On 05/08/15 13:48, Recliner wrote:
As most people here must know, Chiltern runs one service a day, M-F,
to Paddington. It's run mainly for maintaining driver route knowledge
for the occasions when Chiltern services are diverted to Paddington.

It's not quite a parly service, as it runs at a convenient time, five
days a week, but it's also not promoted and little used other than by
rail enthusiasts (the few passengers are all sole males with cameras).
And, yes, I was one of those this week, and here's the evidence:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/reclin...57654494380303

But it got me wondering if Chiltern could or should run more services
into Paddington? Chiltern's services are growing steadily, with 2 tph
Oxford services being added soon. The two-track route into Marylebone
is congested, as are Marylebone's six platforms. Would it be possible
to run, say, 2 tph into Paddington? There's obviously many
constraints, including:

I had thought the plan was to divert a couple of the existing services to
Oxford. The xx48 from Marylebone would be an obvious choice: it terminates
at Bicester, rather than the more natural Banbury, and doesn't connect with
anything. However the matching xx18 service which would be the other one to
send to Oxford does have a connection at Bicester North and is also
sometimes extended to Banbury or Stratford (even though it would be better
to extend the xx48).

Having some trains going to Paddington and others to Marylebone would be
particularly awkward when travelling out from London as you could go to one
station only to find that the next train left from the other.

Roger