Today I was going on a very special journey to London Paddington. I hadn’t been to London since 2020 so I was especially nervous about getting back out into the bigger world. Over the past couple of months, I have still been struggling with my mental health and this was going to be a significant step. Back in October, I met up with an employee from Great Western Railway, Paul, who very kindly invited me and my mum to come up to London for a service of remembrance on Armistice Day at Paddington station.
This service is part of the Routes to Remembrance scheme, more specifically the branch off aptly named ‘Poppies to Paddington’. It is where people place poppy wreaths onboard GWR trains, from all around the network, and they are brought to Paddington where they are laid to rest next to the striking war memorial. Great Western Railway has facilitated this event for the past few years and always thought it was a very touching initiative, so I was honoured to be invited to this special event.
I wasn’t sure if I felt up to going at the time, as it felt like a mammoth step going to London, but we decided we would book some tickets and wait and see how I was feeling nearer the time. During the Coronavirus pandemic, the government set up the ‘Book with Confidence’ scheme which lets you refund, or amend, advance tickets up to 6pm the day before you travel and luckily it was still in operation; expecting to finish a couple of weeks later. This made it greatly more accessible as it meant if I was having a really bad week, we could just refund the advance tickets. I don’t usually like booking in advance and would always opt for flexible tickets where possible, however the cost for a peak-time train to Paddington was extortionate.
Over the weeks leading up to the service, I was flipping between really looking forward to going and not wanting to go at all. London has always been this scary place in my head, totally irrational I know, but if I can avoid travelling into or around London I do. I was hoping that this trip might be a gentle step back into the wider world. The plan was to go from Stonehouse to Paddington, then go to the service and finally get the train back to Swindon and not leave the station. That felt more manageable. We decided that my dad would pick us up from Swindon instead of travelling the extra half an hour back to Stonehouse; that would also eliminate the connection time at Swindon saving even more time.
The day arrived and we woke up very early, for me, at 6:45am to catch the 08:25 Great Western Railway service to Paddington. A few days prior I decided what I wanted to wear to the service. I had never attended a remembrance service before so I had no idea what the right thing to wear would be. I searched through my, very limited, wardrobe and found some jet-black jeans, a light sky-blue shirt and a dark blueish jumper. I hoped that would be suitable to wear to the service. When I put it all on the morning of the trip, I thought something was missing so I rapidly rummaged through my dad’s tie collection to see if I could find an appropriate coloured tie and I ended up finding a dark blue tie which complemented the shirt nicely I thought.
My dad drove us to the station and we arrived about 10 minutes before our train was due to arrive. Just about the right amount of time as it was a pretty chilly morning. A couple of weeks prior I had designed a social media graphic to visually honour the day and sent it to Paul to get his feedback. At the same time, I was sent the list of trains that would be carrying the poppy wreaths into Paddington station. I soon discovered that our train, that we were already booked on, was incidentally carrying the wreaths from Worcester, Cheltenham, Gloucester and the many other stations on the trains meander into Paddington; so, there was a chance there was a wreath being picked up from Stonehouse. Unfortunately, this didn’t seem to be the case today. Our train soon came into view and waited for it to come to a stop. The service was 1L66 the 08:25 Stonehouse to London Paddington, this service originated from Worcester Shrub Hill, formed of 800 014. As the train’s cab passed us on the platform we caught a quick glimpse of the poppy wreaths that had already been positioned in the overhead luggage area in the first class coach, ‘E’, at the very front of the train.
Soon enough the train doors hissed and beeped and slid open. This was my first train journey in about a month and was going to be the longest journey this year. It was so lovely to be back on the familiar Intercity Express Train. We had some seats booked in coach C, but the coach looked rather busy. We boarded coach D instead, which is completely unreserved, with the plan of going back to our pre-reserved seats if we couldn’t find a seat there. I always like sitting in coach D as it generally is quieter than the rest of the train.
Before sitting down in a seat, we decided to go and take a look at the poppies in coach E. We walked through the first part of first class carriages and then we were met by one of the first class hosts, who was so lovely and friendly. They said it was absolutely fine to go and take a photo of the half a dozen poppy wreaths. In the coach, there were a few veterans along with other people who were attending the Poppies to Paddington event. The first class host very generously and kindly offered to get my mum and me a drink. I opted for a bottle of water and my mum had a cup of tea. That was such a touching gesture as they didn’t need to have done that, but I really appreciate them doing that for us; it made a very positive start to the day.
We walked back to coach D and the coach was pretty much full of young people travelling to school in Stroud (which makes sense as there are a couple of grammar schools in Stroud). I knew that after the train called at Stroud the coach would empty out and subsequently make a table seat available, which was ideal. We temporarily sat in a pair of airline-style seats and as expected after arriving at Stroud the coach emptied and we sat in a table seat.
I was a bit hesitant about sitting around a table as I had no idea how much busier the train might get, but the space always makes the journey more enjoyable. The coach was so quiet that we thought there was enough space elsewhere in the coach that we could have the privilege of sitting around a table.
The evening before, I received a message from a close railway friend and one of the organisers of the Poppies to Paddington event, Tony, who was asking which train I was catching. I told him, and coincidentally a member of railway staff was travelling on our service, to the remembrance service, that Tony was good friends with, and he told me to keep an eye out for her.
Soon after leaving Stroud someone walked over to our table and introduced herself. This happened to be the previously mentioned member of railway staff that Tony had told me to keep an eye out for. Her name was Juliet, and my mum and I got chatting with her for about five minutes before she very kindly handed me an activity booklet about the Great Western Railway network. I had never come across this booklet before, which was a sort of eye spy game but for the railways, so I was very appreciative of it.
I settled down into my seat and listened to my music of choice, Taylor Swift, through my headphones. I find familiar music really helps me to relax and just enjoy the train journey for what it is.
At Kemble, the platform was pretty busy but our coach still stayed fairly quiet. On departure from the station there felt like there was some significant wheel slip which causes the train to take power at a slower speed. Wheel slip occurs during the autumn, in the leaf fall season, and is when there is low adhesion between the train’s wheels and the rail. It is a serious issue on the railways and there are systems used to reduce the risk to passengers.
About 20 minutes after leaving Kemble, we arrived at Swindon where this bi-mode Intercity Express Train changes power from diesel to electric. As the pantograph is raised everything goes eerily quiet and soon after you can hear the faint white noise of the electricity which will soon be powering us all the way to Paddington. The train didn’t get much busier at Swindon and we proceeded on with our journey to London for the remembrance service.
We then carried on to Didcot Parkway, reaching our top speed of the journey, and the train, 125 miles per hour. After pausing at Didcot, and picking up a considerable number of passengers, we were soon approaching Reading. This was the furthest east I had been in a good couple of years. I very much enjoy the approach to Reading as you get to catch sight of Reading Train Care Depot, where they store a variety of trains, including, GWR and Heathrow Express Electrostars, Turbos and the Night Rivera sleeper stock. After passing the depot we then stopped at Reading, and not long after we were on the last leg of this morning’s journey into Paddington.
I purposefully sat on the right-hand side of the train to get a view of Hitachi’s North Pole depot where all of the heavy maintenance is performed on GWR’s Intercity Express Trains. Other parts of the depot are used to store trains that don’t need to be in service. It is always exciting to see what is at the depot as you have a good chance of seeing some of Great Western Railway’s ‘celebrity’ trains in their fleet. The first train I saw at the depot was GWR’s ‘Trainbow’ pride train (recently named after Alan Turing); this train has a very special place in my heart after my Grandad’s passing. Maybe it was my Grandad’s way to show me that he was watching down.
After the North Pole train depot, we were on final approach to Paddington station. As we gracefully glided into platform 1 at Paddington station, I caught a glimpse of the war memorial on the platform which was starting to be covered in wreaths. I thought it would be best to wait for the majority of the people on our train to disembark before getting off. Passengers started rushing to get all their belongings together as if there was some kind of race to get off the train first. Soon the train was pretty much deserted with just a few people left in our carriage. At that point, I thought it was safe to get off.
As we stepped down onto the platform, I could feel the air change to what I am used to the congested and muggy London air. The unique sound of the many station announcements echoing around the station roof was present which to me always tells me I have arrived at Paddington. The passengers in the rear coaches were still filing their way down the platform to the main concourse of Paddington station. On arrival to the station on the train, I saw Tony, who I mentioned earlier, standing next to the war memorial. I decided to walk the few hundred metres up the platform to go and say hello. He was chatting with someone else I knew a Customer Host for GWR so I went and greeted both of them.
Tony quickly informed me that a special liveried train, the Christmassy Lily’s Kitchen (who produce pet food) design. It had been unveiled about a week earlier, so hadn’t had a chance to see it. I swiftly went down to the end of the platform, but unfortunately, it had already departed. On the plus side, it gave me an opportunity to photograph our train which was still standing at the platform.
After a few minutes of returning Paul, who invited me to the service, came over and warmly welcomed me to the event. He also introduced me to another member of the GWR team who was organising the collection of the poppy wreaths off the various trains. Paul wondered if I would like to collect a wreath off one of the trains, which was so kind of him. I of course said yes, not entirely sure at that point what it would involve. He informed me that one of his colleagues would let me know when I was needed.
We went back and had a chat and catch up with Tony after not seeing him in a while. My mum spotted someone in a Railway Mission lanyard, who we didn’t realise at the time would be leading the service. We introduced ourselves and asked if he worked at the Railway Mission and indeed he was a chaplain for them. His name was John and I told him about my fundraising efforts and he thanked me for all the work I am doing for the charity.
Not long later, I was called to collect the wreath. We were instructed to walk over to platform 9 to meet the Swansea train which had many wreaths onboard. The last few trains had the most wreaths on so they needed as many people as possible to collect the poppies. We stood on platform 9 after following a line of people across the jam-packed, by my standards, Paddington concourse. I wasn’t a huge fan of all the people but luckily the platform we needed was very quiet with just the staff and people collecting the wreaths on the platform.
On the adjacent platform, there was a special livered GWR train which I took a quick photo of while waiting for the Swansea train to pull in. Between platforms 8 and 9 is a striking statue of Sir Isambard Kingdom Brunel which really makes you think about what he must think of the railways today. It’s as if he is sitting watching over the station he designed all those years ago making sure everything is in check.
As we were waiting on the platform, my mum spotted a name she recognised on someone’s name badge. It was Cat, who very kindly arranged the transport for me to get to Stoke Gifford depot back in July 2020 after winning a competition to help design a train to thank the keyworkers for their efforts during the pandemic. We had a bit of correspondence back and forth then but hadn’t heard from her since. So, my mum introduced ourselves, and we had a quick chat before I collected the poppy wreath off the train.
The train containing the poppy wreaths soon started to drift almost silently into the platform, this train was 1L11 the 07:43 Swansea to London Paddington. I was getting anxious about collecting the wreath, as I still didn’t really know what I needed to do with the wreath after I had collected it.
There was a queue forming next to the train with people waiting to collect a wreath, so we joined. A couple of minutes passed while other people and veterans were collecting the poppy wreaths. I was now at the front of the queue. I was handed two wreaths to take back to the memorial on platform 1. My mum took a few photos of me, while I was weaving through the vast concourse and got my obligatory photo with Paddington Bear.
i had the war memorial in my sight, the platform had filled out since we were last there. My heart started racing as I could see what I needed to do next. One by one people were going up to the memorial and placing the wreaths neatly down on the station platform. I would need to go up and then carefully place the wreath down in its allocated position. There was an orderly queue forming, where people with the wreaths were respectfully waiting to lay their poppies. I joined the back and soon I was at the front waiting to lay the wreaths on the platform. I went and laid the wreath to rest and then walked back past, what looked like, hundreds of wreaths that had come from all around the country and from all different organisations, people and charities. It was really touching to see how many people had paid their respects to all the people who have fought for us by sending a wreath to Paddington, even if they personally couldn’t attend. It’s vital to remember how important this day is to people and what it means for us today.
Subsequently, after laying the wreath, we found a space to stand to watch the remembrance service. The platform was now extremely busy with people attending the service; some of the people are ‘regular’ passengers, others are veterans, some were families of those who fought in conflict and are no longer with us, others are railway staff and police officers and others are there just to pay their respects.
Before long, the start of the service was signified by the echoing voices of the choir. John Roe, from the Railway Mission, started the service by welcoming all of the guests to Paddington station and saying some well-thought-out words.
Then the Wessex Choir began singing ‘Blades of Grass’. You could feel the emotion in their voices which were complemented perfectly by the outstanding acoustics under the Brunel station roof. John continued his address to the guests and encouraged everybody to join in with the hymn ‘O God, our help in ages past’. It was so special hearing the hundreds of voices all uniting together to sing.
Mark Hopwood (Great Western Railway’s Managing Director) then read a few words before he started the two minutes silence. Just before the moment of reflection, ‘The Last Post’ was played. This always makes me feel emotional but even more so as we were congregated with hundreds of people and the sound of the melody was echoing around every part of the station.
After the two minutes’ silence, wreaths were laid from all different companies and individuals – many of which were related to the railway industry. Sarah Jones read a reading from the bible before prayers were read by a vicar from the St James Church in Paddington. At the end of the readings, the guests joined in with ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ and sang once again a hymn, ‘Guide me, O Thou Great Redeemer’.
John then closed the service and thanked everyone for attending, he told us that it was the highest volume of people he had seen attending the Poppies to Paddington event – so that felt really special to be part of it.
At the end of the service, we hovered at the back of the congregation to allow the guests to dissipate back around the immense station. We spotted Cat again, who we quickly spoke to earlier, so my mum went over to her and we got chatting again for a while.
Cat mentioned that she went up to the windows above platform 1 to take some photos during the service, and wondered if I fancied going and taking a look. Of course, I said yes! She checked with the station manager who said it was fine, so we went up a flight of stairs, through a couple of corridors and soon enough we were next to the balcony. We were advised not to go out onto the balcony so we stayed by the open windows and I took a few photos. It felt as if you were in an aeroplane and looking down from above. All the passengers and staff looked tiny in comparison to the trains. We could see all the way across to the far end of the station and every platform in between. It was such a special and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I was so grateful for. On the way back down to the platform Cat showed us a stained-glass window which is from the original station design. It was an impressive design which showed the old Great Western Railway iconography and some impressive designs. After seeing that, we headed back down onto platform 1.
At this point we had about an hour and a half until our train back to Swindon at 13:02. We had booked a first class ticket as we had found a cheap advance ticket, so this meant we could use the first class lounge. GWR’s London Paddington first class lounge allows you to enter up to two hours before the scheduled departure time of your train, therefore we could now make use of the lounge.
We could see through the windows on platform 1 that the lounge looked pretty much full, but we thought we would just have a quick look and see if there was anywhere we could sit. On entering the lounge it looked full, but luckily a family was just leaving so we took their seats. I got myself a can of Diet Coke and my mum had a coffee.
We didn’t have any lunch with us, and I didn’t really fancy traipsing around a busy London station looking for something to eat. So instead, we found a Pain au Chocolat in the lounge which was exceptionally tasty. They were produced by the legendary Pullin’s Bakery. I found Pullin’s from Great Western Railway catering offer as they are one of their suppliers, and have been hooked since; even going as far as to buy from Pullin’s directly when I couldn’t travel on the trains! The pastry definitely filled a gap in my stomach and we just sat in the lounge for a while.
One of the reasons the lounge was so busy was that GWR had reserved part of the lounge for the attendees of the Poppies to Paddington event; therefore, the older part of the lounge (Queen Victoria’s Waiting Room) was closed off to the public. I had a glance into the reserved part of the lounge and could see Tony chatting with a few people. I thought I would just pop in very quickly to say goodbye to him as I didn’t know what time Tony’s train was. I said my goodbyes, and then headed back to the newer part and sat with my mum for a bit.
After a while, they opened the closed part of the lounge and we moved there instead. It was so much quieter with much less of the hustle and bustle of a London train station, which helped with my anxiety massively. We only had about half an hour until our train departed so it was nice to relax and decompress a little bit. I was keeping an eye out on RealTimeTrains on our train and it suggested it was already at the platform, but wanted to make sure before we left the lounge. I couldn’t see any departure boards in the older part of the lounge, so I pulled up a virtual departure board on my phone and could see the platform had been announced. It was platform 1. This was perfect as it was right outside the lounge.
On the way out I spotted a lovely bit of artwork on the wall, it was a kind of art deco-style poster which depicted London Paddington station and looked slightly kin to my art deco posters. It was commissioned by First Great Western (GWR’s predecessor) in 2012 and I related to the art style.
Our ride back West was as expected waiting patiently for us on platform 1 and was formed of a 9-car Intercity Express Train (800 316). The train was now working 1C15 the 13:02 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads. We would be taking it as far as Swindon. I walked down to the end of the platform, nearest the concourse to take a photo of the train. Quickly I noticed that this is one of GWR’s celebrity trains which was designed after the Lionesses football team in the 2022 Euro’s. This was my first time seeing this train so I was excited to get a photo of it.
After getting a snap we hopped on board for our journey back to Swindon. As we were travelling in first class, we boarded coach L at the very rear of the train. This coach only has 15 seats, so it was quite busy. We decided to head down one coach to K and found seats 32 and 35 were available. These seats are positioned around a table in a 1-by-1 configuration. Coach K is a full first class coach on 9 car Intercity Express Trains, so there was plenty of space in the coach which makes for a nicer experience.
We had about ten minutes until the train was due to depart, so my mum suggested I got one last photo of the poppy wreaths on the platform. I was going to just try and stay onboard the train but it was really busy, therefore I thought I could quickly hop off and get a photo. I was nervous that the train was going to leave without me, but in my rational brain, I knew it wouldn’t leave until the scheduled departure time. When I got off the train, I happened to be right next to them, so I grabbed a couple of photos. Since I last saw the wreaths, they had been neatly put up on boards so the public can look at them safely. I spotted Paul, from GWR, was taking some photos too. So I said goodbye to him and then jumped back aboard.
As I got back onboard the train had a few minutes before departure so I once again settled back into my seat. Before long the train was gently taking power and we were away! I was very tired by this point, but I had a good day. We sat on the opposite side of the train on the way back, so got a good view of the Old Oak Elizabeth Line depot, with many class 345’s lined up. Just before arriving at Reading, the first class host came around offering drinks and snacks. My mum and I both had apple juice and a piece of Pullin’s fruit cake and flapjack. As always, very tasty.
Our train was now pulling into Reading. I caught a glimpse of the ‘Nation Says Thank You’ Keyworker train, which I part designed, pulling in next to us. Tony had messaged me to say he had seen it at Paddington and told me to keep an eye out for it. It was so nice to see it again, even if it was only briefly.
It was a pretty uneventful trip back to Swindon and after about half an hour we were back safely at Swindon station. My dad then picked us up and took us home.
Thank you to Paul for inviting me to the very touching and extremely well-put-together event and for arranging for me to collect a poppy wreath – I will remember that for years to come. Also thank you to Cat for being so helpful and making the day extra special. To everyone, I met on the trip thank you all for being so friendly and lovely!
If you would like to read more about me then here is a link to my fundraising page: GoFundMe
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