Welcome
http://www.modern-railways.com April 2019 Modern Railways 3
I
f you plan to travel way out west,
you’ve got to pick the mode that
is the best: namely, of course,
the Great Western Railway. Leaving
London on our great main lines
is always fascinating, as there are
items of railway interest at every tip
and turn. The Great Western is no
exception, and leaving Paddington
I always look for a forward facing
window seat on the north side for
most interest. You have to keep a
weather eye out for Hitachi’s North
Pole depot and the Southall steam
centre, but most interest is to be
found on the right hand side.
Thus it was as I left Paddington
on an ‘802’ in mid-February, with
Crossrail works evident under the
Westway outside the station throat.
At Mitre Bridge there’s an Intercity
Express Train passing overhead,
presumably en-route to North Pole,
then the railway lands at Old Oak
hove into view. It’s all change here:
where ‘Westerns’ and ‘Warships’
once trod, the massed ranks of
‘345s’ in the sidings at the new
Elizabeth Line depot are now to be
found. The wrecker’s ball is making
inroads on the former HST shed, as
construction teams prepare to build
the sub-surface station here for
HS2. A melancholy sight, marking
the end of nigh on two centuries
of Great Western presence here.The Heathrow Express depot is still
extant, but that too is set to go by
the end of the year as ‘387s’ and
‘345s’ replace the ‘332s’ and ‘360s’
currently working to the airport.
The aggregates trains line up at
Acton yard, with the new underpass
to prevent their interference with
Elizabeth Line services when the
latter are eventually introduced.
Here runs the red electric train:
diminutive 1992 stock en-route
to the Central Line terminus
at Ealing. Then it’s West Ealing
and its platform adapted for the
Greenford shuttle, evicted from
Paddington when the electrics
took over suburban services.
On the right are the Plasser works,
with p-way machinery in the
yard – and more evidence of the
modernisation of this stretch of
railway, with Class 387s stabled in
the sidings beside the main line.
‘Southall Waterfront’ proclaim the
hoardings, as the transformation
being wrought on this stretch of the
capital by the impending arrival of
the Elizabeth Line becomes evident.
But Betjemanesque left-over
London hangs on for the observant,
as the weather eye catches a
glimpse of umber and cream on
the left. And here is His Master’s
Voice at Hayes & Harlington, while
hot on the heels is ‘Horlicks’.Yes, it’s Slough, and for sure
there is no grass to graze a cow:
the developers have done their
deeds, with spanking new office
blocks and flats ready to cash in on
Elizabeth’s 10-minute frequency.
The Manor, the wooden former
railway building beside the
station that is home to the Slough
and Windsor Railway Society,
presents an incongruous air
amidst all this sleek modernity.
Off goes the Windsor Central
branch, beside the west station
car park. Little chance now of
the restoration of the royal curve
(Windsor to Maidenhead direction),
with the Government turning
its face against the Windsor Link
proposals for reaching Heathrow
from the west (p64, October 2018
issue). Network Rail’s proposed
western rail link from Langley
seems a more likely option.
Next there’s a reminder of railway
royalty, as we vault the Thames at
Maidenhead on the improbable
arches of Brunel’s bridge. Off goes
the Bourne End branch, while
west of the station the new sidings
stand ready for an influx of
Class 345s, when this becomes the
terminus for some of the services
originating from Abbey Wood.
The last of the Thames Valley
branches leads off to the north atTwyford, heading for Henley, and
in no time at all we are at Reading.
No clunk of the pan coming down,
as both on this trip and my return
it was the MTU diesels powering us
in and out of Paddington – it seems
I drew a short straw, as at the end
of February there were just two
‘800s’ and three ‘802s’ not using their
electrics. But there’s the thrill of the
remodelled west end of Reading to
compensate, with the new viaduct
untangling the cat’s cradle of lines
and making conflicts less likely.
Class 387s stable in the depot as
we tack south for the Berks & Hants.
We’ve got wires to Newbury for
interest, plus stone and oil on the
freight front. But as Fiennes discerned,
once you’re west of Newbury (where
we don’t blow whistles), it’s a bit of
a desert in railway terms: there is
little traffic for which to call, which
is ideal for non-stop trains to Exeter,
like the one I’m on. No worry: there’s
the canalside scenes and luscious
countryside as a diversion. Anyway,
I’m high on the call of the West:
the prospect of the bracing air of
the South West
coastal path is
guaranteed to
raise the spirits. aJames Abbott
EditorAncient and modern: a Class 345 en-route to Reading
on a test run on 11 February 2019 crosses the Thames
at Maidenhead on Brunel’s bridge. Ken BruntThe way out West
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