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:

- the single track sections on the neglected former main line from
South Ruislip to Old Oak Common, which also sees occasional freight
trains

- the flat Old Oak Common West Junction to the GW relief lines

- capacity on the relief lines into Paddington

- Paddington platform availability.

But might there still be room for a limited number of Chiltern
services, maybe even at peak times? Once Crossrail starts, there will
be more room in Paddington itself, but what about on the approach
lines?

Good photos. Thank you.

Not being a major rail enthusiast, I didn't know about this service. You
describe it as "Chiltern to Paddington" but from where does it start? Surely
further afield than West Ruislip?

In message , at 18:24:12 on Wed, 5
Aug 2015, Robin9 remarked:
Not being a major rail enthusiast, I didn't know about this service.
You
describe it as "Chiltern to Paddington" but from where does it start?
Surely
further afield than West Ruislip?

No.

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sear...08/05/0000-235
9?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=CH

--
Roland Perry

Robin9 wrote:
'Recliner[_3_ Wrote:
;149717']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:

- the single track sections on the neglected former main line from
South Ruislip to Old Oak Common, which also sees occasional freight
trains

- the flat Old Oak Common West Junction to the GW relief lines

- capacity on the relief lines into Paddington

- Paddington platform availability.

But might there still be room for a limited number of Chiltern
services, maybe even at peak times? Once Crossrail starts, there will
be more room in Paddington itself, but what about on the approach
lines?

Good photos. Thank you.

Not being a major rail enthusiast, I didn't know about this service.
You
describe it as "Chiltern to Paddington" but from where does it start?
Surely further afield than West Ruislip?

It arrives empty, presumably from Marylebone or Wembley, at the down
platform 3 at South Ruislip. I assume the Chiltern drivers all take turns
on this service after bringing in a peak train to Marylebone, so they have
up-to-date route knowledge.

After the return trip to Paddington, it terminates at West Ruislip, and
then sits empty there for 20 mins or so, as fast up trains pass by on the
centre road, before an ECS move back to Wembley or Marylebone. It's
immediately followed by a stopper to Marylebone, which I took.

In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 18:24:12 on Wed, 5
Aug 2015, Robin9 remarked:
Not being a major rail enthusiast, I didn't know about this service. You
describe it as "Chiltern to Paddington" but from where does it start?
Surely further afield than West Ruislip?

No.


http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sear.../0000-2359?stp
=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=CH

Looks pretty parliamentary to me.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote:
In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 18:24:12 on Wed, 5
Aug 2015, Robin9 remarked:
Not being a major rail enthusiast, I didn't know about this service. You
describe it as "Chiltern to Paddington" but from where does it start?
Surely further afield than West Ruislip?

No.


http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sear.../0000-2359?stp
=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=CH

Looks pretty parliamentary to me.

It does, but runs five days a week, unlike most parlys. It's there to
maintain driver route knowledge, for whenever Chiltern has to divert to
Paddington if Marylebone can't be used.

The current version is Oyster-friendly, so it's used more than when it
started from outside the London zones. So, by running a shorter service,
Chiltern probably collects a bit more revenue from the Oyster pot.

On 2015\08\06 02:36, Recliner wrote:
wrote:
In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 18:24:12 on Wed, 5
Aug 2015, Robin9 remarked:
Not being a major rail enthusiast, I didn't know about this service. You
describe it as "Chiltern to Paddington" but from where does it start?
Surely further afield than West Ruislip?

No.


http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sear.../0000-2359?stp
=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=CH

Looks pretty parliamentary to me.

It does, but runs five days a week, unlike most parlys. It's there to
maintain driver route knowledge, for whenever Chiltern has to divert to
Paddington if Marylebone can't be used.

The current version is Oyster-friendly, so it's used more than when it
started from outside the London zones. So, by running a shorter service,
Chiltern probably collects a bit more revenue from the Oyster pot.

I can't help thinking that giving the Greenford Branch over to Chiltern,
extending all of the Greenford Trains to South or West Ruislip and half
of them to Aylesbury via Princes Risborough to replace the current
hourly service on that line, would achieve similar results in a better
way. It would need a new platform to be built at Greenford though, and
I'm not sure if the Greenford Branch still has chronic speed restrictions.

Basil Jet wrote:
On 2015\08\06 02:36, Recliner wrote:
wrote:
In article , (Roland Perry)
wrote:

In message , at 18:24:12 on Wed, 5
Aug 2015, Robin9 remarked:
Not being a major rail enthusiast, I didn't know about this service. You
describe it as "Chiltern to Paddington" but from where does it start?
Surely further afield than West Ruislip?

No.


http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sear.../0000-2359?stp
=WVS&show=all&order=wtt&toc=CH

Looks pretty parliamentary to me.

It does, but runs five days a week, unlike most parlys. It's there to
maintain driver route knowledge, for whenever Chiltern has to divert to
Paddington if Marylebone can't be used.

The current version is Oyster-friendly, so it's used more than when it
started from outside the London zones. So, by running a shorter service,
Chiltern probably collects a bit more revenue from the Oyster pot.

I can't help thinking that giving the Greenford Branch over to Chiltern,
extending all of the Greenford Trains to South or West Ruislip and half
of them to Aylesbury via Princes Risborough to replace the current hourly
service on that line, would achieve similar results in a better way. It
would need a new platform to be built at Greenford though, and I'm not
sure if the Greenford Branch still has chronic speed restrictions.

The Greenford branch is certainly very slow, but that may just be because
of the closely-spaced stops and relaxed timings. Of course, the service
will soon start at West Ealing rather than Paddington, as Crossrail will be
taking its Relief line paths into Paddington.

It would be a pity to lose the convenient cross-platform interchange at
Greenford, from which there are already frequent Central Line connections
through to West Ruislip. So it's hard to see who would benefit from
Chiltern running to West Ealing rather than Paddington.

But as the GWR moves away from DMU services in the area, it could still
make sense for Chiltern to take over the 2 tph West Ealing to Greenford
shuttle, perhaps also running additional 1 tph West Ealing to Aylesbury
services.

On 2015\08\06 03:39, Recliner wrote:
Basil Jet wrote:

I can't help thinking that giving the Greenford Branch over to Chiltern,
extending all of the Greenford Trains to South or West Ruislip and half
of them to Aylesbury via Princes Risborough to replace the current hourly
service on that line, would achieve similar results in a better way. It
would need a new platform to be built at Greenford though, and I'm not
sure if the Greenford Branch still has chronic speed restrictions.

The Greenford branch is certainly very slow, but that may just be because
of the closely-spaced stops and relaxed timings. Of course, the service
will soon start at West Ealing rather than Paddington, as Crossrail will be
taking its Relief line paths into Paddington.

It would be a pity to lose the convenient cross-platform interchange at
Greenford, from which there are already frequent Central Line connections
through to West Ruislip. So it's hard to see who would benefit from
Chiltern running to West Ealing rather than Paddington.

But as the GWR moves away from DMU services in the area, it could still
make sense for Chiltern to take over the 2 tph West Ealing to Greenford
shuttle, perhaps also running additional 1 tph West Ealing to Aylesbury
services.

Ah! I'd forgotten that the Greenford shuttles were earmarked to be cut
off at West Ealing. That stymies the proposal.

On Thu, 6 Aug 2015 04:46:19 -0700 (PDT), Northolt Park Gates
wrote:

It is probably not worth starting a service which will be disrupted by the building of HS2.

Yes, I suppose so, though at least HS2 will now be in tunnel in the
Park Royal area, rather than taking over that old GWR Oxford line
alignment to Northolt.

But once Crossrail and the OOC station are built, I wonder if a
possible route to Paddington with available capacity will remain?