As soon as the singling of lines between Oxford and Hereford was proposed in the early 1970s, the staff on the ground knew what chaos would ensue.  But the management just was not interested in listening to anything the LDCs had to say. The cutbacks went ahead.  Despite some more recent replacement of double line, the hassles and the delays continue.  If you added up the cost of all the delay and inconvenience over 50+ years, I'm quite sure it would far outweigh whatever has been "saved" bu having fewer miles of track to maintain

 

And having expired at Foregate St, it was then in the way of 1P24 09:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington, which had to drum its fingers at Henwick (+25), be held at Norton (+37) and skipped Didcot.

Everything on our line has consequences...

 

You're quite right. I tend to view the world in terms of departure times from Charlbury 

 

The above is formed from 1W15 0750 Paddington to Worcester, which was caped after Foregate Street, where it had arrived 17 minutes late.  It was more-or-less on-time until arriving at Shrub Hill

 
I think that this is the 18:45 from Paddington.

 
20.04 on Sunday from Paddington to Hereford started 22 late and ended 55 late. Fortunately the Royal Blenheim in Oxford is a very convivial waiting room.

A couple of sets running (if "running" is the word) around yesterday with engines out which didn't help.

 
But now

And
1W39 13:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:16) : departed +19, held Oxford (+32), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +43 and cancelled thereafter.

 
Sunday October 19

Stock running from Shrub Hill to Paddington ECS.

Added 13:45:

Added 13:45:

The 14:45 is an odd working - it doesn't turn round at Great Malvern. Instead, it runs ECS back to Stoke Gifford (17:30-19:54).

 
Saturday October 18


1P25 1431 Foregate St to London Paddington : started from Oxford.

 

Indeed so.

 



Sparing a thought, many thoughts indeed, for all involved in what appears to be another sad and bad situation

 

 
We've now got
with several Paddington departures flagged up on JourneyCheck as "may be starting late".

Meanwhile, in other changes

 
It's not a good day today... not that the week as a whole has been brilliant


The down service was well beyond Reading before this appeared on JourneyCheck!

 
1W15 07:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (10:14) : held Oxford (+25), Wolvercote (+39) and Shrub Hill (+55), arrived Foregate St +56 and cancelled thereafter.

 

Going off topic (sorry!) I felt the same about the cancellation of the direct train from Trowbridge to London this morning ... the two services before had left before the cancellation was announced and the next two services are on Monday 20th and Tuesday 21st October. I am writing on 17th, by the way.

 

Apparently terminating short was due to a driver being assaulted.

The subsequent train (2052 from Paddington) was five carriages vs the usual nine, and very cosy - standing room only at least as far as Charlbury.

 
Friday October 17


The 05:23 ran, but only from Oxford:
The kind offer about using the two services before/after this one isn't very useful if you're in Hereford, Ledbury or Colwall.

Meanwhile

But we are being told where one of those naughty 9-car sets has disappeared to:

Though that's not much help for

 
In the end, both the 21:53 and the 22:51 ran as 9-car sets:

1P42 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:26) : held Norton (+11) and Oxford (+28), arrived +26.
1P44 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington (22:24) : departed +16, saved 8 at Charlbury (, delayed after Slough, arrived +37.
1P46 20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (23:29) : arrived +15.
1P06 22:00 Hereford to London Paddington (01:17) : arrived +21.

1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : delayed throughout, arrived +16.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : delayed throughout, arrived +13.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : arrived +15.
1W05 19:53 London Paddington to Hereford (22:57) : cancelled after Oxford. 5 cars.
1W43 21:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (00:01) : 9 cars.
1W45 22:51 London Paddington to Worcestershire Parkway (01:06) : 9 cars.

 

More encouraging now: nothing about the 22:51 being terminated at Oxford on Journeycheck now and whilst Journeycheck is still showing the 21.53 as a short-form, RealtimeTrains and https://tiger.worldline.global/ are both showing this as a nine car train.

However, the 19:53 Paddington to Hereford service is now being terminated at Oxford due to a shortage of train crew so, presumably, that will take out tomorrow's 05:23 Hereford to Paddington service for the third day this week.

23:00 update - cancellation of tomorrow's 05:23 confirmed:

 
Thursday October 16

Stock allocation is an issue this week, with this evening's departures not looking good:


The 5-car sets on the 19:53 and 21:53 do not bode well for Friday.

Nor does

 
Delayed at Hayes & Harlington (+34), +54 by Reading, arrived Shrub Hill +59 and cancelled therafter.

Departed +24, further delayed before Reading (+44), arrived Shrub Hill +35, saved 14 at Great Malvern (+21), only to be held at Ledbury (+34), arrived +32.

1W41 20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (23:13) : departed +12, held Wolvercote (+28?) and at Norton (+47), arrived +57.

1W43 21:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill (00:01) : held Reading (+24), arrived +20. 5-car set.

22:10 : cancelled after Oxford "due to a problem with the traction equipment (MD)" according to RTT.

Thu Oct 16 08:00 : final scores added.

 

But the 05:23 from Hereford did operate (and was a nine-car).

 
As flagged yesterday, the 06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington service was a five car short-form, as was the first up service of the day, the 05:16 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington train.

 

That ECS was a pretty speedy run via Stroud, arriving at Shrub Hill just after 1800 just in time to start the London-bound journey. I was planning on getting the 1841 from Charlbury, saw that was cancelled, and decided to run for the 1807 rather than assuming the 1909 would turn up on time after its South Cotswolds perambulations.

The (North) Cotswold Line service does seem to fall apart in autumn, year in, year out.

 
...and the consequence is:

Tuesday October 14


And in bad news for tomorrow morning:

 

 

Today, the 15:23 is formed of the back half of a ten-car Carmarthen - Paddington journey, due in at 15:12 but today +20.
The 15:23 departed +30, after 1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26).
The 15:23 arrived Reading +33, was cancelled thereafter, and is now (17:00) running ECS to Shrub Hill (due 18:27).

 

Another day, another shambles 

 
And following the cancellation of the 14:53 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street:

 


If passengers on the Worcester road aren't knocked by staff shortage, it's a broken down train or a signalling failure.  One thing after another.  Day after day.

Not a service to be relied upon, and I feel sorry for those (my son-in-law included) who have to

 
Monday October 13

Later:

Left on time, but +15 by Shrub Hill, arrived +21.

13:30 : Conflicting information on train length from JourneyCheck and RTT.

JourneyCheck has

Meanwhile, RTT has all four journeys being operated by 18-car trains.

14:45:

 
Sunday October 12

...was going well until

1W08 18:45 London Paddington to Hereford (21:54) : departed +24, held Evesham (+51), delayed Pershore (+64), arrived +63.

But the consequences are ambiguous:

 
Saturday October 11

1W01 0950 London Paddington to Hereford (12:43) : held Oxford (+21) and Ledbury (+42), arrived +41.

Departed +22, arrived +12.

In the late afternoon, there was a trespass incident between Didcot and Oxford:

1P33 17:00 Great Malvern to London Paddington (19:24) : cancelled after Oxford
1P35 17:48 Great Malvern to London Paddington (20:23) : delayed after Oxford, arrived +35.

1W35 17:52 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate St (20:10) : held Didcot North Jn (+55), arrived Shrub Hill +64 and cancelled thereafter.
1W37 18:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:13) : operated via Stroud.
1W39 19:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (22:23) : started from Oxford (+19), arrived +21.

 

1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern : delayed before Oxford (+13), held Shrub Hill (+29), arrived +26.


1W45 22:51 London Paddington to Worcestershire Parkway (01:06) : cancelled, as described above
Stock ran ECS from Paddington to Shrub Hill.

Stock ran ECS from Shrub Hill to Paddington.


21:30 : updated
Saturday Oct 11 : note added about 1W45 ECS journey.

 

 
Something broke down in Worcester at a critical moment this morning, with serious knock-on effects over the single track from Shrub Hill through Foregate St to Henwick.

WMT's 11:40 Foregate Street to Stratford : started from Shrub Hill (P1 11:47) +18 "due to a problem with the traction equipment (MD)".

GWR's 10:53 Foregate St to Bristol Temple Meads : departed +20, departed Shrub Hill +51, arrived Bristol Parkway +54 and cancelled thereafter.

1P26 10:59 Great Malvern to London Paddington (13:25) : due Foregate St 11:11-11:12, held Henwick (+22), Foregate St (+39), arrived Reading +53 and cancelled thereafter.


1W17 08:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (11:14) : due Foregate St 11:02-11:03, cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill.
1W01 09:52 London Paddington to Hereford (12:46) : held Shrub Hill (+14), arrived +21.

 
Thursday October 9

A nice complementary pair this morning:

... which means the excuse about "trains needing repair" is rather silly.

 

And Tuesday's 1W05 19:53 London Paddington to Hereford was short-formed with a five-car set, leading to

05:50 : The 06:43 will be operated by the (nine-car) set from last night's 1W36 18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:18). This set normally runs back to Stoke Gifford, but couldn't get there on Tuesday night on account of the oiver-running Gloucester engineering work, so it spent the night at Shrub Hill.

 

https://wiki.openraildata.com/index.php/Darwin:Cancellation_reason_codes_and_text
https://wiki.openraildata.com/index.php/Delay_Attribution_Guide

MS officially reads
"Planned underpowered or shortformed service and or vehicle, incl. exam set swaps"
and I suspect that the descriptions are recoded out of rail jargon by real time trains

 
On Realtime Trains it says

 This service is cancelled.
This service was cancelled due to the planned train being replaced with a slower train (MS).

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P08654/2025-10-07/detailed

That’s not an excuse/reason I’ve seen used before.

 

so, presumably tomorrow's 06:43 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington service will also be a cancellation.

 
Yes, Mrs F (who was hoping to use at least one of those trains to get to work) was a bit less tactful at 6.45 this morning…

 
Tactful understatement.

 
0523 from Hereford, 0643 from Shrub Hill and 0700 from Shrub Hill all cancelled this morning. Not good.

 
Overcrowding, as its short-formed?

 

 

I notice that tonight's 2047 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill is an unadvertised 5 car short-form (800023). This seems to be the stock which forms Monday's 0643 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington service. This is normally pretty snug well before Oxford when it's a short-form. Given the cancellation of the previous service, things could be very cosy!

However JourneyCheck is now reporting:


so what impact that'll have on tomorrow's service remains to be seen.

 
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?

 

 

 
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

 
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.

 
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

 
"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.)

 


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

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

Mark

 
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

 
Swan Disruption


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

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

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


Must have resulted in the next working being a bit crowded

 
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.

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

 
Thursday September 25

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

 
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

 

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.

 

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

 
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

 

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

 

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

 
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.

 
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.

 
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?

 



Quite the shambles, isn't it?

 
Positive news (though some of it is ambiguous):

 
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:

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

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

 

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

 
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.

 

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

 
JourneyCheck's 'line updates':

 

There's a nice picture of this box at 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.

 
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?

 
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.

 
Saturday September 20

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

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

 

 
Friday September 19


13:30 : add

 
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…

 
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.

 

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)

 
Thursday September 11

Departed +29. Arrived +21.

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

 
Wednesday September 10

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

 
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

 
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.

 
Hereford is not having a good day:

 
I heard it was signal failure at Ledbury

 
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:

 
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.