 each morning. I've never known whether that unit did one trip on the branch and then go on empty to Reading, or whether it was a swap for the rest of the day.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Although various others turned up from time to time, the local services were dominated from 1960 by Pressed Steel 3-car suburban units, Class 117, augmented by some single unit cars from the same manufacturer

Peak hour services could be 7 cars, being two 3 car units plus a unpowered trailer which were sometimes also seen with a 121 bubble car. You never saw a four car unit though.

In the disruption after the Ealing derailment crash in December 1973, they ran some 9 car units. These took a diversion via Greenford and the now severed route via Old Oak Common to reach Paddington.

 

[Harpo]

70s through to mid 80s, the Thames Valley DMUs worked mainly off of Southall and Reading with some outstabling at places such as Oxford.

Southall depot lost it’s allocation to Reading in 1975 but continued as a stabling and traincrew location until the mid 80s with OOC then getting the work.

In later days very tatty class 101s & 104s also appeared on Thames Valley work.

 

[Falcon1200]

Having checked my records the Banbury via Oxford train in 1984 was the 1727 from Paddington, which on 1st August was worked by 47451.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

I also recall in the early 70s, stopping DMUs from Oxford crossing from Relief to Main lines at Dolphin Junction, east of Slough, and running fast to Paddington, something which as mentioned had to cease when HSTs appeared!

The two through trains in the morning peak from Bourne End did this as well. As far as I recall it continued even after the HSTs were introduced.

Another quirk of the 1970s services was an absence of Marlow and Bourne End branch line trains in the late evenings with the last connecting departure from Paddington being around 9.20 pm. Also there wee no Sunday services. Both these changes dated from the mid 1960s post Beeching. At some time, the late evening and Sunday services were reinstated. Did this have to wait for Network South East and then the 165/166 Turbos?

 

[JonathanH]

In later days very tatty class 101s & 104s also appeared on Thames Valley work.

The 104s were a little tatty but the 101s always seemed relatively well presented. Some of the 101s also displaced the worst of the 119s off the North Downs. I don't think any 104s or 119s got NSE moquette whereas some of the 101s and 117s did.

At some time, the late evening and Sunday services were reinstated.

Even in 1989 the Marlow and Henley branches only had a Sunday service in the Summer months (28 May to 10 September). First Maidenhead to Marlow on a Summer Sunday was 0933, last one back at 2000. Not until the late 90s that there was a year round Sunday service on those two branches. The 1995 Sunday service started on 2 April which was the first year it ran in the winter timetable.