The 0733 from Maidenhead was 12 carriages this morning. Almost made up for the late arrival at Maidenhead. Late arrival at Paddington is the norm.

Do you know how 1P08 is formed up? Does it run 8 from Didcot and then pick up 4 at Reading or is it 12 all the way? There wasn't any noticeable extra space in car 4 this morning at Maidenhead. Will have to try the rear tomorrow.

According to a tannoy announcement this morning, the 0733 Maidenhead to Paddington will be 12 cars when the new timetable starts in a few weeks. Could be fun getting 200 people through 1 set of doors if the space is only in the rear 4, but at least it's an attempt to make things better.

More mass cancellations this morning due to staff shortages. Has there been an outbreak of plague in the crew room or just incompetent rostering?

It's Monday so must be time to cancel the 1819 and 1842 from Pad. This week's excuse is lack of train crew.

Well tonight was fun 

I especially liked the 1819 being changed to be fast to Reading, and so leaving what looked like virtually empty...as seen from the rammed 1842 (Reading) on the adjacent platform. It's almost as if they don't have a clue.

It would also be nice if the 0733 Mai - Pad would remember it's supposed to arrive at 0755, not 0800 or later.

It was only 8 cars tonight

As a longtime Maidenhead-Paddington commuter who's been lurking here for a few months I thought I'd join in on this week's fun.

The 0733 actually arrived at MAI^▸ (Maidenhead station) on time this morning (1st time this week). It was packed as expected - looked like a dozen free seats per car. I got onto car 7 and stood for the trip. We arrived ~7 mins late. The previous version of this service was about 50% full (people stood when it was a 4 car 387). Prior to that it was a 6 car turbo (Henley train) that was always packed by the time it arrived at MAI. So after £millions spent we're back to where we started. Air con probably trumps comfy seats/1st class in the summer.

Evenings I get the 1819. This was only 8 cars this evening but as others have commented the rear 4 are largely a waste of time if they're not going to be platformed at MAI or TWY^▸ (Twyford station). I don't know how many people would use this train to go from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) to Reading but I wouldn't have thought many. Either they need to extend the platforms or move the signal so that cars 3-10 are platformed instead of 1-8. That would allow the rear set to be useful and so spread people out. Never going to happen I know. Space wise it's the same crush as the 1818 this replaces.

What does look to be an improvement is that the abysmal 1842 PAD-MAI (ne Bourne End) has finally been killed off and replaced with a proper fast service. It's almost like having the long lamented 1833/1836 re-instated. Not sure about the 18:48 replacing the 1906.