Great Western Coffee Shop

Wednesday January 1

Alas, the New Year has started badly:

Sunday January 5

After a few good days...

Though RTT says

And the preceding service:


And after those two cancellations as far as services from London/Oxford to the Cotswolds are concerned:

Plus

Monday January 6

Some of last night's cancellations have consequences for this morning's trains:

1P11 0516 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington
RTT :

Tuesday January 7 was a good day, with only two short workings.

2E14 1704 Didcot Parkway to Evesham ran late, arriving +19.
Behind it, 1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +24 and "was cancelled between Worcester Shrub Hill and Great Malvern due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI)".
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington was started from Shrub Hill.

Wednesday January 8


'Halts' train's station calls being covered by 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 19:25.

And in the evening, RTT reports

1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (23:13) arrived Shrub Hill +19 and "was cancelled between Worcester Shrub Hill and Great Malvern due to the train operator's request (TB)."

1W43 21:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (00:01) "was cancelled due to an issue with the train crew (TH)."

Thursday January 9

1W13 06:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (09:29) arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +9.
RTT : This service was cancelled between Worcester Shrub Hill and Great Malvern due to a problem with the train (M8).

1P24 10:16 Great Malvern to London Paddington was started from Shrub Hill.

Saturday January 11


Curiously, RTT is reporting that the empty stock for this train ran from Bristol Parkway (dep. 05:23) to Great Malvern (arr. 07:30).

And the stock for this ran empty from Paddington (depart 11:50) to Shrub Hill (arrive 13:48).


16:39 : Note added about empty stock working on 11:50.

Sunday January 12

Held at Wolvercote (+31) and Evesham (+53). Arrived Shrub Hill +59 and cancelled thereafter.

Arrived +30.

Held Shrub Hill (+26), arrived +17.

Held Charlbury, arrived +30.



11:40 : updated
14:00 : updated

Monday January 13 was going well until

1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern departed +12, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +22 and was cancelled thereafter.

Tuesday January 14

Morning hassles today because of a broken down train between Worcester Foregate Street and Great Malvern

Wednesday January 15

Held at Norton (+88). Running behind 1P20 08:15 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington.

I wonder what the logic was for retaining the Charlbury and Evesham stops whilst missing out some more used intermediate stations between Oxford and Worcester.

Arrived Oxford on time. Departed +32.


Departed Hereford on time.

Well, that was entertaining. Held at Oxford platform 4 for half an hour while a supposed signal failure at Wolvercot Junction was sorted out, only for the train crew to be told belatedly that the problem was actually at Norton Junction. Not Wolvercot.

And it caused a lot of disruption further west. RTT reports that nothing passed Norton between 21:07 and 23:13.

1W05 1953 London Paddington to Hereford ( : departed +28 (late from depot), skipped stops (as above), arrived Evesham +7, departed +87, at Norton 23:13, arrived Hereford +67.
1W41 2052 London Paddington to Great Malvern : held Oxford +32, arrived Moreton-in-Marsh +37, cancelled thereafter. Stock ran ECS to Shrub Hill.
1W43 2153 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill : held Oxford +21, arrived +21.
1W45 2251 London Paddington to Worcestershire Parkway : held Wolvercote, arrived +15.

Up trains:
1P46 2056 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington : at Norton 21:07, OK.
1P06 2200 Hereford to London Paddington : held at Malvern Link (+24), at Norton 23:21, arrived +18.

We were on the 2052 (or the 2144 from Oxford). Passengers for beyond Moreton were told to de-train at Oxford for road transport to be arranged. I strongly suspect it would have been quicker for them to just wait for the following train!

Saturday January 18 was a very good day.

Sunday January 19

It's on RTT as 1W15 08:48 Oxford to Great Malvern, and departed +4.

Arrived +15.

Departed +27, held Wolvercote (+45) and Evesham (+59). Arrived Foregate St +60 and cancelled thereafter.

Reported on RTT as cancelled throughout - "This service was cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW)."

Held Henwick (+10), arrived +25.

Monday to Wednesday January 20-22 were good days.

But today has started with

Friday January 24

Storm Eowyn forced a couple of changes to the first trains this morning:

Later:
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : arrived Honeybourne 18:41 (+5), cancelled thereafter. Stock ran ECS to Shrub Hill, departing Honeybourne 20:15, arriving 20:50.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford : arrived Moreton 19:05 (+7), departed 20:20 (+81), arrived Great Malvern +83 and cancelled thereafter.
1W34 17:57 Paddington to Worcester Foregate St : Started from Reading, Shipton 19:24 (+7), Kingham 20:21 (+59), arrived Shrub Hill +63 and cancelled thereafter.
1W36 18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern : Arrived Oxford 19:45 (on time), cancelled thereafter.
1W05 19:53 London Paddington to Hereford : held south of Shrub Hill, arrived Shrub Hill 22:36 (+37), Hereford +33.
1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern : held before Norton, arrived Shrub Hill 23:28 (+31), Great Malvern +33.

Stock appears to have run ECS from Shrub Hill (21:18) to Paddington.


Held at Foregate St 22:55-23:22 (+33), arrived +31.

Updated Saturday 12:36.

Saturday January 25

1W13 06:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern : departed +34, held Wolvercote, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +24 and cancelled thereafter.

1P17 08:50 Great Malvern to London Paddington : held Norton (+14), arrived +19.

Sunday January 26


... leaves a three-hour gap in the service.

Monday January 27

This week there are no trains west of Foregate Street until Saturday.

Today, RTT is reporting that 1P02 0605 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (which normally starts at Hereford) is cancelled throughout this morning, though this is not reported on JourneyCheck. RTT has it running ECS from Shrub Hill (06:10) to Paddington (08:24).

The Journey Checker obviously read you and added the report at 05:58  :D

Tuesday January 28

An odd one this morning - the 'halts' train is running, but not stopping at the halts. The halts stops are on the train behind.


Looking at RTT, there's a three-car Turbo allocated to the 07:00 - does that make it too big for the halts?

Problems between Paddington and Reading this morning.

1W13 06:50 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (09:04) was +25 at Reading, +17 at Oxford, held at Wolvercote  and Evesham (+52), arrived +58.
Fortunately this one goes out of service at Shrub Hill. It returns to Paddington at 16:53.

1W15 07:50 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (09:58) was +6 at Oxford but arrived +17.
This one returns to Paddington at 10:16.

Certainly does, without selective door opening.

Yes, though I think Ascott is OK for a 3-car in that direction.  Shipton, Combe and Finstock definitely aren't.

With local door controls fitted, there's no reason why the TM couldn't do it from a local door if the method of working is altered in a similar fashion to Avoncliffe and others, but it happens so rarely that I don't suppose it's deemed worth it.

And the following service, the 1552 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill train departed Paddington 28 minutes late and left Oxford 38 late.

Given that the 15:52 left Oxford at 17:23, the scheduled departure time of the 'halts' train, did the 15:52 get given the job of doing the halts calls (instead of the 16:58)? Can't really tell from the RTT reports.

[Later] Looking in more detail at RTT, the 15:52 took 28 minutes from Hanborough to Moreton (scheduled for 24). The 16:58 took 37 (scheduled for 27).  So I think the 16:58 did the halts calls.

Meanwhile, we have the right size of train doing the 'halts' today.

And after some good days, when I've been hesitant to post anything, for fear of something going wrong...

Though yesterday the afternoon 'halts' train was cancelled.

Wednesday February 6

Late running in the evening, caused by faulty doors, by delays in the Thames Valley and (round 23:00) problems with a WMR train at Foregate St:

1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:04) : OK until Norton but arrived Shrub Hill +16 and cancelled thereafter "due to a problem with the doors (M7)" [RTT].
1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:47) : held Parkway, arrived Shrub Hill and Foregate St +19.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : held Evesham (+15), arrived +22.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : delayed before Reading (+18), held Shrub Hill (+19), arrived +17.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : delayed before Reading (+20), held Wolvercote (+25), arrived +27.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : delayed before Reading (+11), arrived +21.

1P39 17:30 Worcester Foregate St to London Paddington (19:52) : started from Shrub Hill +16 but 10-minute stand at  Moreton meant on-time from Oxford.

1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (23:13) : arrived Shrub Hill +7, but departed +28, arrived Malvern +31.
1P06 22:00 Hereford to London Paddington (01:15) : held Henwick (+36), arrived +26.

Thursday February 6


Later:

1W11 05:53 London Paddington to Great Malvern (08:38) was +4 at Charlbury but arrived Moreton-in-Marsh +25 and was cancelled thereafter "due to a problem with the train (M8)" [RTT].

So, no 0534 first down train from Evesham this morning, with the next one being three hours later at 0839.  Followed by another gap, of 80+ minutes, until the next one, which departed at 0951.

I'm not sure how much help the X50 "express" bus can be for commuters who need to be in Worcester to start work or school/college, when the trans go missing.  That bus journey takes almost an hour

And this afternoon, we have

A cancellation for some of the Malverns part of what BR InterCity used to call The Cotswolds and Malverns line

and, inevitably


The train with the fault was in front of a down service.  So the reason/excuse for this cancellation is not really a proper explanation

It still is......


I think it is - the train only reached GMV on the down service owing to the train in front having a fault. Therefore it bas to start back from the same place for the same reason - it got stopped on the down....

Saturday February 8



In the evening, there were problems with the track between Ealing Broadway and Paddington.

1W03 16:50 London Paddington to Hereford was cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill "due to a problem with the train (M8)" - RTT.
1W35 17:52 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 20:10 was cancelled as above.
1W37 18:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:13), departed +41, was held at Evesham (+61), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +59 and was cancelled thereafter.
1W39 19:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (22:23) departed +44, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +40 and was cancelled thereafter.

1P33 17:00 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:24) arrived +54.
1P35 17:48 Great Malvern to London Paddington (20:23) arrived +37.
1P37 19:00 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:24) arrived +36.
1P39 20:03 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (22:23) arrived +25.
1P41 20:20 Hereford to London Paddington (23:38) was started from Worcester Shrub Hill and arrived +22.

Sunday February 9

The problems with the track continue:


In the evening:
1W08 18:45 London Paddington to Hereford (21:55) : departed +17, arrived +13.
1W73 19:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (22:16) : departed +46, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +65 and cancelled thereafter.
1W77 20:45 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (23:00) : departed +9, Reading +20, arrived +23.
1W79 21:45 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (23:59) : departed +31, arrived +32

Monday February 10


The stock for both of these comes in from Stoke Gifford.
Leaves a gap in the up direction at Shrub Hill between the 'halts' train at 07:00 and the next at 09:15.

Later:

Friday February 14

and after a good day yesterday, today we have a signals failure at Gloucester. This has resulted in

1L66 07:25 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (10:00) via Gloucester : re-routed via Cotswold line, running non-stop from Shrub hill to Didcot.
1P20 08:15 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (10:23) : cancelled throughout. This train arrives from Swindon via Gloucester.

Not sure why the 07:25 didn't get cancelled and the stock used for the 08:15.

Saturday February 15

A very good day. Attached screenshot is the RTT report for Evesham, with only one train in red, and that's five late.

Seems to be a farality at Charlbury this morning with line blocked until lunchtime, so maybe declared suspicious by BTP

Not quite.  Somebody jumped from a bridge in the Evesham area and had to be stretchered off in an ambulance.  Reported at 08:50 with normal working resumed at 09:30, but that delayed the first London bound service by an hour and will no doubt have a knock on effect for a little while.

The second up train has been diverted via Swindon, but the previous delayed one is pretty much running in its path to Didcot anyway.

Glad to hear this. I wonder why National Rail gave it the hashtag of #Charlbury, rather than #Evesham. And that disruption was extended to at least 1230

Tuesday February 18 was a very good day.

Wednesday February 19

A couple of early warnings, which may yet change:

The 08:56 is a five-car set and is carrying the passengers from the cancelled 08:15.

Thursday February 20

Originally posted at 06:05 as starting from Reading "due to train crew being delayed". Stock ran empty from Paddington to Reading. Departed Reading +33, Oxford +20, held Wolvercote.

A cancellation in all but name for most who would have wished to join this train

Later:

The 18:02 is formed of the stock of this morning's failed 08:56.

It would be very interesting to know what suggested availability of these IEP units was, at the time of acquisition, compared to what is achieved.  It looks as if there is an extremely thin amount of cover for failed units.  In a lot of cases, it seems to me, no cover at all.  A breakdown means a cancelled diagram, and that's that.  And to hell with the passengers' plans

That answer is public - held within the contract for IETs by GWR. There is a specified number of units on standby to cover failed units, and I can't remember the number  but I recall that they are in low single digit numbers per day,

There are other hints at the tightness - such as the suspension of the Bristol - Oxford Saturday trial in the summer while an IET is going to Newquay.  As the new^(*) 175 units enter service, it will be very interesting^(*) to see whether / how much they are used to relieve the tension on the IET fleet, how much they are used to relieve the tension on other fleets such as the 158s, and how much they are used to displace the other very oldest trans on the fleet rather than adding any extra robustness into the fleet.

Seems GWR were making up for earlier cancellations.

(https://i.postimg.cc/W16mjGT5/Screenshot-20250221-175901-com-android-chrome-Chrome-Tabbed-Activity-2.jpg)

I'm imagining what the Journey Check message would have said?

"Facilities on the 1518 Worcester Foregate to London Paddington due 1729. This train will be formed of 18 coaches instead of 9. We apologise for any inconvenience." ;D

Saturday February 22


Later:

Sunday February 24


Later:
1W02 11:45 London Paddington to Hereford (15:03) : departed +21, benefits from a 15-minute stand at Great Malvern, arrived +6.
1W03 12:45 London Paddington to Hereford (16:04) : delayed at Didcot, Shrub Hill +15, benefits from a 16-minute stand at Ledbury.
1W49 15:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:15) : departed +12, arrived +26.
1W51 16:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:15) : departed +20, arrived Shrub Hill +37 and cancelled therafter "due to an issue with the train crew" (RTT).
1W59 17:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (20:14) : delayed before Reading (+27), delayed at Shrub Hill (+34), arrived +36.
1W73 19:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (22:16) : departed +25, held Wolvercote (+42), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +44 and cancelled thereafter "due to the planned train being replaced with a slower train (MS)" (RTT).
1W79 21:45 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (23:59) : departed +24, arrived +14

1P59 13:58 Great Malvern to London Paddington (16:30) : held Norton (?), arrived +21. Forms 1W51.
1P73 16:59 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:30) : held Henwick (+11) and Charlbury (+24), arrived +34.
1P81 18:58 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:30) : held Shrub Hill (+29), arrived +34.
1P85 19:58 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:29) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill (+14), arrived +20.

Tuesday February 26

Disruption due to a points failure at Maidenhead.

1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) : departed +17, Oxford +23, held Wolvercote and Evesham, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +60 and cancelled thereafter.
1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:04) : held Evesham (+14), arrived +12.
1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:47) : started from Oxford.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : delayed Maidenhead (+31), Oxford +40, arrived +45.

1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : started from Shrub Hill (+13), stands for 16 at Moreton.
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford (19:50) : held Charlbury for 1W34 (+21), arrived +14.

Wednesday February 26

Thursday February 27

What a surprise:

Later:

1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) : arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +9 and was cancelled thereafter "due to a problem with the traction equipment (MD)" (RTT).

Friday February 28

Points failure in the Slough area.

Reading +26, held Oxford (+32), held Evesham (+52), arrived Shrub Hill +47, Foregate St +43.

Short runs on Paddington - Hereford services today and cancellations for LM services between Worcester and Hereford because of this bridge strike in Herefordshire

https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/24976248.pictures-show-a4103-lorry-crash-herefordshire/

Hmm. That looks as though it could have been more unpleasant than it was.

Mark

11:57 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 14:23 will be started from Worcester Shrub Hill.

The corresponding down service, the 0715 from Paddington, was caped earlier in the morning, thanks to the signalling fault that disrupted the timetable in the Thames Valley

OWW, and the GW mainline services in general, not exactly covering itself in glory today.  Thanks to a pesky S&T fault that appears to have taken most of the morning to fix

with the following 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford service running 16 minutes late and a five car short formation. Not surprisingly the GWR app is showing no unoccupied seats.

Posted 8 minutes before the planned departure from Paddington time

Train failed in the platform possibly?

Sunday March 9


Later:

Tuesday March 11

Unadvertised on JourneyCheck, the 05:23 from Hereford to Paddington (arrive 08:23) is formed of a five-car set.

Later:

Was the 9-car set sacrificed on this service to make it available for the Cheltenham gee-gees extra traffic today?

Doesn't bode well for the rest of the week

Gone are the days of direct D1000 hauled 10-car trains of all first class trains between Paddington and Cheltenham Racecourse (In addition to originating from Cardiff and Wolverhampton)

Very likely.  For example, some of the Bristol-Worcesters today are 9-car IETs instead of 3-car 165s, and this looks to be the pattern for the other three days of the races.

The "service" on the OWW and chocolate fireguards have things in common

And it's going to get worse from May when 30 or so drivers at BPW are forced to remove their route knowledge from Didcot to Malvern Wells via Evesham. Also BPW loosing Cheltenham to Worcester.

Other reductions are taking place as well.

So.....aren't the early trains that start at HFD driven by drivers from BPW? If not, how do they get from Hitachi to their starting point? At least one starts at Hitachi....

And 'who' is doing the forcing? GWR? DfT?

BPW lost Newport Hereford Malvern Wells in May 2022, all ECS moves from Stoke Gifford going via Charfield.

No idea whether it is DaFT or GWR behind it, or possibly both?

Other losses of route knowledge including BTM HSS saying goodbye to Lydney and Kemble. It has been predicted, the tunnel will shut after a London service has left Newport and when the BTM driver is asked to go the scenic way it will be a "Sorry but no. I could have last week but railway politics trumps common sense".

What a way to run a railroad!

Thursday March 13

Morning 'halts' train, 2E80 07:00 Shrub Hill to Didcot Parkway, started from Oxford.

Saturday March 15

1P13 06:18 Hereford to London Paddington was started from Worcester Shrub Hill due to an issue with the train crew (TH).

1W25 1253 London Paddington to Foregate St was terminated at Reading due to a person hit by a train (XC).

15:42 : still at Paddington.
17:10 : RTT reporting as cancelled. Forms 1P35 1748 Great Malvern to London Paddington.

Sunday March 16


17:30:

18:00: Additional 17:15 departed Shrub Hill +19, but was held at Norton (+35).

19:00 : Bad News for tomorrow morning - this evening's 1W08 18:50 London Paddington to Hereford is a five-car set, so tomorrow morning's 1P02 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington (08:23) will be crowded.

Monday March 17


Later:


Later still:
1P42 1904 Great Malvern to Paddington was cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill "due to a problem with the train (M8)" [RTT].
The stock ran empty to Paddington and from there to North Pole.

Once again


This is becoming quite a regular occurrence recently. This service was also held Charlbury for 18 minutes due to the late running 06:50 Paddington to Great Malvern service. It departed Hanborough at roughly the time the following 06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington train was supposed to arrive, leaving a very full platform of passengers who decided to wait for that train (or, quite possibly, simply couldn't board the crush loaded HFD:PAD short-form).

The rest of the day had late running and truncations:

Wednesday March 19

1P02 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington : 5-car. Held Charlbury (+18), as described above, arrived +20.
1P22 08:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington : started from Worcester Shrub Hill
1P28 11:57 Great Malvern to London Paddington : started from Worcester Shrub Hill (+9), arrived +12.
1P44 19:45 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington : started from Shrub Hill.

1W11 05:53 London Paddington to Great Malvern : delayed at Oxford (+19), held Evesham (+38), cancelled after arriving +44 at Worcester Shrub Hill.
1W17 08:51 London Paddington to Great Malvern : delayed near Acton, Reading +19, held Wolvercote (+35), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +36 and cancelled thereafter.
1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford : delayed before Reading +17, arrived +19.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern : departed +24, Oxford +38, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +43 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford : delayed Reading - Oxford (+28), held Wolvercote (+32), arrived +31.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street : held Wolvercote (+13) and Evesham (+33), arrived +35.

Thursday March 20

A day of points failures in the Thames Valley.

1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : departed +16, delayed before Oxford (+45), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +57 and cancelled thereafter.
1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street : cancelled throughout due to trespassers.
1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:47) : started from Oxford (+31), arrived Shrub Hill +27 and cancelled thereafter.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern : departed +21, held Oxford (+36) and Shrub Hill (+47). Arrived Worcester Foregate Street +48 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : departed +20, arrived +29.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : held Wolvercote and Shrub Hill (+34).

1P24 09:55 Great Malvern to London Paddington (12:23): delayed after Reading, arrived +27.
1P26 10:59 Great Malvern to London Paddington (13:25) : delayed after Reading, arrived +24.
1P28 11:57 Great Malvern to London Paddington (14:23) : delayed after Reading, arrived +72.
1P30 13:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (15:22) : delayed after Reading, arrived +24.
1P04 13:18 Hereford to London Paddington (16:24) : delayed after Reading, arrived +30.
1P05 16:17 Hereford to London Paddington (18:29) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill, delayed after Reading, arrived +17.
1P39 17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington : cancelled throughout.
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington : departed +10, held Henwick (+18),

Friday March 21


Later:
Does not bode well for tomorrow's 1P13 06:18 Hereford to London Paddington.

Saturday March 22

Starting the Hereford from Oxford doesn't count:

10:30:

In the evening, there was an incident at Twyford, and delays at Oxford:
1P39 20:03 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington (22:23) : delayed after leaving Oxford, and cancelled after arriving Reading +44 due to an issue with the train crew (TH).
1P41 20:20 Hereford to London Paddington (23:38) : held Shrub Hill (+15), delayed before Oxford (+26), arrived +42.
2E98 22:44 Great Malvern to Evesham (23:22) : cancelled throughout.

1W37 18:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:13) : cancelled throughout.
1W39 19:52 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill : started from Reading (+87), cancelled after arriving Shrub Hill +85.
1W43 21:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill : held at Oxford (+31), arrived +41.

Monday March 24


The 22:00 from Hereford is only going as far as Shrub Hill this week - there's overnight engineering work, described at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/engineering-works/oxford-and-worcester-shrub-hill-20250324/ (https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/engineering-works/oxford-and-worcester-shrub-hill-20250324/).

Later:
In the end, the 17:53 made it to Hereford, and the 22:00 return didn't have to be cancelled.

A few from yesterday:

1P16 0753 Oxford to London Paddington - This service was cancelled between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford due to an issue with the train crew (TG).
1P38 1632 Great Malvern to London Paddington - was diverted between Worcester Shrub Hill & Didcot Parkway missing out the north Cotswolds.
1W03 1734 London Paddington to Ledbury - This service was cancelled between Ledbury and Hereford due to a person hit by a train (XC).

Saturday March 29

1P27 1320 Hereford to London Paddington : held Didcot (+36), arrived +42.
1W03 1650 London Paddington to Hereford : departed +30, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +27 and cancelled thereafter.
1P41 20:20 Hereford to London Paddington : started from Worcester Shrub Hill.

Sunday March 30


The 10:50 departed +25, was held at Wolvercote (+40) and Evesham (+54). It arrived Foregate St +54 and was cancelled thereafter.

1W03 1250 London Paddington to Hereford departed +25, was held at Wolvercote and arrived +37.

The 15:50 and 16:50 have now disappeared from the list of changes.

19:20 :

Later:
Departed Paddington +22. Delayed at Radley (+35) and Oxford (+53). Arrived Shrub Hill +30.

And after a good day on Monday March 31, today there are problems with the overhead wires at Hereford:

Having departed +67, this train was further delayed at Ledbury (+75) and Foregate St (+81). Cutting out the stops helped - it arrived Charlbury +62, but had to wait for the single line and it left +73. Arrived Paddington +67.

 :o :o :o

Suspect no wires at Hereford - might be those at Stoke Gifford, if that's where the stock originates?

Internal notes suggest it was overnight cabling works which overran.  Perhaps someone in the dead of night misread that as overhead cabling works?

That set stables overnight in the Down Siding at Hereford.  The one that comes up from Stoke Gifford now forms the 07:13 GMV-PAD.

That seems more likely!  :)

Yet another great day for the Hereford service

The outward journey, 1W01 09:52 London Paddington to Hereford (12:46) was on time until Ledbury, but arrived Hereford +27.

The second return trip, 1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) was cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill "due to a fault with lineside cabling (II)".


Later:

But even later:

The 17:34 Paddington - Hereford is still operating.

Sunday April 6

Today's problems are at Foregate Street:
The buses are being supplied by Stagecoach (from their Cheltenham depot?), so it feels like this is being arranged by West Midland Trains (rather than First's Worcester depot).

WMR station, so that would be effecting their services too - so they are responsible for arranging onward transport.

Interesting that GWR knew yesterday lunchtime that engineering works this evening would not be completed in time.  Very odd

To be fair, GWR may have been alerted that, "When we started work, we discovered there is much more actually needing to be done than we had planned, so it won't all be done within the original timescale".

I'm perhaps being charitable here.  ;D

Feels more like "this is due to engineering work that will have to start earlier than expected" - but we haven't got a code for that.

Two WMR trains are shown as being changed - last one into Foregate St from Birmingham, and the first one out of Great Malvern tomorrow morning. But that's due to "problems with the signalling system".

Thursday April 10

Problems with points:

resulting in

1P11 05:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (07:24) departed +17 and arrived +15.


This means that the 05:23 Hereford - Paddington was sent round via Stroud this morning.


1P18 0713 Great Malvern to London Paddington was held at Shrub Hill and at Norton (+26).
In consequence, 1W11 05:53 London Paddington to Great Malvern (08:38) is being held at Evesham. Likely to be +20.

To summarise:

1P11 05:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (07:24) : departed +17, arrived +15.
1P02 05:23 Hereford to Paddington : 5 cars, diverted from Worcester Shrub Hill via Stroud, arrived +25.
1P16 06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (08:44) : departed +42, held Charlbury (+59), arrived +58.
2E80 07:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Didcot Parkway (08:46) : departed +9, arrived +9.
1P18 07:13 Great Malvern to London Paddington (09:42) : held Shrub Hill (+18), Norton (+26) and Charlbury (+34), arrived +24.
1P20 08:15 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington (10:23) : departed +35, held Norton (+43) and Charlbury (+55), arrived Reading +51 and cancelled thereafter.
1P22 08:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington (11:24) : started from Worcester Foregate Street.

1W11 05:53 London Paddington to Great Malvern (08:38) : held Evesham (+21) and Parkway (+32), arrived Worcester Foregate Street +38 and cancelled thereafter.
1W21 10:53 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (13:01) : started from Reading.
1W33 16:58 Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : started from Reading (+15), arrived +13.

Friday April 11

At 04:30, JourneyCheck had 148 'Train Formation Updates', including this pair:

Later:

1P16 06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (08:44) : departed +25, held Charlbury (+39), arrived +35.
2E80 07:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Didcot Parkway (08:46) : departed +25, arrived +20.
1P18 07:13 Great Malvern to London Paddington (09:42) : departed +19, held Charlbury (+32), arrived +29.
1P22 08:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington : started from Worcester Foregate Street.

1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : held Shrub Hill (+12) and Charlbury (+29), arrived +35.
1P39 17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (19:52) : held Charlbury (+22), arrived +16.
1P40 18:02 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (20:29) : held Charlbury (+20), arrived +9.
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford : cancelled throughout.
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) : started from Shrub Hill

1W11 05:53 London Paddington to Great Malvern (08:38) : held Evesham (+18) and Shrub Hill (+34), arrived Worcester Foregate Street +35 and cancelled thereafter.
1W17 08:51 London Paddington to Great Malvern (11:14) : held Parkway (+15), arrived +20.
1W01 09:52 London Paddington to Hereford (12:46) : held Shrub Hill (+20), arrived +19.
2E14 17:04 Didcot Parkway to Evesham (18:23) : arrived Oxford +14 and cancelled thereafter.
1W33 16:58 Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : held Oxford (+20), called at halts, arrived Shrub Hill +41 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : held Oxford (+12), Wolvercote (+21) and Evesham (+39), arrived +35.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : held Wolvercote (+19) and Evesham (+34), arrived +37.

Saturday April 12

A good day

Sunday April 13


Later:

Monday April 14

A good day. Attached is the RTT listing for GWR at Evesham.  Only three red departures, and the worst of those was +7. No short workings.

Though 1W05 19:53 London Paddington to Hereford was a 5-car unit - which means that Tuesday's 1P02 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington (08:23) is a 5-car.

A good idea that.  Provides a daily summary in a very clear and easy to understand format and quick and easy to do. When things go wrong more detail is useful, but most of the time a screenshot like that from RTT is perfect. 

Are you listening, Melksham?  ;)

What would improve it would be if short workings had their starting or finishing stations shown in red.
Are you listening, RTT?

Wednesday April 16

Problems with level crossing barriers at Newlands (between Foregate St and Malvern Link).

1P28 11:57 Great Malvern to London Paddington (14:23) departed +20, arrived +18.

1W21 1053 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (13:01) : held at Evesham for 1P28 (+17), arrived +21.

Thursday April 17

Friday April 18

More points failures today:


Though it's most likely that the problem was at Oxford.
2E77 05:10 Oxford to Worcester Shrub Hill, the positioning journey for the 07:00, departed Oxford +60 and arrived Shrub Hill +79.
The 07:00 departed +39, running after 1P18 07:13 Great Malvern to London Paddington. It arrived Oxford +38 and was cancelled thereafter.

Monday April 21


At 14:35 this train, a 5-car unit, was at Evesham.

16:30:

17:15:

Still in platform at Slough at 17:15.

19:00:
(my highlighting in red)

Wonder why Chiltern have revoked?

Their own services struggling to cope with GWR passengers as well?

Final score from yesterday:

1P04 13:18 Hereford to Paddington (16:30) : cancelled after Didcot Parkway.
1P34 15:18 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington (17:26) : held Charlbury. Arrived Oxford +16 and cancelled thereafter.
1P05 15:18 Hereford to Paddington (18:29) : held Charlbury (+24), arrived Oxford +33 and cancelled thereafter. Stock used for 1W03 below.
1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington : held Charlbury (+40), Oxford (+69) and Didcot (+99), arrived +112.
1P40 18:02 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington : held Charlbury (+48), arrived +70.
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford : cancelled throughout.
1P42 19:04 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:30) : cancelled throughout.
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:26) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill (+22), held Reading (+29), arrived +38.
1P46 20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (23:30) : cancelled throughout.
1P06 22:00 Hereford to London Paddington (01:15) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill (+28), arrived +12.

1W31 15:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : held Slough (+61). Arrived Reading +136 and cancelled thereafter.
2E14 17:09 Didcot Parkway to Evesham (18:27) : cancelled after Oxford.
1W33 16:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : started from Didcot using 802 010. Arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +23 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 17:55 Reading (short-notice change?) to Hereford (20:25) : started from Oxford using stock from 1P05. Arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +6 and cancelled thereafter.
1W34 17:45 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : cancelled throughout.
1W36 18:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:18) : cancelled throughout.
1W05 19:45 London Paddington to Hereford (22:57) : departed +27, benefits from 14-minute stand at  Great Malvern, arrived +14.
1W41 20:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (23:13) : cancelled throughout.
1W43 21:45 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (00:01) : departed +25, arrived +30.
1W45 22:58 London Paddington to Worcestershire Parkway (01:26) : cancelled throughout. Stock ran empty to Shrub Hill.

Tuesday April 22

Some stock out of place:

Unreported on JourneyCheck, the halts train, 2E80 07:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Didcot Parkway, is behind 1P18 07:13 Great Malvern to London Paddington, possibly to avoid overcrowding as a result of the cancellation of the 06:43. 2E80 departed +37 and was held at Norton (+45) and Charlbury (+60). Arrived Oxford +60 and was cancelled thereafter.

In the afternoon, problems with the halts train:

So the halts train will run, but won't call at the halts and will be non-stop from Oxford to Moreton.

17:50

In consequence,
1P04 13:18 Hereford to London Paddington (16:24) was held at Hayes & Harlington and arrived +55.
The stock from this forms 1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern. This departed Paddington +34.
And JourneyCheck has removed the message about stopping at the halts.

Meanwhile, 2E14 17:04 Didcot Parkway to Evesham (18:23) was held outside Oxford, but has now departed +26.
And JourneyCheck has removed the 'not stopping' message.

1P34 15:18 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington was held at Reading (+55), arrived +54.
1P05 15:18 Hereford to London Paddington was held at Oxford (+40), arrived Reading +41 and was cancelled thereafter. Stock is running empty to Paddington.

Stock has run empty from Paddington to Reading.

Final score from yesterday:

1P04 13:18 Hereford to London Paddington (16:24) : held Hayes & Harlington (+30), arrived +55. Stock forms 1W33.
1P34 15:18 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (17:29) : held Reading (+55), arrived +54.
1P05 15:18 Hereford to Paddington (18:29) : held Oxford (+40), arrived Reading +41 and cancelled thereafter. Stock ran empty to Paddington.

1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) : started from Shrub Hill.
1P46 20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (23:34) : cancelled throughout.

2E14 17:04 Didcot Parkway to Evesham (18:23) : held Oxford (+26), arrived +28.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : departed +34 (stock from 1P04) , arrived Shrub Hill +34 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : started from Reading (stock ran empty from Paddington) +41, arrived +30.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : cancelled throughout.

20 mins late off Evesham

Thursday April 24

... was a very good day. Here's the screenshot of the trains at Evesham, with no red whatsoever.

OK, what I hadn't spotted on that was the use of a 5-car set on 1W05 1953 London Paddington to Hereford. Deduct two points.

Which meant that this morning's 1P02 0523 Hereford to London Paddington was a 5-car.

And the same set will work
    1W02 1152 London Paddington to Hereford
    1P05 1518 Hereford to London Paddington (very busy from Oxford)
    1W36 1857 London Paddington to Great Malvern (very busy)

A few from the last couple of days:

Fri 25 April

1453 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street cancelled between London Paddington and Slough due to a points failure (IB) and  cancelled between Oxford and Worcester Foregate Street due to unknown cause (ZW)

1726 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington cancelled between Worcester Foregate Street and Oxford due to unknown cause (ZW) and was cancelled between Reading and London Paddington due to an issue with the train crew (TG)

Sun 27 April

0844 Paddington to Great Malvern cancelled between London Paddington and Worcester Shrub Hill due to an issue with the train crew (TH)

0858 Great Malvern to London Paddington was cancelled due to the train operator's request (TB)

1312 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington was cancelled due to an issue with the train crew (TH)

Tuesday 29 April

2E77 0510 Oxford to Worcester Shrub Hill
Didn't run this morning.  According to RTT:
2E80 0827 Oxford to Didcot Parkway
Didn't run between Worcester Shrub Hill and Oxford

And in the afternoon
2E14 17:04 Didcot Parkway to Evesham was cancelled after Oxford
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford cancelled throughout
both "due to unknown cause (ZW)" according to RTT.

Saturday May 3

1W02 1150 London Paddington to Hereford was cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill
1P31 15:18 Hereford to London Paddington was started from Shrub Hill
both "due to trespass (XA)" according to RTT.

Later:
1P31 15:18 Hereford to London Paddington was started from Shrub Hill (+30), arrived Reading +37 and was cancelled thereafter.

Sunday May 4

Wednesday May 7

A points failure:

2E80 0700 Worcester Shrub Hill to Didcot was held at Shrub Hill (+34), arrived Oxford +31 and was cancelled thereafter.

Held at Shrub Hill (+16), arrived -1.

Friday May 9

Preceding 1D18 09:23 London Paddington to Oxford cancelled.

Saturday May 11

1W37 18:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern : cancelled throughgout, "due to an issue with the train crew (TG)" [RTT].

Sunday May 11

No cancellations

Monday May 12

RTT is reporting this as a problem with the doors.

Later (14:30):

Not showing on JourneyCheck but tonight's 1953 Paddington to Hereford and 2251 Paddington to Worcestershire Parkway are both five car short-formations which, presumably, will mean short-forms on the first two up services tomorrow morning.

Saturday May 17

And after a good few days:


Which implies that the shortage is of train managers, with the stock working empty from Reading to Shrub Hill.  Though why any scheduling system would have three separate TMs (Paddington - Reading - Shrub Hill - Great Malvern) for a journey that is 2:22 long is beyond me.

Sadly that's what the computer churns out these days.  Works on paper, but not in practice as soon as anything goes wrong.  The powers that be, don't seem to get it unfortunately.

As you say, a journey of that length with three pieces of work is best described as "vulnerable".  But I would have expected the software to flag it as a potential issue. Alas, I'd fear that the report of the scheduling efficiency statistics wouldn't notice the shortness of the pieces - they'd be lost in any overall average.

It's odd that it's only a one-way cancellation - does this duty not go back to Reading at some stage?

Without checking I don't know for sure, but it's quite possible the TM assists on the way back, or that a Worcester based TM booking on standby could work it back.

The A return working has now turned up, though I imagine there's been some juggling of pieces of work:


18:45 : Reading - Paddington leg added (I hadn't noticed this before).
05:15 : spelling

Sunday May 18

1W49 15:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +5 and was cancelled thereafter "due to disorder (VA)".
1W51 16:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern was held Evesham (+14) and arrived +19.

1P81 18:57 Great Malvern to London Paddington was started from Shrub Hill (+29), was held at Norton (+43), arrived +47.

Later...
1W08 18:45 London Paddington to Hereford (21:54) departed +18, was held Great Malvern (+42), arrived +42.
1W73 19:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (22:16) was delayed after West Drayton, held at Wolvercote (+14), arrived +25.
1W79 21:45 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (23:59) departed +37 and arrived +33.

Wednesday May 21

1W13 06:52 Paddington to Great Malvern was started from Reading due to engineering work not being finished on time.

Friday 23 May


Not sure of the location of this bridge

Somewhere between Moreton in Marsh and Evesham perhaps

1P04 1318 Hereford to London Paddington departed Evesham at 1436, just one minute down, so the problem may have cleared now

RTT has 1W02 1152 London Paddington to Hereford as being held at Moreton (+38) and at Evesham (+58). Arrived Great Malvern +69.

Sunday May 25


Plus:


This is the last train.

Well, we've made it onto a new section of the GWR leaderboard:

Good to know that a taxi will suffice.

Meanwhile,

And the 17:30 from Hereford to Paddington, reported above as being started from Reading, now looks to have been cancelled throughoput.

The revised workings are quite interesting. According to RTT,
1W03 12:45 London Paddington to Hereford was cancelled after arriving Worcester Shrub Hill at 15:20 (+20).
The stock ran empty to Hereford as 5W03 15:01 Worcester Shrub Hill to Hereford (16:04).
The stock then ran empty back again as 5P77 17:30 Hereford to London Paddington (20:29).

Final score for Sunday May 25:

1P45 10:58 Great Malvern to London Paddington : started from Shrub Hill
1P49 11:57 Great Malvern to London Paddington (14:26) : delayed after Reading, arrived +29.
1P55 13:12 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (15:30) : cancelled throughout (train crew)
1P59 13:58 Great Malvern to London Paddington (16:26) : held Sbrub Hill (+22), arrived +25.
1P69 15:31 Hereford to London Paddington (18:29) : started from Worcester Foregate Street.
1P73 16:58 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:26) : held Charlbury (+19), arrived +26.
1P77 17:30 Hereford to London Paddington : ran empty Hereford - Reading, started from Reading.
1P85 19:58 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:27) : departed +26, arrived +24.
1P88 20:46 Great Malvern to London Paddington (23:41) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill

1W15 07:36 London Paddington to Great Malvern (10:15) : cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill (train crew)
1W02 11:45 London Paddington to Hereford (15:04) : delayed before Reading (+30), arrived Worcester Foregate Street +35 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 12:45 London Paddington to Hereford (16:04) : held Evesham (+13), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +20 and cancelled thereafter. Stock then ran empty to Hereford.
1W47 14:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (17:15) : departed +20, held Reading (+33), did not stop at Didcot, held Evesham (+30), arrived +32.
1W51 16:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:15) : departed +19, held Oxford (+25) and Shrub Hill (+43), arrived +46.
1W59 17:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (20:15) :  cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill (train crew).
1W08 18:45 London Paddington to Hereford (21:54) : cancelled after Oxford.
1W73 19:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (22:16) : departed +17, arrived +21.
1W77 20:45 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (23:00) : started from Oxford
1W79 21:45 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (23:59) : reported as cancelled at one stage.

Monday May 26

Not surprisingly, given yesterday's disruption:

1P02 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington (08:24) : started from Oxford.

Monday May 27

After the short working first thing, the rest of the day was good.

Except for
1P06 22:00 Hereford to London Paddington (01:15), which lost time after Shrub Hill and arrived +26.
In turn, this delayed 1W45 22:51 London Paddington to Worcestershire Parkway at Wolvercote. It arrived +18.

Tuesday May 28
The stock is running empty to Shrub Hill.

Tuesday May 27 (continued)


Later:

Wednesday May 28

and
1W11 05:53 London Paddington to Great Malvern was delayed at Shrub Hill. Arrived Worcester Foregate Street +22 and cancelled thereafter.

Indeed so - I'm on it. And the "train in front" was the 05:53.

Wednesday May 28

The Wednesday of the half-term holiday, with lots of day-out traffic to London.

Alas, GWR seem to have suffered from a perfect storm. I have never know such a wide range of explanations for delays. I suffered from

• track circuit failure in the Swindon area
• failed train blocking a platform at Shrub Hill
• unspecified delay south of Oxford
• unspecified delay after Slough
• overhead wire problems between Paddington and Reading
• waiting for a driver
• following a stopping train
• following a different stopping train

Final scores for yesterday are not a pretty sight, and will have put off some of that day-out traffic from using the train.

1P20 08:18 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington : arriving stock blocked by 1W11 (+50), departed +36, further delayed after Oxford, arrived +71.
1P22 08:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington (11:27) : started from Worcester Foregate Street, delayed after Reading, arrived +28.
1P24 09:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington (12:23) : delayed after Reading, arrived +19
1P30 13:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (15:22) : departed +28, arrived +28.
1P04 13:18 Hereford to Paddington (16:24) : held Norton for 1W02 (+12), delayed before Oxford (+53), arrived Reading +53 and cancelled thereafter.
1P34 15:18 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (17:29) : cancelled throughout.
1P05 15:18 Hereford to London Paddington (18:29) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill
1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : started from Worcester Foregate Street
1P39 17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (19:52) : departed +22, saved 10 at Moreton.
1P42 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:26) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill, arrived +15.
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) : started from Shrub Hill

1W11 05:53 London Paddington to Great Malvern (08:38) : held Moreton (+12), spent 26 at Shrub Hill (blocking 1P20), arrived Worcester Foregate Street +22 and cancelled thereafter.
1W15 07:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (10:14) : departed +23, arrived +16.
1W17 08:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (11:14) : held Wolvercote for 1P20 (+16), arrived +22.
1W21 10:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (13:01) : departed +23, delayed before Reading (+42), arrived +38.
1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : delayed before Reading (+34), arrived Shrub Hill +39, Worcester Foregate Street +56 and cancelled thereafter.
1W25 12:52 London Paddington to Foregate Street (15:00) : delayed before Reading (+42), arrived Oxford +46 and cancelled thereafter.
1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) : delayed before Reading (+13) and at Shrub Hill (+21), arrived Worcester Foregate Street +20 and cancelled thereafter.
1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:04) : delayed before Oxford (+40), arrived +36.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : departed +14, held Reading (awaiting driver, +42), held Wolvercote (behind halts train, +62) and Ascott (same, +73), saved 13 at Evesham. Arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +63 and cancelled thereafter.
1W33 16:58 Paddington  to Great Malvern (19:25) : started from Reading, held Oxford (+35), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +29 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : held Evesham (+32), arrived +31.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : started from Oxford
1W36 18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:18) : delayed before Reading (+23), arrived +25.
1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (23:13) : cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill (train crew)

Meanwhile, a technical question about signalling on our line.

Yesterday (Wed May 28), I was on the 15:52 back from Paddington. We left Oxford +48, but then sat at Wolvercote for 13 minutes. Looking at OpenTrainTimes, this seemed to be waiting for the halts train, in front of us, to get out of the single track section at Charlbury. We also sat at Ascott, waiting for it to reach Moreton.

Now, looking at OpenTrainTimes, there appear to be intermediate signals on the Wolvercote - Charlbury section. My question is this : why could we not have followed the halts train through the suingle track section? We would still have had to wait at Ascott, but at least we'd have got passengers to Hanborough and Charlbury.

As it was, we got to Charlbury +64 and to Moreton +75.

I don't think there are any intermediate signals on the Wolvercote - Ascott-under-Wychwood single line.  So, heading downwards, a second train cannot leave Wolvercote until a preceding one has cleared Ascott-under-Wychwood and the section is clear

There were delays from about 15:45-16:15 at Oxford after a freight was stopped for examination after reports of smoke coming from an axle.



To add to Witham Bobby's post.  There are no intermediate signals, other than the colour light distant signals for the signals that protect the junctions at either end.  There is an intermediate axle counter section which splits the single line section into two parts, but that hasn't got any signals associated with it.

It's a bit different between Ascott and Moreton-In-Marsh as there are intermediate signals - for the level crossing at Bruern - and again between Moreton and Evesham for Blockley and Chipping Campden L/C's.  But these are only to protect the crossings, so trains can't go beyond the section signal of a given box until the train in front is within station limits of the signal box ahead.

OK, that makes sense - thanks.

I'd been looking at the map at https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/oxford#T_WVCTJN (https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/oxford#T_WVCTJN), which has what looked like intermediate signals.

Yes, that's a logical interpretation. 

2405/2418 are the distant signals (yellow or green only). 
2406/2425 are the section signals. 
2407/2416 are the signals protecting the junctions (and when a train has passed them it is clear of the section)
The two black boxes between Hanborough and 2418 are the axle counter sections (neither is associated directly with 2418)

I find it a little easier to intepret on SignalMaps than OTT:  https://signalmaps.co.uk/#cherval1:1658  You can also see when Ascott has requested a slot for the up direction - the 'AW2406 Release' lights up white.

Thanks for that. It's wonderful how much specialist knowledge you get here!  :)

And you may regret including that link - you'll get some more dumb questions from this end!

Friday May 30

Not a good week for this to be short-formed : it's half-term and this is the first train for cheap off-peak tickets.
I was on it on Wednesday, when it was a 9-car set; we had the "move any bags off the seats - people are standing" announcement before Oxford.


Later:

12:30 : Train crew found for the Paddington - Oxford leg of the 17:34.

Saturday May 31

Sunday June 1


Leaving a three-hour gap in the service towards London on Sunday evening!

...to which we have to add

All of these have now been removed from JourneyCheck, though the 19:58 will still terminate at Reading.

Later : and now the 19:58 has been removed from JourneyCheck.

Monday June 2

In the end, both of these journeys operated normally.

But:
2E77 05:10 Oxford to Worcester Shrub Hill was cancelled throughout (train crew)
2E80 07:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Didcot Parkway was cancelled throughout.

Stock has run empty from Shrub Hill to Paddington.

1W11 0553 London Paddington to Great Malvern arrived Shrub Hill +24 (blocked by the 08:18 perhaps), Worcester Foregate Street +35 and was cancelled thereafter.

And the halts train will be cancelled this afternoon:

Later:

But...

Tuesday June 3

A points failure at Cheltenham Spa has meant that train 1G01 0632 Swindon to Shrub Hill was terminated at Gloucester.
This train forms 1P20 08:18 Shrub Hill to London Paddington. But:

Monday June 9

And after a few good days:


RTT has the 11:52 as starting from Shrub Hill.

Later (17:00) : The 11:52 was indeed started from Reading (+27).  It was held at Wolvercote (+37) and Evesham (+59). It arrived Shrub Hill +59 and was cancelled therafter.

1W11 0553 London Paddington to Great Malvern  (RTT)

(GW Journeycheck)

Striking disparity between the excuses

Yesterday (Thursday June 12), the afternoon halts train from Didcot to Evesham was cancelled after Oxford.

JourneyCheck had this as being due to "to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time".

RTT has it as "This service was cancelled between Oxford and Evesham due to the planned train being replaced with a slower train (MS)".

Strewth - is there anything slower train than a 75mph 165 turbo?!!

Class 139?

The afternoon halts train isn't even getting as far as Oxford today:


and yesterday, despite telling passengers the halts service would not go beyond Oxford, JourneyCheck didn't report any issues with the return run from Evesham!

Maybe a turbo that doesn't even get started?



Lovely Friday late afternoon/early evening

Sunday June 15


RTT reports this as starting from Paddington.

Tuesday June 17

And after a good day yesterday, today there has been a signal failure between Swindon and Gloucester.

In a very sensible move

Meanwhile, the failure affected the 08:18 Shrub Hill - Paddington.
The incoming stock, train 1G01 0632 Swindon to Shrub Hill was caught up in this. It arrived Stroud +70 and Cheltenham Spa +87 and was cancelled thereafter.

And this afternoon, the halts train and its return working have been cancelled.

Wednesday June 18

1W11 05:53 Paddington to Great Malvern was started from Reading "due to an issue with the train crew (TH)" [RTT]


12:06 : Short-working of 12:52 has been removed from JourneyCheck.

13:20 : 1W01 0952 London Paddington to Hereford was delayed in the Oxford area. It was +23 by Malvern Link and was cancelled after Great Malvern.


16:20 :

RTT is showing this as having terminated at Reading.

The problems at Oxford have finally made it onto JourneyCheck

More midweek mayhem for the OWW 18 June 2025

Thursday 19 June

17:30: Points failures being reported at Didcot and between Oxford and Banbury.


The halts train has been affected by the points failures:

And, in a really useful development, the 17:34 to Hereford is no longer cancelled. But...

18:30 : and, having got to Reading, it's now running ECS to Hereford.

Later : ... but only as far as Shrub Hill.

Friday June 20

...was looking good until

Fourth day running the halts train hasn't served the north Cotswolds. And the following 16:58 Paddington to Great Malvern service which is scheduled to cover these stations has been sitting at Portobello Junction since 17:01 (is now 17:46) due to a trackside fire - and [edit] has just moved after a delay of 46 minutes

And:


And behind the 16:58 is the 17:34 to Hereford, which left Paddington +47.
At 18:35, 1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street has yet to leave Paddington.
18:51 : it's just left, +53.

Sunday June 22

Arrived Shrub Hill +17.


Later : the 16:45 has been removed from JourneyCheck.

Monday June 23

Sardines, anyone?

No reason for the substitution supplied.  The appeal to allow those most in need the use of available seats is something I'd not noticed before on JourneyCheck

Wednesday June 25


Stock running ECS to Hereford.

Sunday June 29

1P41 09:58 Great Malvern to London Paddington (12:22) cancelled throughout.

My fault - I wanted to travel home from London on this one.
Stock running ECS to Shrub Hill.

... and I'd prefer Foregate St.

Monday June 30


Though the 07:25 operates via Stroud and not via Evesham.

16:16 : Disruption expected until 18:00.

In addition to the above, the 12:52 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street service was terminated at Oxford so no down services on to the north Cotswolds line for over three and a half hours.

Later:

Yesterday's delays involving the tree never mentioned what had happened to the 11:52 from Paddington, which first encountered it. It was +2 at Ascott, but arrived at Kingham +228 (three hours and 48 minutes). I'm surprised that didn't make the local news.

Final scores:

1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : Arrived Worcester Shrub Hill 17:43 (+226) and cancelled thereafter. Forms 1P05.
1W25 12:52 London Paddington to Foregate St (15:00) : cancelled after Oxford
1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern : diverted between Reading and Shrub Hill. Arrived +10.
1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Foregate St (17:04) : cancelled after Oxford "due to lineside vegetation (JP)" [RTT].
1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate St (17:47) : Charlbury +1, Ascott +26. Arrived Shrub Hill +31 and cancelled thereafter.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : Ascott +20, arrived +23.
2E14 17:04 Didcot Parkway to Evesham (18:23) : cancelled throughout, "due to the planned train being replaced with a slower train (MS)" [RTT].
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : OK
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : held Wolvercote (+11) but arrived on time.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : OK
1W36 18:53 London Paddington to Great Malvern : started from Reading, arrived +12.
1W05 19:53 London Paddington to Hereford (22:57) : cancelled after Oxford (train crew), stock ran ECS.

1P34 15:18 Foregate Street to London Paddington (17:29) : started from Oxford
1P05 15:18 Hereford to Paddington (18:29) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill +93 (at 17:50), skipped stops, arrived Reading +76 and cancelled thereafter. Forms 1W36.
1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : departed +11, but benefits from 16-minute stand at Moreton.
1P39 17:26 Foregate Street to London Paddington (19:52) : started from Oxford
1P40 18:02 Foregate Street to London Paddington (20:29) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford : cancelled throughout.

Tuesday July 1


and, optimistically (given the state of the OHLE at Malvern)

Later:

The 08:18 from Shrub Hill to Paddington will be starting late. This one should arrive from Swindon at 07:58, but today it has had to go round via Bristol Parkway on account of a trespasser at Stroud.

14:15 :

15:39 : A different reason
Though RTT has "cancelled due to unknown cause (ZW)".

16:25 : JourneyCheck is right - it has started from Oxford, and departed on time.

17:40 :

Some problems yesterday including:

1523 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street cancelled between Oxford and Worcester Foregate Street due to disorder (VA)
1552 London Paddington to Great Malvern cancelled between Worcester Shrub Hill and Great Malvern due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI) (departed Oxford 59 late, arrived WOS 69 late)
1658 London Paddington to Great Malvern cancelled between Worcester Foregate Street and Great Malvern due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI) (departed Oxford 19 late, held at Wolvercote Junction and arrived at WOF 69 late)

and a regular one for today:

See https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=30434.0;topicseen (https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=30434.0;topicseen) for details of the disorder.

An unusual one this morning:


It's due to depart Foregate St at 06:06. But, as of 07:00, it's still there.

Meanwhile, it's blocking other movements:

The Hereford train has departed Foregate St +58.

Friday July 11 : problems near Hereford

1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : delayed Oxford (+16), held Great Malvern (+31) and Ledbury (+53), arrived +66.

In consequence:
This train departed +56.


Later:

1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) : departed +19, arrived +28.
1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : departed +29, held Norton, currently +47 at Honeybourne.

Friday July 11

The late running continued into the evening, though little was reported on JourneyCheck.

1P24 09:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington (12:23) : delayed approaching Paddington, arrived +24
1P26 10:59 Great Malvern to London Paddington (13:25) : held Oxford (+14), arrived +27.
1P30 13:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (15:22) : departed +10, held Didcot (+24), arrived +25.
1P04 13:18 Hereford to London Paddington (16:24) : held Reading (+20), arrived +20.
1P05 15:18 Hereford to Paddington (18:29) : departed +56, arrived Oxford +76 and cancelled thereafter.
1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : departed +29, held Norton, saved 16-minute stand at Moreton, arrived +34.
1P39 17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (19:52) : held Norton (+26), saved 10 at Moreton, held on Didcot avoiding line (+25), arrived +29.
1P40 18:02 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (20:29) : held Norton (+22), Charlbury (+41), arrived +53.
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford : held Charlbury (+35), arrived +31.
1P42 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:26) : started from Shrub Hill, held Charlbury (+15), arrived +27.
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) : started from Shrub Hill (+21), saved 8 at Charlbury, arrived +12.
1P46 20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (23:29) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill.

1W01 09:52 London Paddington to Hereford (12:46) : delayed before Oxford (+18), arrived +23.
1W21 10:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (13:01) : delayed before Oxford (+16), arrived +17.
1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : held Oxford (+16), Great Malvern (+31), Ledbury (+53), arrived +66.
1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) : departed +19, arrived +28.
1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:04) : delayed before Oxford (+11), arrived +16.
1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:47) : held Evesham (+14), arrived Shrub Hill +13, Foregate Street +7.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : departed +11, held Evesham (+27), arrived +27.
2E14 17:04 Didcot Parkway to Evesham (18:23) : arrived +16.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : delayed before Didcot, held on avoiding line (+77), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +77 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : delayed before Reading (+25), +49 at Oxford, held Wolvercote (+56), arrived +70.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : delayed before Didcot, Oxford +31, held Wolvercote (+40), arrived Shrub Hill +58 and cancelled thereafter.
1W36 18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:18) : cancelled throughout.
1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (23:13) : departed +43, arrived +34.

Saturday July 12

...was a good day.

Sunday July 13

A curious pair:

I was on the 1958 Great Malvern to London Paddington train yesterday. I was on this service because the 19:57 was cancelled “This service was cancelled due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI)”. This was delayed outside Oxford because there was and I quote a “dangerous dog on the platform” at Oxford. We made up time and were only 3 minutes late when approaching Paddington. Then we were delayed outside Paddington because they switched the platform at the last minute from 9 to 12.

Monday July 14

1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : late arrival from depot, departed +34, arrived Shrub Hill +33 and cancelled thereafter.

Tuesday July 15

... was a very good day

Wednesday July 16


Later (17:40):

Train delayed between Pershore and Evesham. Now +36 at Ascott.


1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street : held Honeybourne (+11) and Evesham.

Wednesday July 17

The trespass incident at Evesham caused a lot of disruption:

1P05 15:18 Hereford to Paddington (18:29) : departed +16, delayed between Pershore and Evesham (+33), held Charlbury (+58), arrived +55.
1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : held Norton (+38), saved 16 at Moreton, arrived +25.
1P39 17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (19:52) : started from Shrub Hill (+27), held Norton (+33), saved 10 at Moreton, arrived +31.
1P40 18:02 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (20:29) : started from Shrub Hill (+13), held Norton (+27), arrived Reading +18 and cancelled thereafter.
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford : cancelled throughout.
1P42 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:26) : started from Shrub Hill, held Oxford (+24), arrived +29.

1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:04) : held Evesham (+40), arrived Shrub Hill +40 and cancelled thereafter.
1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:47) : held Evesham (+34), arrived Shrub Hill +35 and cancelled thereafter.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : held Honeybourne (+20) and Evesham (+34), arrived Shrub Hill +32 and cancelled thereafter.
2E14 17:04 Didcot Parkway to Evesham (18:23) : cancelled after Oxford.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : started from Reading.
1W36 18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:18) : departed +56, arrived Shrub Hill +63 and cancelled thereafter.
1W05 19:53 London Paddington to Hereford (22:57) : cancelled after Oxford.
1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (23:13) : started from Reading.

And of those, the truncation of 1W05 has a knock-on effect this morning:

Thursday July 17

Later (17:30):

Friday July 18

JourneyCheck is warning of three cancellations this evening:


Later (16:20):

1W25 12:52 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate St (15:00) : arrived Shrub Hill +14 and was cancelled thereafter.


This evening's service is looking thin, with Paddington departures at 17:34, 17:57, 18:57, 19:53, 20:52, 21:53, 22:51.

Later (18:30):

The 21:53 has been reinstated, "but not as we know it, Jim":


The evening's service is still looking thin.

Afterwards:
Stock of 19:53 Paddington - Hereford ran ECS from Reading.
Stock of 21:53 Paddington - Shrub Hill ran ECS from Reading.

Saturday July 19


Later (20:15):


And for tomorow, Sunday July 20:


Well, in my book, starting a Great Malvern - Paddington train at Reading is best described as ****** the ****.

A lot of ECS moves in that lot.

1P49 11:57 Great Malvern to London Paddington (14:21) : ran empty from Shrub Hill to Reading, then in service to Paddington.
1P55 13:12 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (15:24) : cancelled throughout.
1P63 14:28 Hereford to Paddington (17:22) : ran in service to Worcester Shrub Hill, ran empty to Reading.

1W15 07:36 London Paddington to Great Malvern (10:15) : ran in service to Oxford, then empty to Shrub Hill, then in service to Malvern.
1W35 08:48 London Paddington to Great Malvern (11:14) : ran in service to Worcester Shrub Hill (+33). Planned ECS move to Great Malvern, to form 1P49, cancelled.
1W01 09:50 London Paddington to Hereford (12:59) : ran empty from Paddington, started in service from Oxford
1W49 15:50 London Paddington`to Great Malvern (18:15) : started in service from Reading.
1W08 18:50 London Paddington to Hereford (21:54) : ran ECS throughout

Monday July 21

Things were going well until a points failure between Paddington and Reading.

1W01 09:52 London Paddington to Hereford (12:46) was delayed by this : Reading (+25), arrived Great Malvern +28 and cancelled thereafter.


And in the evning:

1W05 1953 London Paddington to Hereford : cancelled throughout (train crew), but the stock ran ECS so as to be in position for the 05:23 on Tuesday morning.

Tuesday July 22


Later (09:30) : this has disappeared from JourneyCheck (though it doesn't merit a "reinstated" listing).

Thursday July 24

1W01 09:52 London Paddington to Hereford (12:46) arrived Great Malvern +5 and was cancelled thereafter.

Departed Paddington +4, held Reading (+16).


The 13:50 is formed of the stock from 1P26 1059 Great Malvern to London Paddington (13:25), which arrived +34. 13:50 has now departed +23.

Later (16:00):

...and it's probably going to terminate at Shrub Hill:

Later (17:30):
1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) did indeed terminate at Worcester Shrub Hill +43.

And that has caused delays on the section between Evesham and Norton:
1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) Evesham-Norton 16:21-16:37
1P05 15:18 Hereford to London Paddington (18:29) : held Norton (+18) : N-E 16:39-16:54.
1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:04) : held Evesham (+17), E-N 16:55-17:09, arrived +16.
1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : started from Shrub Hill, N-E 17:11-17:25.

Later (21:45):

not reported on JourneyCheck
1W36 1857 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:18) : departed +14, arrived +17.

Friday July 25


Departed Oxford +18, held Wolvercote (+28), saved 12-minute stand at Evesham, arrived Shrub Hill +15, Foregate St +40 and cancelled thereafter.

Saturday July 26

...was a good day.

Sunday July 27


Later (17:00):
Departed Evesham +20.

Meanwhile 1W39 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:16) departed +17 and arrived +22 (so wasn't actually delayed by the 14:28).

Later (21:50):

Meanwhile, 1W08 1850 London Paddington to Hereford departed +23, was held at Wolvercote (+26) and at Evesham (+39), arrived +32.

Monday July 28

Not a good start to the week:

In consequence:

Meanwhile
1P02 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington (08:24) waited at Foregate St for 38, arrived Paddington +35.

GWR services are now calling at Worcester Foregate Street

Tuesday July 29

... was a good day

Wednesday 30tt.  Not so good

1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Foregate St (17:04) was cancelled after Moreton (16:24). The stock ran in service to Evesham (depart 17:30, arrive 17:47).
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) was diverted via Swindon and Stroud.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) was delayed Charlbury - Ascott and arrived +24.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) was delayed before Oxford (+17) and arrived +24.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) was delayed Charlbury - Ascott and arrived Shrub Hill +15, Foregate St +34.

1P39 17:26 Foregate St to London Paddington (19:52) was started from Evesham (+21) and arrived +26.
1P40 18:02 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (20:29) was cancelled throughout.
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) departed +24 and arrived +1.

Big gaps in the afternoon service between Oxzford and Worcester in both directions.

Faulty track at Honeybourne I understand from National Rail

Thursday July 31

Today is going well, except for
It's a 5-car.

Something happened in the late evening south of Oxford.

1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) : departed +19, delayed near Kennington (22:22), arrived +40.
1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (23:13) : delayed near Kennington at 22:18, Oxford (+41), arrived +52.

And it looks as if the same issue has been affecting services today, Friday August 1:


The disruption lasted rather longer than was hoped:

1W15 07:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (10:14) : delayed Didcot - Oxford (+37), held Evesham (+57), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +55 and cancelled thereafter.
1W17 08:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (11:14) : diverted via Swindon and Stroud.
1W01 09:52 London Paddington to Hereford (12:46) : delayed before Oxford (+16), arrived +14.
1W21 10:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (13:01) : delayed before Oxford (+20), arrived +26.
1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : departed +22, Oxford +37, held Evesham (+59), arrived Great Malvern +62 and cancelled thereafter.
1W25 12:52 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (15:00) : Oxford +7, held Evesham (+15), arrived +17.

1P20 08:18 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (10:25) : held Didcot (+9), arrived +22.
1P22 08:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington (11:27) : delayed Oxford - Didcot (+25), arrived +23.
1P30 13:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (15:22) : departed +18, arrived +24.
1P05 15:18 Hereford to London Paddington () : started from Great Malvern.

Saturday August 2

1W02 11:50 London Paddington to Hereford (14:26) : delayed before Didcot, Oxford +38, held Evesham (+55), arrived Great Malvern +64 and cancelled thereafter.
1W25 12:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate St : arrived Shrub Hill +28 and cancelled thereafter.


Stock ran empty Oxford - Shrub Hill.

This evening's changes are:

RTT: 1P41 20:20 Hereford to London Paddington (23:38) : cancelled due to a signalling problem (IG).

JourneyCheck has:
RTT: 1P39 20:03 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington : started from Foregate St (JourneyCheck still has Shrub Hill)

Reviewing RTT on Sunday morning, Ledbury had the signalling problems.
1W03 16:50 London Paddington to Hereford arrived Ledbury +11, but departed +139. It arrived Hereford +149 (at 22:12), so not surprising that the 20:20 return was cancelled.
All of West Midlands trains through Ledbury after 20:00 were cancelled.
WMT's 1M88 19:40 Hereford to Worcester Foregate Street departed Hereford at 22:22 (+162)
The stock of 1W03 ran empty back to Shrub Hill, departing Hereford at 22:45 and arriving Shrub Hill at 23:24.
Things seem to be back to normal this morning (Sunday).

A bunch of extra trains in the timetable for Wilderness Festival returnees tomorrow:

• 0943 Charlbury-Paddington
• 1037 Charlbury-Paddington
• 1138 Charlbury-Paddington
• 1237 Charlbury-Reading

The 0943 does it in 1hr09, even despite four minutes at Oxford and six at Reading. No Hanborough calls.

The up journeys appear to run from Oxford to Moreton, then reverse there, all ECS.

Sunday August 3

Monday August 4

2E77 05:10 Oxford to Worcester Shrub Hill (06:15) : "cancelled due to late arrival of an inbound service (YI)", according to RTT.


1W11 0553 London Paddington to Great Malvern : held Evesham (+20) and Shrub Hill, arrived Worcester Foregate Street +32 and was cancelled thereafter.

RTT reports no delay between Oxford and Hanborough.

Departed Paddington +33. Arrived Shrub Hill +25 and cancelled thereafter.

All but the 1237 starting from Oxford or cancelled throughout this morning. Useless.....

A safety inspection caused some disruption later on:

1W02 1152 London Paddington to Hereford : departed +33, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +25, cancelled thereafter.
1W25 1252 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street : arrived Shrub Hill +16, foregate St +24
1W27 1350 London Paddington to Great Malvern : held Evesham (+19), arrived Shrub Hill +25 and cancelled thereafter..
1W29 1453 London Paddington to Foregate St : held Evesham (+29), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +25 and cancelled thereafter
1W30 1523 London Paddington to Foregate St : held Evesham (+37), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +36 and cancelled thereafter.
1W31 1552 London Paddington to Great Malvern : held Evesham (+34), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +34 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 1734 London Paddington to Hereford : held Wolvercote (+20), Evesham (+29), arrived +25.
1W34 1757 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street : departed +14, arrived +15.

1P34 1518 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington : departed +14, eld Charlbury (+27), arrived +32.
1P05 1518 Hereford to London Paddington : started from Worcester Shrub Hill (+11), held Norton (+15)
1P38 1632 Great Malvern to London Paddington : started from Worcester Shrub Hill, held Norton (+25), arrived Evesham +42, saved 16 at Moreton, arrived +22.
1P39 1726 Foregate St  to London Paddington : started from Worcester Shrub Hill, held Norton (+35), saved 10 at Moreton, delayed Didcot (+41), arrived +39.
1P40 1802 Foregate St to London Paddington : started from Worcester Shrub Hill (+14), ran via Stroud.
1P42 1902 Great Malvern to London Paddington : started from Worcester Shrub Hill

Tuesday August 5

Looks to be on time according to RTT.

I know this is one for the Kemble and Swindon route across The Cotswolds, but, for the record:


Happy to have this post moved if it's really out of place here

I'm comfortable with it remaining here, in terms of continuity and wider context.

Wednesday August 13

1P11 05:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (07:24) departed +59 and may have skipped stops, arrived +47.


Seems to be running to time.

1W21 1053 Padd - Shrub Hill is reported on RTT to be cancelled due to a problem with the doors.  But the same site is showing it as running, but 33 minutes late at present (at Charlbury)

It ran as normal to Oxford, but then non-stop from there to Shrub Hill... or at least that's what was announced and shown on the boards at Oxford. Looking at RTT, it seems to have lost 7 or so minutes at Wolvercot waiting for the single line, but then clawed back 20 by not stopping until Shrub Hill.

(Yes, I was waiting for it at Oxford and trying to get back to Charlbury, mutter mutter.)

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P08644/2025-08-13/detailed#allox_id=0

Friday August 15

Points failure close to Hereford

Train held Shrub Hill (+33), arrived Great Malvern +37 and cancelled thereafter.

The problems with the track caused a huge amount of disruption:

1W01 09:52 London Paddington to Hereford (12:46) : cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill due to a points problem.
1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : held Moreton (+17), Shrub Hill (+33), arrived Great Malvern +37 and cancelled thereafter.
1W25 12:52 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street : held Evesham (+15), arrived +15.
1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) : held Evesham (+13), arrived +17.
1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Foregate Street (17:04) : departed Moreton +14, arrived Evesham +88, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +91 and cancelled thereafter.
1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Foregate Street (17:47) : cancelled after Oxford.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : departed Charlbury +19, passed Ascott +46, saved 13 stand at Evesham, arrived Worcester Foregate Street +54 and cancelled thereafter.
2E14 17:04 Didcot to Evesham : started from Oxford (+19), arrived +33.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : cancelled throughout.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : held Moreton +25, Evesham (+32), arrived +31.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : cancelled throughout.
1W36 18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:18) : cancelled throughout.
1W05 19:53 London Paddington to Hereford (22:57) : OK.

1P28 11:58 Great Malvern to London Paddington (14:23) : departed Evesham +5, passed Ascott +18, arrived +18.
1P04 13:18 Hereford to London Paddington (16:24) : started from Shrub Hill.
1P05 15:18 Hereford to Paddington (18:29) : started from Great Malvern, cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill.
1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : departed +16, ran via Stroud.
1P39 17:26 Foregate St to London Paddington (19:52) : started from Shrub Hill (+67), held Norton (+81), saved 10 at Moreton, arrived +46.
1P40 18:02 Foregate Street to London Paddington : started from Oxford.
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford : departed +29, arrived +31.
1P42 19:02 Great Malvern  to London Paddington (21:26) : started from Foregate Street
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) : cancelled throughout.
1P46 20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (23:29) : cancelled throughout.

Saturday August 16 was a good day.

Sunday August 17

Stock ran empty to Paddington and from there to North Pole.

Later (13:00):

Monday August 18

Line closed for track work between Moreton and Shrub Hill, reopening on Monday August 25.
Two morning up trains via Stroud, one from Hereford and one from Shrub Hill. Two evening down trains likewise, both to Hereford.

Tuesday August 29

Emergency services dealing with an incident at Didcot.
Held Charlbury (+29), arrived +40.



16:15 : Cancelled after Reading.



Later (17:48) : cancelled throughout.

The disruption continued into the evning, with

Wednesday's disruption continues into this morning's early journeys:

Later (10:30):

Thursday August 21

It's a bit weird that the absence of service (other than the rail replacement buses) between Worcester and Moreton in Marsh does not get a mention on GW Journeycheck

I just had a look, and there's nothing there.  I'd have expected that the closure and bus replacements would have been mentioned in the "Improvement Works" section

More (14:15):

Later (22:00):
Train has departed Oxford on time. Arrived Paddington -5.

Friday August 22

Cancellations to the Worcester - Malvern shuttles:

and


11:30 : Updated for cancellations.

Saturday August 23

A curious one this morning:
Later - curiouser and curiouser:
Though RTT is reporting this as being a 9-car train.

So only the 1st class coaches in use with all the Standard locked out, it seems. Can't think why they'd do that though. And why that prevents a call at Ledbury.... ???

Sunday August 24

Advance warnings of disruptions this evening:


10:50 : These have been updated:

This leaves a huge gap in the service - nothing westward from Oxford from 17:45 until the last train at 21:46 (and a similar gap at Moreton).

Yikes. With the Big Feastival finishing today in Kingham that could get messy.

.. and a late addition:

The gap in the service now has nothing westward from Oxford from 16:47 until the last train at 21:46 (and a similar gap at Moreton).

Bank Holiday Monday August 25

First day of service after seven days of closure.


Final scores:

1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:47) : held Evesham (+67), arrived +71.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern : delayed at Ladbroke Grove (+17), held Moreton (+68), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +118 and cancelled thereafter.
2E14 17:04 Didcot Parkway to Evesham (18:23) : delayed Ascott (+46), arrived Moreton-in-Marsh +45 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : held Honeybourne (+31) and Evesham (+52), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +54 and cancelled thereafter.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : held Moreton (+19), Evesham (+32), arrived +38.
1W36 18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern : departed +17, arrived Reading +20 and cancelled thereafter.
1W05 19:53 London Paddington to Hereford (22:57) : held Oxford (+45) and Wolvercote (+51), saved 14 at Great Malvern (+51), arrived +57.
1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (23:13) : delayed Oxford (+9), arrived +17.
1W43 21:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (00:01) : cancelled throughout.
1W45 23:32 London Paddington to Worcestershire Parkway (01:06) : started from Reading.

1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to Paddington (19:29) : arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +8 and cancelled thereafter.
1P39 17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (19:52) : held Shrub Hill (+61), Norton (+103), saved 10 at Moreton, arrived +90.
1P40 18:02 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (20:29) : departed +79, held Shrub Hill (+90), operated via Stroud, arrived +71.
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford (19:50) : started from Moreton-in-Marsh
1P42 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington : started from Worcester Shrub Hill (+50), held Norton (+66), arrived Reading +77 and cancelled thereafter.
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) : started from Oxford (+19), arrived +18.
1P06 22:00 Hereford to London Paddington (01:15) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill

Aug 26 05:00 : "latest scores" replaced by "final scores".

Wednesday August 27

Unreported on JourneyCheck, RTT is saying that
1P39 1726 Worcester Foregate Street to Worcester Shrub Hill
was cancelled after Shrub Hill "due to a problem with the track (IS)".

and 1W31 1552 London Paddington to Great Malvern was held at Moreton (+13).

Now being reported on JourneyCheck:

Latest scores:
Currently held at Honeybourne (+42).

Being sent via Stroud. Currently held at Abbotswood Junction.

18:51 Evesham to Oxford due 19:50 will be reinstated.
It will be started from Moreton-In-Marsh.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.
Last Updated:27/08/2025 17:33

16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 19:25 is being delayed at Oxford.
This is due to a safety inspection of the track.
Last Updated:27/08/2025 17:56[/quote]
RTT showing as terminating at Moreton. Departed Oxford +24.

1W03 1734 London Paddington to Hereford is operating via Oxford.

Final scores:

1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : held Honeybourne (+174), saved 16 at Moreton, arrived Oxford +156 and cancelled thereafter.
1P39 17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington (19:52) : cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill.
1P40 18:02 Foregate Street to London Paddington (20:29) : started from Shrub Hill, operated via Stroud, arrived +26.
2E16 19:10 Evesham to Oxford (19:50) : started from Moreton-in-Marsh.
1P42 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:26) : operated via Stroud, arrived +52.
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 22:24 : started from Oxford, delayed after Slough, arrived +39.
1P46 20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 23:29 : started from Oxford, delayed after Slough, arrived +41.
1P06 22:00 Hereford to London Paddington (01:15) : first train through affected section, held Reading, arrived +16.

1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (17:47) : delayed before Worcester, arrived Shrub Hill +24 and cancelled thereafter.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern : OK
2E14 17:04 Didcot to Evesham : started from Oxford (+13), arrived Moreton-in-Marsh +11 and cancelled thereafter.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : held Oxford (+24), arrived Moreton-in-Marsh +23 and cancelled thereafter.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford : arrived +22.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Foregate Street : cancelled after Oxford
1W36 18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 21:18 was terminated at Oxford.
1W05 19:53 London Paddington to Hereford (22:57) : OK
1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern due 23:13 : cancelled throughout.

[Aug 28 09:00 : tidied up with 'final scores'.]

Thursday August 28

Charlbury +11, Ascott +20, Moreton +29, arrived Great Malvern +39.

Arrived Shrub Hill +32.

1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate St (17:47) : Reading +10, Oxford +19, held Evesham (+43), arrived Shrub Hill +46 and cancelled thereafter.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : Charlbury +8, Ascott +17, held Evesham (+28), arrived +31.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : held Evesham (+21), arrived +21.



Departed +20.

1P42 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:26) : departed +20, held Henwick (+29), arrived +30.

Friday August 29


Both operated to and from Hereford - there must have been a 'reinstated' message that I missed.

Saturday August 30

Signalling problems at Didcot, and plastic sheeting in the overhead wires at Southall.

1W25 12:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate St (15:11) : delayed at Didcot (+18), arrived Shrub Hill +19 and cancelled thereafter.

Departed +24, held Woivercote (+34) and Evesham (+54), arrived Shrub Hill +57 and cancelled thereafter.

1P25 13:05 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (15:22) : held Charlbury (+11), arrived +40.

1P37 19:00 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:23) : started from Shrub Hill.

Sunday August 31

Departed +28, Reading +19, Oxford +20, held Shrub Hill, arrived +19.

Monday September 1


1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : cancelled after Oxford.

Tuesday September 2


And something went wrong with the morning 'halts' train:

2E80 07:00 Shrub Hill to Didcot Parkway was started from Oxford "due to a problem with the train (M8)" [RTT].

The stock ran in service from Oxford to Shrub Hill, but went back ECS.

Wednesday September 3

1W21 10:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (13:01) : arrived +28.

Departed +23, arrived +14. Set 802 021.

1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : held Evesham (+17, for 13:16 above), arrived Great Malvern +22 and cancelled therafter.


Set 802 021. Arrived Moreton +20.

Thursday September 4


1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : delayed at Parkway (+17), arrived +32.

Departed +23, Oxford +20

Friday September 5

It's still broken:


1W:34 1757 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street : delayed Paddington - Oxford (+13), held Wolvercote (+19) and Evesham (+35), arrived +39.

Saturday September 6

Arrived Foregate St +27 and cancelled thereafter.


1W25 12:53 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate St (15:11) : arrived Shrub Hill +10 and cancelled thereafter.

Sunday September 7

Today we have engineering work with no GWR trains west of Worcester Parkway until 16:45.



I looked at RTT to see why this had happened. The 13:47 is formed by the stock from 1A80 08:10 Penzance to Paddington, due there at 13:24. Problems with an engineering train in West Cornwall meant that 1A80 departed Penzance +81. +73 at Exeter, but it then lost more time, arrived Reading at 14:29 (+100) and was cancelled thereafter. The 13:47 departed Reading at 14:46 (+29).

This didn't happen last Sunday (Aug 31) - the 08:10 from Penzance turned round and went back as the 13:59 to Penzance.

13:47 arrived Parkway +39.

Return, 1P69 16:21 Worcestershire Parkway to London Paddington (18:38) : departed +22.

Monday September 8


The problem looks as if it's on 'our' line - 1V17 0556 Worcester Shrub Hill to Hereford was cancelled after Great Malvern. But 1V18 0628 Worcester Shrub Hill to Hereford is currently waiting for the single line at Ledbury.

An update:
Arrived Shrub Hill 07:50 (+102).

And:

I heard it was signal failure at Ledbury

Hereford is not having a good day:

Tuesday September 9


2E77 0510 Oxford to Shrub Hill : arrived Evesham +65 and cancelled thereafter.

1W11 0553 London Paddington to Great Malvern : cancelled after arriving Moreton-in-Marsh (07:27)
2E80 0700 Worcester Shrub Hill to Didcot Parkway : started from Moreton (07:40) using the stock from 1W11.

09:52 now reinstated.

At Evesham, nothing eastbound from 08:38 to 12:36, nothing westbound from start of service until 12:41 11:38.

09:33 : 09:52 to Hereford added.
10:22 : 10:59 from Great Malvern added.
11:06 : Broken-down train seems to have been moved back to Oxford. 09:52 to Hereford is now operating via Evesham, though there's no 'reinstated' note on JourneyCheck.

Departed +17, having arrived late from the depot. Arrived Great Malvern +29 (so just ahead of the WMR train) and cancelled thereafter.

Starting from Malvern Link must be a mistake - RTT reports that it started from Great Malvern.

1W25 1252 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate St : arrived Shrub Hill +17 and cancelled thereafter

Wednesday September 10

Departed Hereford +51. Held Norton (+72) and Oxford North Jn (+76), arrived +79.

Thursday September 11

Departed +29. Arrived +21.

1P02 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington (08:24) : delayed Hereford - Ledbury (+22).

edit to add:


(I've always thought it odd that this service misses out Hanborough given it's now one of the busiest intermediate stations on the line - presumably due to the Shipton stop and single line timings)

Tuesday September 16

1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) : delayed at Oxford (+23), arrived Shrub Hill +21 and Worcester Foregate Street +38, cancelled thereafter.



18:30 : 1W27/1P38 added
19:45 : Journeycheck text added for 16:32.

Yesterday (Thursday) was a colossal mess.

1857 from Paddington to Great Malvern cancelled.

1953 from Paddington to Hereford set off 29 minutes late but then lost another 20 at Twyford. By Reading it was 61 minutes late. Looks like it eventually staggered into Hereford 92 minutes late.

I was at Oxford trying to get home. Eventually figured the S3 bus would be a better bet and it was - got home an hour later than I’d planned but that after a delicious meal in Oxford at a Chinese place I’ve wanted to try for ages. Even if Sichuan chicken followed by a Stagecoach double decker slaloming around the West Oxfordshire backroads was a risky decision…

Friday September 19


13:30 : add

1W02 1152 London Paddington to Hereford : departed +13, Reading +30, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +36 and cancelled thereafter.

Saturday September 20

1W03 1650 London Paddington to Hereford : departed +23, arrived Great Malvern +25 and cancelled thereafter.

Sunday September 21


This implies that a Sunday morning journey that lasts 2:39 has four different TMs, changing at Reading, Oxford and Shrub Hill.

Later (15:00), there are problems with the electricity supply:

Delayed between Evesham (+3) and Moreton (+27). Oxford +36. Arrived +40.

Held Shrub Hill (+14), delayed Evesham (+21) - Honeybourne (+30). Oxford +42, arrived Reading +37 and cancelled thereafter.

Held Ledbury for 1W02 (+11) and Shrub Hill (+31). Charlbury +55. Arrived Reading +61 and cancelled thereafter.

Held Norton (+19), Charlbury (+44), delayed Oxford (+59), arrived +61.

No delay Shrub Hill - Charlbury. Held Charlbury (+28), arrived +35.


1W02 11:45 London Paddington to Hereford (15:04) : Delayed between Moreton (+11) and Honeybourne (+23), saved 13 at Great Malvern and 6 at Ledbury, arrived +10.

Delayed between Charlbury (+13) and Ascott (+25). Evesham +38. Saved 16 at Ledbury, arrived +34.

Held Wolvercote (+11), delayed Charlbury (+15) - Ascott (+28). Held Evesham (+61). Arrived Shrub Hill +63 and cancelled thereafter.

Held Wolvercote (+14), arrived Shrub Hill +43 and cancelled thereafter.

Departed +33, Oxford +47, arrived Shrub Hill +71 and cancelled thereafter.

Departed Reading +47, arrived Shruib Hill +62 and cancelled thereafter.

Held Oxford (+35) and Evesham (+55), arrived Shrub Hill +59 and cancelled thereafter.


17:15 - more updates added.
18:15 - more updates added. The delays still haven't made it to JourneyCheck's 'Line Updates' section, which might give us an idea of when things will be restored.
21:55 - more updates added. The dalays have made it to JourneyCheck's 'Line Updates' section. "Disruption is expected until the end of the day."
Though the cancellation of the 18:45 from Paddington to Hereford means that tomorrow morning's 1P02 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington probably won't run.

There was a powercut in Moreton overnight which I guess might have affected the signalbox in some way? But don't they have generators on stand-by?

There's a nice picture of this box at https://old.signalbox.org/gallery/w/moretoninmarsh.php (https://old.signalbox.org/gallery/w/moretoninmarsh.php), which tells me that the lever frame dates from 1911.

It's possible that the overnight power cut may have affected some of the new-fangled PBT electrical equipment. But the idea of this box having a standby generator may be very optimistic.

PBT? Post Brunel Technology. The railway always finds this tricky.

JourneyCheck's 'line updates':

I shall add it to our Coffee Shop forum's 'abbreviations and acronyms' page, at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/acronyms.html  ;)

Monday September 22

And after yesterday, "a fault with the signalling system" continues, though it's only flagged up on JourneyCheck's 'Line Updates' section at 08:19:


...which has now changed to a "safety inspection of the track":


But a bit later:
Departed Shrub Hill on time, held Norton (+57). Delayed between there and Evesham +83, arrived +92.

Held Foregate St (+23) and Shrub Hill (+39). Via Stroud. Arrived +32.

Arrived +12.


Edits:
08:30 : updates added.
09:15 : more updates added.
10:15 : more updates added.
12:15 : disruption expected until 14:00.

There certainly wasn't a standby generator there back when I last worked the 'box in 1974.  But things have changed a bit since then, not least the CCTV supervised level crossings at Blockley and Chipping Campden, and the re-doubling of the line to Evesham.

Mechanical boxes that had power-worked points and locks (the maximum distance for rodding-run signalman power was 350 yds) would have a "hurdy gurdy".  A generator worked by winding a handle on the side of a huge cast steel casing.  These took an age and much cranking to swing points over.  Horrible things

Nothing between Moreton in Marsh and Worcester because of a track inspection, 22/09/2025 ...

Now until 1600.....how long does it take?? Find a fuse?

First thing this morning we had 1P11 05:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington travel eastbound OK, and 2E77 0510 Oxford to Worcester Shrub Hill (the positioning journey for the halts train) travel westbound OK.

The halts train, 2E80 0700 Worcester Shrub Hill to Didcot Parkway, was cancelled "due to a problem with signalling equipment (J3)".

The unit has been trapped at Shrub Hill, but ran back to Oxford, departing at 11:06. It took an hour (11:17-12:18) between Norton and Evesham. But arrived at Oxford at 13:05.

JourneyCheck is now reporting disruption until the end of the day:

Positive news (though some of it is ambiguous):

Quite the shambles, isn't it?

I agree it was a shambles.

The 1523 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street sat at Oxford for 26 minutes and at the same time the 1518 Worcester Foregate Street to Paddington, which was due to start from Oxford at 1631 sat there for about 20 minutes which means platform 3 and 4 where both occupied at the same time causing massive delays to all other services.

I notice that it says the 1518 was cancelled due to a 'Safety Inspection on this train' that is interesting because the driver announced that it was cancelled due to no Train Manager. Looking at RealTimeTrains it seems to have had no problem then working empty to Paddington and onto Penzance. Given you can run an IET as DOO from Oxford to Paddington I don't understand why it was cancelled?

Final scores for Monday September 22:

1P11 05:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (07:24) : OK
1P02 05:23 Hereford to London Paddington (08:24) : cancelled throughout due to Sunday's electrical problem
1P16 06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (08:44) : departed on time, held Norton (+57), delayed between there and Evesham (+83), arrived +92.
2E80 07:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Didcot Parkway (08:46) : cancelled throughout.
1P18 07:13 Great Malvern to London Paddington (09:42) : held Foregate St (+23) and Shrub Hill (+39), operated via Stroud, arrived +32.
1P20 08:18 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington (10:25) : operated via Stroud, arrived +12.
1P22 08:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington (11:27) : started from Moreton.
1P24 09:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington (12:23) : started from Oxford.
1P26 10:59 Great Malvern to London Paddington (13:25) : started from Oxford.
1P28 11:58 Great Malvern to London Paddington (14:23) : cancelled throughout.
1P30 13:16 Shrub Hill to London Paddington (15:22) : cancelled throughout.
1P04 13:18 Hereford to London Paddington (16:24) : started from Oxford, arrived +20.
1P34 15:18 Foregate St to London Paddington (17:29) : cancelled throughout. Ran ECS from Oxford (+27), arrived +30.
1P05 15:18 Hereford to Paddington (18:29) : started from Oxford (+27), arrived +20.
1P38 16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:29) : started from Foregate St (+11), held Charlbury (+24), arrived +24.
1P39 17:26 Foregate St to London Paddington (19:52) : started from Oxford (+17), arrived +19.
1P40 18:02 Foregate Street to London Paddington (20:29) : started from Shrub Hill (+8), held Norton (+15), arrived +5.
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford (19:50) : cancelled throughout.
1P42 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:26) : OK
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) : started from Shrub Hill, held Norton (+6), saved 8 at Charlbury
1P46 20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (23:29) : cancelled throughout "due to a broken down train".
1P06 22:00 Hereford to London Paddington (01:17) : OK

First Worcester - Oxford after the disruption was 1P38, 16:46 from Foregate St (+11).

2E77 05:10 Oxford to Worcester Shrub Hill (06:15) : OK
1W11 05:53 London Paddington to Great Malvern (08:38) : cancelled after Moreton-in-Marsh
1W13 06:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (09:29) : cancelled after Oxford
1W15 07:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (10:14) : cancelled after Oxford
1W17 08:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (11:14) : cancelled after Moreton-in-Marsh
1W01 09:52 London Paddington to Hereford (12:46) : cancelled after Oxford
1W21 10:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (13:01) : cancelled after Moreton-in-Marsh
1W02 11:52 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : cancelled after Oxford
1W25 12:52 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (15:00) : cancelled after Oxford
1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) : cancelled after Oxford
1W29 14:53 London Paddington to Foregate Street (17:04) : cancelled throughout.
1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Foregate Street (17:47) : held Oxford (+26), arrived Shrub Hill +31 and cancelled thereafter.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : delayed before Oxford (+28), held Wolvercote (+32), saved 13 at Evesham, arrived +29.
2E14 17:04 Didcot to Evesham (18:23) : departed +30, arrived Oxford +34 and cancelled thereafter.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : departed +12, Oxford +21, Evesham +37, arrived Shrub Hill +39 and cancelled thereafter
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : held Wolvercote (+17) and Evesham (+40), arrived +47.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : cancelled throughout "due to a broken down train"
1W36 18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:18) : OK
1W05 19:53 London Paddington to Hereford (22:57) : OK
1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (23:13) : OK
1W43 21:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (00:01) : OK
1W45 22:51 London Paddington to Worcestershire Parkway (01:06) : OK

First Oxford - Worcester train (after the 05:16) was 1W30, scheduled 16:22, actual 16:48.

Tuesday September 24

And after yesterday, Tuesday was (thank goodness) uneventful.

Wednesday September 25


"Train crew being delayed" at 07:13? The first journey for this unit is from Stoke Gifford (depart 04:40) to Great Malvern to start in service.

Do any of these survive, either at a heritage railway or in a museum?

I'm not sure.  Where there was mains power, these hand cranked generators (a Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co product) were used as backups for mains failure.  They may still exist in some places on the big railway.  I wonder if there's one at Blue Anchor or Williton on the WSR?  Both have had mechanically worked points converted from rodding run to motor in more recent years.  Longer rodding runs are heavy to shift, and can cause maintenance and adjustment issues.  There's a definite knack to swinging the lever, and it's different for every point/lock

350 yards sounds like a monster - and yes, I can imagine that every installation would require a different knack to shift it successfully - and perhaps different depending on the time of day, sun, shade, weather.

Mark

Getting completely off topic now, but the worst ones to move weren't always the most remote from the lever frame

The trailing crossover between the mains at Witham (No 33 from memory) was only a few yards from the 'box but was a really heavy pull, and even heavier to put back normal

On a heritage line that I work, one distant set of mechanical points are more easily changed in wet weather, rather than dry, when the initial momentum imparted can carry them over their travel. Likewise one cross-over near to the 'box can be an absolute brute in certain weather/temperature.

Princes Risborough North has a Westinghouse point hand-wound generator but it isn't connected to any points. Two large incandescent bulbs provide the necessary resistance and a demonstration of the resultant power generated by human effort.

Thanks, both. A pdf on how this all works answered my next question - how does the signaller know that everything has has been successfully positioned. (Answer, position-detection, and interlocking of that with the signalling...)

Mark

https://www.thepwi.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Journal-2022_10-Vol140-Pt4_Back-to-basics-Points-Part-1-of-2.pdf (https://www.thepwi.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Journal-2022_10-Vol140-Pt4_Back-to-basics-Points-Part-1-of-2.pdf)

Thursday September 25

Departed Paddington +19, held Shrub Hill (+30) and Foregate St (+40), arrived Great Malvern +48.

It was also short-formed (5 carriages vs 9) so got very cosy at Oxford!

Friday September 26

1W21 1053 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (13:01) : departed +14, arrived +24.
1W02 1152 London Paddington to Hereford : held Evesham (+23) for 1P30, arrived Great Malvern +30 and cancelled thereafter.
1W25 1252 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate St (15:00) : arrived Shrub Hill +15  and cancelled thereafter.

1P30 1316 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington : departed +15,  arrived +32.

According to RTT, today's 1P02 0523 Hereford to Paddington:


Must have resulted in the next working being a bit crowded

Mrs F (who was planning to catch that, and ended up on the next service) confirms that it indeed did!

Swan Disruption


Need to be careful with them swans.  They'll break your arm, you know

RTT reports !W15 0750 Paddington - Great Malvern is cancelled today.  No reason given, but it's honest that most people who wanted to use the train will not be able to do that

Journey Check, however, pretends that the service is still running.  Just not running quite as scheduled


Operating a service over seven miles out of a planned 120 counts as close to a cancellation as makes no difference, in my book

Missing a single stop counts as a cancellation for the people intending to board or alight there, it has to be said.

Mark

I reckon this service is probably the most likely to be short run across the entire GW network

Cancelled beyond Great Malvern today.  Not by any means a rare event

"Short run" in both senses, because it was five carriages rather than nine. Looked like it was about to get very cosy at Oxford on its return journey.

(I caught the same train both from Oxford to Charlbury at 1.10pm-ish and then from Charlbury to Oxford at 5.12pm for, well, reasons.)

1W02 1152 Paddington to Hereford is heading to Hereford today, as I type this.  It's not been turned-back short

On time leaving Oxford.  Almost quarter of an hour late at Worcester Shrub Hill, and it's going to be best part of half an hour late by the time it gets to Hereford

Not unusual for it to be cancelled for some of the westernmost part of this journey.  When it's not cancelled or part-cancelled, the likelihood is that it's going to be late at Hereford

Arrived Hereford +25.

1W25 12:52 London Paddington to Foregate St (15:00) : held Reading (+28). Honeybourne +31. Arrived Evesham +56, Shrub Hill +58 and cancelled thereafter "due to an issue with the train crew (TG)" according to RTT.

RTT reports a stop at Reading.

Departed Shrub Hill +47.

Now the return working of 1W02, which is 1P05 1518 off Hereford to Padd, is 19 mins late over Norton Jcn, having left Hereford 12 mins late

Fault with the signalling system?

RTT suggests that the reason is "signalbox not open". Would that be Ledbury?

There's a noticeable lack of alternative options given on Journeycheck. I had a look to see what was happening to Hereford to Birmingham services.

Interestingly, the 21:00 Hereford-Birmingham has been removed from the WTT for 5th October and replaced by a Great-Malvern to Birmingham service. [Source: RTT]

National Rail Journey Planner lists the 21:00 Hereford-Birmingham as cancelled and fails to provide any alternative journey options when asked.

However, the TIGER display for Hereford, as a footnote to the 21:00 Cancelled line, shows a 21:10 bus to Great Malvern. No arrival time at GMV so can't tell if it connects with anything.

So, at a guess:
a) a signalbox - Malvern Wells?, without a signalman
b) Services from Hereford being removed from the TT for 5th October suggests the line was not meant to  be open, for some reason.
c) Not all changes required were correctly applied.

The electronic information provided falls short (as it often does).

Anybody able to offer an explanation for what happened that doesn't require guesswork?