I was down there before Christmas. They've done a great job there.  Looking forward to seeing the line running north and south of the station in due course.

Another example where having more diversionary routes would help when it comes to managing events like this.  E.g. via High Wycombe to Bourne End?

Any idea what the journey times from Swindon to Pad will be once the line is fully electrified?

Is it just me, or does it seems that there are more 2 car units on the line?  It's bad enough at am/pm rush hours with mixed cyclist/commuter/longhaul travellers jostling for space on the 3 car units, but 2 car units......who came up with that idea?

Re Slough Fire, it was a little emotional heading back on the 23:18 from Pad to Reading...... stopped for an hour outside Pad, then a little longer at Hayes and Harlington, before pulling into Reading around 03:20hrs.

Whilst we were having a slow, information free adventure up the main line (thanks to a knackered Tannoy system on the little donkey train), those remaining at Pad had to wait until the station staff agreed to organise taxis at around 03:00 hrs in the morning.

Not one of the network's finer moments for incident management........!

The campaign to #savethebuffet needs your help! 

Various links here to help you find what you might need:

https://twitter.com/hashtag/savethebuffet?src=hash

The online petition is here:

https://www.change.org/p/first-great-western-save-the-buffet-cars?recruiter=351002432

And a Facebook site too:

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/savethebuffet

Re delays, they're still working themselves out! 1945 Pad to Plymouth was just a tad late, arriving at Reading 2055 ish. Pity the poor folks having to get out at Newbury for onwards road transport to intermediate stations......

It seems we're still stuck in the dark ages of "maximum capacity utilisation", which implies that a line has to be at full usage before an alternative or diversionary option can be considered financially viable.  It's a bit like flying an aircraft with only one one board computer. In one sense highly cost effective as you are getting the most of of a couple of Intel Processors without having to buy and install the other 9, but in all others senses completely utterly insane either to the operators or passengers.

So is there any advance info on what the timetables from RDG^▸ (Rail Delivery Group, or Reading station, depending on context) to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) will be like for next week then?

That's quite some diversion.  I was going to have a whinge about the 1300 London Paddington - Bristol Temple Meads on Friday.  We had to divert to Reading West, then driver changed ends, and we carried onto Bristol in reverse formation due to a signalling issue on the line presumably near where the new overpass is being built.  Only 45 mins late getting to Bristol.....

Haven't seen the plans yet, or anything nearing a "General Arrangement" concept drawing, but you'd sincerely hope that some kind of joined up transport plan would have some influence on the Temple Meads/quarter/arena redevelopment......

You can't teach that!

Many congrats ReWind, and welcome to the forum (I'm only a few weeks newer than you on here).  They're a nice bunch, you'll feel right at home, just as long as you don't go too heavy on the brakes!!

It would be good to see Airtrack resurrected again, but any new proposal will have to deal with the level crossing issue that got so many local residents riled up. A timely dovetail with the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) crossing closure program might kill two birds with the same stone?

Having waited for a train there the other day, I can safely say that the word "canopy" does not = "shelter". Nice improvement overall, pity about some of the finer detail (or lack of).