Great Western Railway’s New Train
Great Western Railway have a new train.
Certainly, as they always do, this InterCity 125 has scrubbed up well!
West Ealing Station – 4th May 2016
I took these pictures today, as I went past the bay platform at West Ealing station.
The details of what will happen here have not emerged yet.
I think it is pretty certain that the following will or could happen.
- Responsibility for the Greenford Branch will pass to TfL and/or London Overground
- The Greenford Branch will be served by a shuttle from the bay platform at West Ealing station.
- The Greenford Branch will lose its direct service to Paddington.
- The frequency on the branch will increase from two to four trains per house.
- It is unlikely, that the branch will be electrified.
- Although electrifying the bay platform would seem to be easy, if you look at the pictures.
The line will need to be run by either diesel multiple units or some form of IPEMU, that could be charged in the bay platform at West Ealing station.
As the journey between Greenford and West Ealing takes ten minutes, so two trains would be needed for a four trains per hour service.
Network Rail’s Mobile Maintenance Train
I wrote about this train in How To Work Outdoors.
It was parked outside the Plasser depot in West Ealing.
Eurostar Is Testing To Amsterdam
This article in Global Rail News is entitled Velaro Under Test In The Netherlands. This is the first two paragraphs.
NS and Siemens have completed the first tests of Eurostar’s new e320 train on the Dutch rail network.
Eurostar plans to launch direct services between Amsterdam Central and London St Pancras in 2017 and has now begun testing its new fleet on the Dutch HSL-Zuid.
It would appear that St. Pancras to Amsterdam will take about four hours.
I suspect they still got a few details to sort out.
- Immigration control, as the UK is not in Schengen.
- The Dutch signalling system.
- The unusual Dutch train voltage of 1,500 VDC, as opposed to the British, French and HSL-Zuid of 25 KVAC.
- To complicate matters the Germans use 15 KVAC and drive on the right.
It’s a pity for many, that HSL-Zuid was built deliberately to avoid calling at Den Haag.
Demolition Has Started For The New Platforms At Oxford Station
Demolition has finally started of the old parcels office at Oxford station to create the two platforms for the Chiltern service to the station.
I can’t see this being a large project, as hopefully, it will just be creating the platforms and making sure there are shelters and the other platform details.
Wikipedia says this about the two new platforms.
The scheme also includes two new platforms at Oxford station, to be built on the site of the disused parcels depot. The new platforms will initially be five carriages in length, but provision will be made for them to be extended southwards to eight carriages.
Will they be in Chiltern’s or Great Western Railway’s house style?
As Chiltern Railways coaches are in sets of six, will these platforms be built initially to handle eight coaches? It would seem to be prudent!
Also according to this section in Wikipedia, services will start in December 2016.
Slow Progress On Electrification To Oxford
A few piles have started to appear on the line between Didcot and Oxford.
But a guy on the station, said Oxford won’t be electrified soon.
Main Line Electrification Between Reading And Didcot
I took these pictures of the electrification on the main lines between Reading and Didcot.
All the masts seem to be erected, but there is stil quite a lot of wires to add.
The Victorian Methods Worked
In Victorian Construction Methods, I noted how the Crossrail contractors, were throwing men and traditional methods into getting Hayes and Harlington station ready for the start of a Hayes Shuttle on the 16th of May.
These pictures, which I took today, would appear that they have made substantial progress.
Intriguingly, when I looked at the time-table a few days ago, I think it changed on the 16th of May. Now only one service has been moved backward by two minutes.
It would appear that perhaps Great Western Railway haven’t finalised the time-table yet. Perhaps they haven’t obtained the required trains yet!
Two Beautiful Seats At West Acton Station
This seat forms the waiting area at West Acton station on the Central Line.
With the rounded window, it must be one of the most beautiful platform shelters on any rail station.
Note the picture of the second one on the other track.
Wikipedia says this about the design of the station.
The current station, replacing the original building, was designed by the Great Western Railway, on behalf of London Transport as part of the LPTB’s 1935-40 New Works Programme improvements and extensions to the Central line, by the GWR’s architect Brian Lewis and was completed by November 1940.
So it was actually designed by the Great Western Railway.
The Acton Dive-Under From The Noel Road Bridge
In From Ladbroke Grove To Ealing Broadway, I showed various pictures of the Acton Dive-Under from a train.
In the post, I used this Google Map of the Acton Dive-Under which was probably captured a few months ago.
The Acton Dive-Under
I took these pictures of the Dive-Under from the Noel Road bridge.
I got to the bridge by getting a 440 bus from North Action station. Afterwards, I walked to West Action station to get a tube to Ealing Broadway station.
The Anonymous Widower 