Great Western Coffee Shop

Anyone else travel on this one last night.
Paddington to Oxford departing 18.18, first stop Maidenhead.
This is my regular journey home and I've been on it for years.
Why is it so over-crowded. :o
Even the Loo was taken! :P

One coach seems to have disappeared recently - I doubt whether we'll get it back, Maybe due to more cost-cutting ?

Good luck if you have to be on it tonight, otherwise avoid.

Because everyone aims for it as its fast and well-timed. Probably needs moving pre 1800 to reduce the numbers using it....

All the fast trains to Maidenhead are getting far too overcrowded as there are so few true fast ones these days...

I'm almost at the point of getting a stopping service rather than being rammed onto a train in conditions that cattle wouldn't travel in (particularly as quite often they'll then also heat the train and therefore us all up).. At least on a stopper I can get out if it's horrible and I imagine (but have yet to find out) that there is more chance of getting a seat or at least a bit of room to stand in...

I think the 18.18 used to be  5 or 6 carriages so if they have taken some away that would explain it being worse.

I was on the 19.06 last night.. Why that one is 3 carriages only FGW know.. That was also crammed to overflowing and was particularly unpleasant.. But then that is the next non-stop train these days after the 18.18.. A lot of passengers can accumulate in Paddington in 48 minutes...

The stoppers are just as bad, if not worse, though they do usually empty out to a point where you can get a seat by Hayes & Harlington, or West Drayton as a worst case scenario.  Mind you, in terms of journey time, that's about the same as one of the Maidenhead fasts!

Perhaps there's a little more stock coming soon though to enable the worst trains to be strengthened, with the imminent end of the refresh programme and return of the 180's and rumours of 150's working the Basingstoke's.

It's booked to be a 5-car train still.

It was 5 cars today.. I was in the middle coach and although there were people standing it wasn't overcrowded.

For Maidenhead and Twyford why not try the 18.12 Henley train. 
A bit of a Curate's egg, first stop Slough but on the relief line so catches up with and follows the 17.57 stopper somewhere near Hayes so not exactly "fast"
Normally 5 cars and not "oversubscribed" however on Fridays it appears to always reduce to 3 cars and can therefore be more cosy

Recently switched from platform 13 to 14 to 11 which is a shame as the front carriage was always practically empty when no-one could be bothered to walk the length of platforms 13/14.

But people want fast (non stopping) trains.. not "semi-fast" ones that actually in reality crawl up the relief line... FGW are playing games as far as I can tell.. Until they remove all the fast trains. and win the game.. :)

They won't get fast ones until IEP free's up a path or two. Its not games  playing, there just aren't the paths for more fasts

there used to be though.. where did they go? :-)

Network Rail took some to ensure more robustness in the TT?

What about Heathrow Connect services - where did the paths for them come from?

More to the point - the HEX services took 4

I think the Hethrow Connect paths were previously Paddington-Hayes & Harlington bay platform stoppers.

I think the 18:12 Henley was a likely candidate for Class 180 operation if/when they return.  That might mean it could be retimed a little later and run main-line.  Slough does get the rough end of the deal compared with Twyford and Maidenhead for fast services in the peak!