I was planning a visit north of the river to my parents this week,
whose nearest station is Drayton Green (née Halt) on the Greenford
branch line from Paddington.

A cursory quick check on nationalrail.co.uk's OJP returned the error
"We are sorry, we are not able to find any trains that match your
journey details". Curious, so I head to FGW's site to see if I can
figure out what's going on. Their LDB link from the front page shows
no trains running from Drayton Green, or elsewhere on the Greenford
branch only stations. Maybe there's a problem on the line or
something, so it's back to FGW's homepage and thence to the 'live
updates' link which takes me through to their JourneyCheck page.
There's 5 sets of "improvement works" affecting journeys today, but
none relating to trains to/from Greenford, apparently.

Next port of call is the NRE website, and their "current service
disruptions" page. I see there's a heading for "Overnight engineering
work affecting First Great Western services from Monday 15 to Friday
19 August 2011", but given that FGW give up running Greenford trains
after around 10pm that's not going to be related to my journey. (It
was actually related to services around Swansea).

After a bit more digging around, it turns out the Chiltern blockade is
the culprit. Hunting my way through firstgreatwestern.co.uk - Train
Times - Timetable alterations & engineering works - leads me to a
PDF where a short paragraph informs "customers" the following:
"First Great Western services between London Paddington and Greenford
will not run. Alternative trains will run between London Paddington,
Acton Main Line, Ealing Broadway and West Ealing. No alternative
services will operate from Drayton Green, Castle Bar Park or South
Greenford. Customers travelling to / from these stations should use
local bus services. Customers travelling to / from Greenford should
use the Central Line on the London Underground system.

Back to NRE, and it turns out I should have consulted the "Engineering
work affecting Chiltern Railways between Monday 15 and Friday 19
August 2011" heading to find out the reason for the lack of Greenford
services - obviously!

I'm sure the closure was advertised well-enough locally (?), but the
information provided to any other passenger who doesn't walk past a
west London FGW station everyday appears rather shocking.

Do 2 Chiltern trains an hour really necessitate the suspension of the
Greenford trains (AFAIK they weren't even running up that branch, but
turning off at Acton?) Could FGW not have run a Hayes/Hanwell-
Greenford service (as they have done before e.g. Ladbroke Grove/lorry-
v-train incident at West Ealing)?

~cj

~cj

"cj" wrote in message
...

Do 2 Chiltern trains an hour really necessitate the suspension of the
Greenford trains (AFAIK they weren't even running up that branch, but
turning off at Acton?) Could FGW not have run a Hayes/Hanwell-
Greenford service (as they have done before e.g. Ladbroke Grove/lorry-
v-train incident at West Ealing)?

Although they don't use the Greenford branch, the Chiltern services do use
the Greenford shuttle paths between Old Oak West Junction and Paddington, I
believe. Which still doesn't really explain why a Greenford to Ealing
Broadway shuttle couldn't run, as it has in the past.

"cj" wrote

Do 2 Chiltern trains an hour really necessitate the suspension of the
Greenford trains (AFAIK they weren't even running up that branch, but
turning off at Acton?) Could FGW not have run a Hayes/Hanwell-
Greenford service (as they have done before e.g. Ladbroke Grove/lorry-
v-train incident at West Ealing)?

Much of Old Oak Common West Junction to Northolt Junction is single track,
and the permitted speed is pretty low (40 mph?). So it's almost certainly
necessary for a proportion of the Chiltern trains to be routed via Drayton
Green. They will also take up Relief Line paths between West Ealing and
Paddington, and occupy platforms at Paddington. It does however seem that
Network Rail and fGW have given up too easily, and it should certainly be
easier to find out what's going on.

The walk from West Ealing to Drayton Green isn't actually all that far.

Peter

"Jack Taylor" wrote

Although they don't use the Greenford branch, the Chiltern services do use
the Greenford shuttle paths between Old Oak West Junction and Paddington,
I believe. Which still doesn't really explain why a Greenford to Ealing
Broadway shuttle couldn't run, as it has in the past.
The Ealing Broadway reversing siding was lifted when the Greenford trains
started running through to Paddington, though I suppose they could reverse
in Acton Yard.

Peter

On Aug 15, 10:22*pm, "Peter Masson" wrote:
"cj" wrote



Do 2 Chiltern trains an hour really necessitate the suspension of the
Greenford trains (AFAIK they weren't even running up that branch, but
turning off at Acton?) Could FGW not have run a Hayes/Hanwell-
Greenford service (as they have done before e.g. Ladbroke Grove/lorry-
v-train incident at West Ealing)?

Much of Old Oak Common West Junction to Northolt Junction is single track,
and the permitted speed is pretty low (40 mph?). So it's almost certainly
necessary for a proportion of the Chiltern trains to be routed via Drayton
Green. They will also take up Relief Line paths between West Ealing and
Paddington, and occupy platforms at Paddington. It does however seem that
Network Rail and fGW have given up too easily, and it should certainly be
easier to find out what's going on.

The walk from West Ealing to Drayton Green isn't actually all that far.

Peter

I was under the impression that the Chiltern diversions were turning
off at Acton and not actually running up the Greenford line at all.

As you say, it's not a long walk at all from West Ealing (or indeed
Hanwell), but if I was a regular user of, say, South Greenford* I
would be a bit more annoyed. It still smacks of FGW giving up though.

~cj

* -was it South Greenford that had a platform collapse down an
embankment a good few years ago, which took an age for FGW/NR to fix?

"cj" wrote

* -was it South Greenford that had a platform collapse down an
embankment a good few years ago, which took an age for FGW/NR to fix?

It was. For ages [1] only down trains called, and there was a lengthy 5 mph
speed restriction
[1] The stop was omitted on up trains in timetables from 1995 - 1999
inclusive. Passengers from South Greenford towards Ealing Broadway and
Paddington were advised to travel via Greenford.

For a time in the mid-1980s off-peak trains did not call at Drayton Green,
as they tried to run a half-hourly shuttle between Greenford and Ealing
Broadway with one unit (presumably in those days a bubblecar.

In 1967 the off-peak service was only hourly. In the peaks the bubblecars
were strengthened with a 'Drive End Trailer', but the set which operated the
off-peak trains left its Trailer in the Ealing Broadway reversing siding,
attaching it again for the evening peak.

Peter

On Aug 15, 10:22*pm, "Peter Masson" wrote:
"cj" wrote



Do 2 Chiltern trains an hour really necessitate the suspension of the
Greenford trains (AFAIK they weren't even running up that branch, but
turning off at Acton?) Could FGW not have run a Hayes/Hanwell-
Greenford service (as they have done before e.g. Ladbroke Grove/lorry-
v-train incident at West Ealing)?

Much of Old Oak Common West Junction to Northolt Junction is single track,
and the permitted speed is pretty low (40 mph?). So it's almost certainly
necessary for a proportion of the Chiltern trains to be routed via Drayton
Green. They will also take up Relief Line paths between West Ealing and
Paddington, and occupy platforms at Paddington. It does however seem that
Network Rail and fGW have given up too easily, and it should certainly be
easier to find out what's going on.

The walk from West Ealing to Drayton Green isn't actually all that far.

Peter

I went that way on Saturday and a half-hourly service was running from
Paddington to the Chiltern line, with all trains using the direct line
via Park Royal. I agree that a combination of the single line and low
linespeed precludes more than 2 tph that way but if that can run on a
Saturday, then the only thing that is different on a weekday seems to
be the availability of paths between Old Oak West and Paddington. The
weekday Chiltern service shows 2 tph running non-stop from Paddington
to Gerrards Cross in about 30 mins, which tallies with running on the
direct line.

Here's a shot of one such train at North Acton:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6053903...in/photostream

And for nostalgia's sake, here's what you would have seen once a day
at North Acton in 1984:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6053903...57626998739154

"The Gardener" wrote

And for nostalgia's sake, here's what you would have seen once a day
at North Acton in 1984:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6053903...57626998739154

though in its last years that one remaining loco-hauled train between
Paddington and the Chiltern Line ran via Drayton Green on Saturdays, as Park
Royal box was switched out.

Peter

On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:22:34 +0100, Peter Masson
wrote:



"cj" wrote

Do 2 Chiltern trains an hour really necessitate the suspension of the
Greenford trains (AFAIK they weren't even running up that branch, but
turning off at Acton?) Could FGW not have run a Hayes/Hanwell-
Greenford service (as they have done before e.g. Ladbroke Grove/lorry-
v-train incident at West Ealing)?

Much of Old Oak Common West Junction to Northolt Junction is single
track, and the permitted speed is pretty low (40 mph?). So it's almost
certainly necessary for a proportion of the Chiltern trains to be routed
via Drayton Green. They will also take up Relief Line paths between West
Ealing and Paddington, and occupy platforms at Paddington. It does
however seem that Network Rail and fGW have given up too easily, and it
should certainly be easier to find out what's going on.

The walk from West Ealing to Drayton Green isn't actually all that far.

Peter

On Sunday, all trains were using the direct line and the Greenford branch
was out of use, with stop boards at the junctions around Greenford. As the
Paddington - West Ruislip time is only 21-22 minutes, trains were either
passing on the double track section between Park Royal and Greenford West
Junction (which runs for just over 2 1/2 miles in the middle of the
otherwise single track 7 mile long section) or between Paddington and Old
Oak Common West Junction. Services were running to at 20/40 minute
interval out of Paddington and a 24/36 minute interval into Paddington. A
similar pattern seems possible with the weekday 30 minute frequency and it
does look like FGW/Network Rail just can't be bothered to either run into
Acton Yard or to run round the west curve to Hanwell (or Hayes) to reverse.

--
Using Opera's revolutionary email client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On Aug 16, 12:47*am, andypurk wrote:
On Mon, 15 Aug 2011 22:22:34 +0100, Peter Masson *



wrote:

"cj" wrote

Do 2 Chiltern trains an hour really necessitate the suspension of the
Greenford trains (AFAIK they weren't even running up that branch, but
turning off at Acton?) Could FGW not have run a Hayes/Hanwell-
Greenford service (as they have done before e.g. Ladbroke Grove/lorry-
v-train incident at West Ealing)?

Much of Old Oak Common West Junction to Northolt Junction is single *
track, and the permitted speed is pretty low (40 mph?). So it's almost *
certainly necessary for a proportion of the Chiltern trains to be routed *
via Drayton Green. They will also take up Relief Line paths between West *
Ealing and Paddington, and occupy platforms at Paddington. It does *
however seem that Network Rail and fGW have given up too easily, and it *
should certainly be easier to find out what's going on.

The walk from West Ealing to Drayton Green isn't actually all that far.

Peter

On Sunday, all trains were using the direct line and the Greenford branch *
was out of use, with stop boards at the junctions around Greenford. As the *
Paddington - West Ruislip time is only 21-22 minutes, trains were either *
passing on the double track section between Park Royal and Greenford West *
Junction (which runs for just over 2 1/2 miles in the middle of the *
otherwise single track 7 mile long section) or between Paddington and Old *
Oak Common West Junction. Services were running to at 20/40 minute *
interval out of Paddington and a 24/36 minute interval into Paddington. A *
similar pattern seems possible with the weekday 30 minute frequency and it *
does look like FGW/Network Rail just can't be bothered to either run into *
Acton Yard or to run round the west curve to Hanwell (or Hayes) to reverse.

--
Using Opera's revolutionary email client:http://www.opera.com/mail/

The presence of stop boards implies something was going on. One
wonders that in the absence of paths, and given the opportunity
presented by a two-week blockade, if TPTB have decided to take the
opportunity to do some major renewals on the branch.