Old First Great Western Link Timetables

[whole diary]

[James]

Hey all, just wanted to find out if anyone at all, has an old fgwl pdf timetable booklet D from December 2004 to around May 2005. Just wanted to see how many services where provided from Maidenhead to Paddington, to see if FGW^▸ (First Great Western) really have made real improvements, since then. cheers 

[JayMac]

Can't help you out with your specific request Dan, but I will just say, welcome to the forum!

[Chris from Nailsea]

Yes: welcome to the Coffee Shop forum, DanM1!

I've moved your post from 'Introductions and chat' to here, where I hope it stands the best chance of success!

Regards, Chris.

[Phil]

Can't promise the timetables are all there, but you should be able to get a fair idea courtesy of the Internet Archive (you'll need to copy and paste the whole of this link into your browser):

http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/


specifically:

http://web.archive.org/web/20041125042526/www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/link/travelinfo/timetables.php

(the Marlow to Maidenhead timetable for just before the period required is still available - I've just downloaded it in PDF format by way of a trial - but I don't really have time to dig further, sorry)

[James]

Cheers for the info, and also thankyou for the welcome to the forum, seems FGW^▸ (First Great Western) love to add journey times on between Maidenhead and London Paddington, im only to sure something faster can run during the off-peak period Monday to Sunday, but even if you mention it to FGW, there'll draw a complete blank on the subject. I'd be glad oneday, maybe oneday if we can have fast off-peak trains, until then the campaign will continue. 

[Lee]

It strikes me that, with a solution needing to be found for the Bedwyn services after the line is electrified to Newbury, that they could do worse than look again at the following proposal from IndustryInsider:

It struck me that there are two areas of the current timetable which could do with improving upon.

1) Westbury (an increasingly busy junction station and terminus of any enhanced TransWilts service that may come to pass) and Pewsey have a very irregular pattern of trains to London.
2) Maidenhead is a very busy station (ranked 74th busiest in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)) - which has a branch connection to Bourne End and Marlow. and although it has 4 trains an hour off-peak to London they are all painfully slow - taking nearly 40 minutes for the 23 mile journey.

I've spent a bit of spare time looking at these problems and tackled them both with a proposed timetable that replaces the current hourly off-peak Turbo service from Paddington-Bedwyn, with an Adelante operated service between Paddington and Westbury (and occiasionally Frome) which stops at Maidenhead.

I'm not expecting it to ever come to anything as FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are off-loading all their Adelantes by the end of the year, but I though I'd share it with forum readers to show the huge benefits over the current service to these destinations. It is a full weekday timetable which includes pathing around other services (virtually nothing would have to change) and also indicative diagramming of Turbo and Adelante units to show what resources would be required.

The link to download it is: http://www.savefile.com/projects/808644282

My apologies for any pop-ups, but that is a necessary evil when using free file hosters!

This would also give Maidenhead fast off-peak services.

One proviso - the link to his proposed timetable seems to be broken.

[IndustryInsider]

It strikes me that, with a solution needing to be found for the Bedwyn services after the line is electrified to Newbury, that they could do worse than look again at the following proposal from IndustryInsider:

The link to download it is: http://www.savefile.com/projects/808644282

This would also give Maidenhead fast off-peak services.

One proviso - the link to his proposed timetable seems to be broken.

Thanks, Lee. If DanM1 or anyone else wants to take a look, I've re-uploaded the file to another host:

http://hotfile.com/dl/21476837/dfefb55/Timetable_analysis.doc.html

[James]

I have to say that one fast train per hour off-peak between London Paddington and Maidenhead at xx18 intervals, is good, although to be honest i think the vast majority of people in Maidenhead would like to see 2 fast trains per hour to and from Paddington, as the passenger number count is almost 4million.
What could operate is an xx06 to Taunton and xx36 to Oxford.
The xx06 service from London Paddington to Taunton, could call at;
Maidenhead, Reading, Theale, Thatcham, Newbury, Kintbury, Hungerford, Bedwyn, Pewsey, Westbury, Frome (2 hourly), Castle Cary and Taunton.
The intercity services would then arrive 8 to 10 minutes later (same platform if possible, which requires the Semi-fast service which terminated at Taunton to be moved to a siding), for passengers who have travelled east of Taunton, for connections to Exeter/Paignton/Plymouth/Newquay and Penzance.

The xx36 service from London Paddington to Oxford, could call at;
Maidenhead, Twyford, Reading, Tilehurst, Pangbourne, Goring & Streatley, Cholsey, Didcot Parkway, Appleford (2 hourly), Culham (2hourly), Radley and Oxford.
Also if enough demand catered for it the Oxford service could then extend to Banbury, calling at Tackley, Heyford, Kings Sutton and Banbury.

I dont expect the proposals to come to pass, since they might be pathing constraints, lack of rolling stock etc, however i hope people will notice the difference (to the service offered now), not only in Maidenhead, but also for Twyford, Outer Thames Valley and West Country Areas.
Will be interested in what people think 

[devon_metro]

Unfortunately the "fast" service to the West Country departs at xx06 so thats a non starter! Any changes to this would remove the near half hourly frequency between Taunton and Plymouth, aswell as changing local services in Devon. The timetables are incredibly interconnected!

[IndustryInsider]

Interesting ideas, DanM1, not practical currently but now is the time to be pushing for changes like those. With Crossrail and the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification on the horizon the pattern of trains from Paddington will change beyond recognition within the next ten years. Although as devon_metro points out the timetables are intricately connected, whatever is decided for Paddington will have to have a ripple effect further afield.

[Lee]

An option that could be looked at post-Crossrail/Newbury electrification would be to introduce IndustryInsider's hourly Westbury-Paddington service and extend the hourly Newbury-Reading service (by then EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit)-operated) to Paddington, calling only at Maidenhead.

This would give us:

- 2 fast off-peak Maidenhead-Paddington services, one Adelante and one EMU.

- 2 trains per hour from Newbury, Thatcham and Theale to Paddington.

- Hourly services from Westbury, Pewsey, Bedwyn, Hungerford, Kintbury, Newbury Racecourse, Midgham, Aldermaston and Reading West to Paddington.

- No need to fundamentally alter West Country service patterns.

- Seating capacity benefits.

- IndustryInsider's 6 minute layover at Reading on Newbury-Reading services eliminated.

[James]

Cheers for your responses, seems that the xx06 is indeed operated by the express London Paddington to Plymouth/Penzance Intercity service, disappointing that idea, (an xx06 to Taunton) wont come to pass.

Despite this, at least Lee as some good ideas, although to be honest the service which terminates at Westbury could easily be extended to Yeovil Pen Mill, which means Frome, Bruton?, Castle Cary as well as Yeovil Pen Mill will benefit from a direct-link to London Paddington. This would also ensure that Maidenhead as well as Reading, could have possibly a firstever direct service to Yeovil, (although this is dependent on the track layout of the Yeovil Pen Mill and surrounding area).

As for the xx36 service from London Paddington to Oxford (Semi-fast service), it may just be included in todays FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Timetable, however realizing that there are diffculties in the Reading and Oxford areas (due to tracklayout and platform issues), it might be an idea if that idea is withdrawn, in favour of a hourly fast off-peak service which operates between London Paddington and Henley-On-Thames. This service would call at; London Paddington, Maidenhead, Twyford, Wargrave, Shiplake and Henley-On-Thames.

It means sadly, that Tilehurst, Pangbourne, Goring & Streatley, Cholsey, Appleford, Culham and Radley would lose the proposed faster service. However it does mean that Twyford would still benefit from the proposed faster service of around (28-30 minutes journey time) as opposed to 50-55 minutes at present, as well as improvements to the Henley Branch journey times. 

Once again your comments are appreicated 

[grahame]

This would also ensure that Maidenhead as well as Reading, could have possibly a firstever direct service to Yeovil

Historically, there were direct services Reading to Yeovil .. I've got an old timetable showing London to Weymouth trains calling at Reading at 06:18, 13:18, 14:49 and 17:55 ... and calling later at Yeovil Pen Mill.  I have checked and none of them stopped at Maidenhead, so that *could* be a first.

From Yeovil Pen Mill, the established flow is now to Bath / Bristol, I think ... with London traffic using Yeovil Junction up to Waterloo; I think you would have a job persuading anyoone to send through London services onto the Weymouth line from Caste Cary, except perhaps when the Olympics are on.     But Westbury IS a great connection point and it's not hard to visualise hourly "all stations" trains coming in from Frome and Warminster directions, cross platform interchange before they leave in the directions of Bradford-on-Avon and Chippenham, to be followed five minutes later by the Westbury to London (stopping at Maidenhead) service