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

5th visit to Maidenhead on the Great Western Main Line and terminus for the Marlow Branch Line to Marlow featuring services from Great Western Railway, TFL Rail and a bit of Freight as well.

The Present layout of today's Maidenhead station dates from November 1st 1871

There are 5 platforms with Platforms 1 and 2 on the fast lines used by passing services

Platforms 3 and 4 used by stopping services to and from Didcot Parkway semi fast stoppers operated by Class 387s which began operating on the line in January 2018.

Since December 2019 TFL Rail been operating the all stopping services to and from Reading are now provided by Class 345s which first entered service on the Great Eastern Main Line in 2017 however wasn't until the following year in May 2018 when they first began on the GWML to Hayes & Harlington.

Class 165 Turbos provide the hourly services on the Marlow Branch Line which terminate Platform 5 which can be used as a through platform in the early morning or evening and Laos which is also used for trains accessing the carriage sidings located west of the station.

Sometimes 3 car sets can operate on the branch however only as far as Bourne End

Due to the short there means only 2 car Sets can operate to Marlow

The Marlow line dubbed locally as 'The Marlow Donkey was first opened in 1854 by the Wycombe Railway Company to High Wycombe although before todays station of Maidenhead had a first stop called Maidenhead Boyn Hill which closed in 1871 when the present Maidenhead station opened.

The link from Bourne End to Marlow didn't open until 2 years later.

The Line was cut back to Bourne End by British Rail on May 4th 1970 which left Bourne End as a reversing point for Marlow Trains and High Wycombe left to be served exclusively by Chiltern Railways services from London Marylebone although there are proposed plans to bring the original line back into use.

West of Maidenhead is the Maidenhead Carriage sidings which can stable Class 345s and 387s however nowadays the latter is maintained at Reading Traincare Depot which the 345s are maintain at Old Oak Depot

The Class 800 and 802 IETS nowadays run the intercity services however at the time of filming some were out of action due to cracks and investigation by the ORR Office for Rail Regulation at present according to GWR that 65 of the 93 sets were running.

Bedwyn trains were cut back to Newbury at weekends however Class 387s only use the fast lines to and from Newbury however in recent months been cleared to operate to Bristol Parkway and even Cardiff Central in place of the IETs whilst repairs are ongoing.

Class 387/2s normally used by Gatwick Express were hired for both GWR and Great Northern due to GX not running. On the GWR side of things they along with some Class 387/3s from C2C have been hired in on a temporary basis however the 387/3s are only cleared to run between Reading and Newbury due to lacking ETCS equipment for the GWML.

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