Great Western Railway and TFL Rail Trains at Twyford on September 25th 2021

4th visit to Twyford on the Great Western Main Line and the terminus of the Henley Branch Line also known as the Regatta Line featuring services by Great Western Railway, TFL Rail and some Freight.

Twyford opened on July 1st 1839 as was a temporary terminus on the Great Western Main Line however only lasted for under 9 months until March 30th 1840 when it was extended to Reading

Present layout of Today's station dates from 1846 with Step free access with Lifts and the footbridge being heightened for the GWML Electrification dating from 2009 although it wasn't until January 2018 which electric services first began running here.

The Henley Branch or locally known as the Regatta Line first opened in 1857 between Twyford and Henley-on-Thames although it's 1st stop was originally Shiplake however nowadays the first stop on the branch is Wargrave which didn't open until 1900.

Services from Henley-on-Thames terminate on Platform 5 although trains access the branch for stock movement via Platform 4 with certain stock maintained at Reading Traincare Depot and also during the Royal Regatta services would use Platform 4 instead of 5.

Similar practice both to Marlow & Windsor Branches only 1 train would be allowed onto Branch at any time.

The frequency is 1 train every 30 minutes shuttling back and forth to and from Henley-on-Thames. which since 1992 services on the Thames Branches have been provided by Class 165s and 166s respectively.

There were plans originally to electrify the Thames Branches when the GWML electrification was given the go-ahead in July 2009 however in November 2016 due to the difficulties and rising costs the electrification of Henley and Windsor Branches was scaled back although no revised date has been announced since.

Platforms 3 and 4 served by all stopping TFL Rail services served by Class 345s which began running to Reading in December 2019 as 7 cars although today now operate as 9 car formations however due to the short platform and junction layout on Platform 3 only the doors on Coaches 1 - 8 would be allowed to open.

Class 387s operate normally half hourly semi fast services to and from Didcot Parkway however at the time of filming due to ongoing issues with the IETs due to fatigue cracks meant some more 387s from C2C and some ex Gatwick Express sets were hired in for Didcot Parkway as well as Newbury services.

Platforms 1 and 2 nowadays are passing platforms used by Class 800 and 802 IETs although the fast platforms can be used during engineering works if the slow lines are closed. On the day of filming due to ongoing repairs to the IETs meant only 65 of the 93 IETs were available however Bedwyn services weren't running at weekends as a result

Although the interim report into the IET fiasco of the cracking that was found in May 2021 was released a few weeks before filming on September 7th however the exact cause is not likely to be determined until the final report by the ORR (Office for Rail Regulation) is due to be released in December and at the same time according to GWR that Hitachi still haven't determined how long the repairs would take.

Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS

Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
   • JJD - Adventure | Glitch Hop | NCS - ...  

Filmed on Saturday September 25th 2021 on iPhone 12 Pro and edited on iMovie