Today’s blog is slightly different to my usual posts, and one I am very much looking forward to writing. For my regular everythingtrains.co.uk readers, worry not, I will be taking you on a very special train adventure a bit later on.
Let’s go back a few months to when my local train operating company, Great Western Railway (GWR), approached me to talk about the startings of a monumental railway project. If you’re familiar with the recent developments in England’s railway world, then the construction of High Speed 2 (HS2) will probably be familiar to you. To ensure we are all on the same page, I will briefly give a bit of background to the HS2 project and what it is aiming to achieve.
In 2010, HS2 was first conceptualised by the UK Government to provide, as the name suggests, a High Speed Rail link between key cities across England. This would be the UK’s second High Speed Rail network, with High Speed 1 in the South East of England being the first.
Since the time when HS2 was initially envisioned, there have been many alterations to the route that it would take. It was settled that HS2 trains would travel between London and Birmingham, in the West Midlands, on a purpose-built railway. As you can probably imagine, building a railway that is capable of conveying trains at speeds of up to 225mph is quite the engineering project, and as such, the route requires; 140 miles of dedicated high-speed track, four brand new stations, 65 miles of purpose-built rail tunnels, and over 50 major viaducts (statistics taken from the HS2 website).
To enable the HS2 infrastructure to be constructed some of the engineering works will impact other existing train services that are running across the country, and GWR is one of the train operating companies that will be affected.
It may sound a bit confusing as to why GWR train services are being impacted by these works given the HS2 route will be heading to the West Midlands, and not to the West of England (where GWR train services operate), so let me explain a little.
The route that was chosen for HS2 heads into the city of London via a location called Old Oak Common. For the railway enthusiasts amongst us, Old Oak Common will no doubt sound familiar to you as it was the location of a historic railway depot for over 100 years. The depot, in West London, was formally decommissioned in 2021 and was handed over to HS2 to construct the penultimate station on the HS2 network, before the route arrives at its end in Central London. The location of Old Oak Common is directly adjacent to the existing railway line GWR, and other train operating companies, use to reach London Paddington. And Paddington is where the majority of GWR’s long-distance train services originate and terminate.
Given the close proximity of GWR’s route to the site of the new HS2 station at Old Oak Common, there will be closures to railway lines in this area while the building works at the brand-new station are underway.
To keep customers moving throughout this work, GWR are taking steps to find alternative ways to run train services whilst still ensuring customers are able to travel by rail. There are also a number of plans that need to be put in place to help combat some of the logistical impacts of running a railway during these periods, which most rail travellers will never see.
The first alteration that customers will see when travelling during these works is that London Paddington station will be unavailable for GWR trains for blocks of time; this is because the mainline I mentioned earlier will be closed entirely and, therefore, preventing access to Paddington station.
When London Paddington is unavailable, some GWR train services will be terminated early at Reading. Customers can use the Elizabeth Line, and local Thames Valley GWR services, which connect with Underground services at Ealing Broadway to make their way into London. GWR is working closely with Transport for London to ensure customers will have a smooth journey into the capital.
However, and really innovatively, GWR are diverting their remaining services that aren’t terminating at Reading into another London terminus station, London Euston.
GWR, in partnership with Network Rail, have been planning for these works for many years, and before choosing Euston as the diversionary station, they also tested diverting empty trains into London Waterloo. Euston was decided as being the most suitable alternate station as it provides a quicker route into and out of the capital for GWR’s customers. These trains will run on the normal GWR route until they reach the outskirts of London and will then take a diverted route via a rail link that is not usually used for passenger services, before joining the West Coast Main Line to reach London Euston station. This route is direct and will provide a regular and efficient rail link into the capital.
GWR is already planning for further down the line, excuse the railway pun, when the route into London Paddington will be closed from a different point and will also prohibit trains from using the diversionary route into Euston; so, they are looking at other rail diversions to be able to ensure customers can still safely reach the capital.
As well as diverting passenger trains into London Euston, GWR has another change they need to plan for. One of GWR’s key mainline train depots, North Pole, is situated within the area where the works are taking place, and, hence, it will be virtually inaccessible when the area around Old Oak Common is closed to trains. In addition to the North Pole train depot being practically unreachable, there will be other trains that will need to be effectively rehomed as their usual stabling locations will be either; virtually inaccessible or being used to home other trains.
As a result of these alterations, GWR will need to find a home for some of their; long-distance Intercity Express Trains (Class 800s/802s), Electrostars (Class 387s), Thames Valley Turbos (Class 165s/166s) and renowned Night Riviera sleeper trains. If you were to put all the trains that need rehoming from ‘nose’ to ‘nose’, it would equate to 5km (over 3 miles)!
To store these trains when they aren’t in passenger service, they need to find alternative sites to form temporary train storage locations. These include some pretty inventive locations, like the heritage railway site, Didcot Railway Centre. Didcot Railway Centre will effectively become a mini GWR train depot! Which I think will be a first for the railway industry!
GWR very kindly invited me to attend a testing day at Didcot Railway Centre back in August 2024 when they were testing stabling and moving their Intercity Express Trains around the Centre. Of course, the GWR trains at Didcot Railway Centre won’t have passengers onboard, but this is a key part of managing the impact on customers during these works.
So here is a look back on the day at Didcot Railway Centre, in my usual blogging style.
Today, I was going to be witnessing a ‘railway first’ when Didcot Railway Centre was going to be homing a GWR Intercity Express Train. GWR reached out to me earlier in August to ask whether I would like to come along and be a part of the testing day at Didcot Railway Centre. I, of course, couldn’t turn an opportunity like that down.
For anyone who might not be aware of the location of Didcot Railway Centre, it is located in a South Oxfordshire town named Didcot and the only access to the Centre is via the mainline Didcot Parkway railway station; this is because the Railway Centre is situated in the middle of a railway line ‘triangle’ with the Centre being effectively ‘rail-locked’. The heritage rail site, Didcot Railway Centre, is open to the public and is a popular attraction amongst railway enthusiasts and families alike.
So, on one very typically grey and drizzly British summers morning, my dad drove my mum and me to Gloucester station for us to embark on our journey to Didcot Parkway. We were a tad tight on time, but thankfully, we had just enough time to make our way into the station and navigate the ticket barriers before boarding our train to Didcot; which by this time was preparing for its imminent departure. For the train enthusiasts amongst us, the train was number 802 020, and it was working 1L66 the 07:25 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington.
We boarded the train by the nearest set of doors and took a wander through the train’s five coaches to try and find a suitable seat for my mum and me. The train was rather busy, so luckily, I had thought ahead and booked a couple of seats, so after walking to our coach and seeing there were no other pairs of seats available, we sat down in coach C, seat numbers 73 and 74.
By the time we had located our seats, the train had already started moving away from Gloucester and was powering towards the next station call of Stonehouse. After I had taken a few minutes to compose myself, I reached into my fully packed bag and pulled out my headphones and laptop. I put some music on to take my mind off the busy train, and thought I would just catch up on an email or two!
Before long, we were pulling into Stonehouse, where a number of passengers both boarded and alighted the train, it was almost like the passengers were simply exchanging as the train stayed at the same level of busyness. This theme carried on for all the station calls on the Golden Valley route, Stroud, Kemble and Swindon.
Swindon was the penultimate stop on our journey before our destination of Didcot Parkway. The journey seemed to fly past, and after leaving Swindon, I started to gather my belongings together in preparation to alight the train.
The familiar sound of the GWR onboard announcements soon played out throughout the train informing passengers that we would shortly be arriving at Didcot Parkway. This prompted my mum and me to vacate our seats and make our way out to the train’s vestibule.
Just a few minutes passed before the train was gliding into Didcot Parkway and after we had come to a gentle halt, the doors were released. We stepped down off the train onto the platform and were greeted with the same weather that we left in Gloucester, light drizzle and grey skies.
I took a quick snap of our train at Didcot Parkway, and my mum also grabbed a photo of me stood next to the train that had safely brought us from Gloucester. After watching the train depart, we made our way down to the subway and navigated through to the very end of the underpass to reach the Didcot Railway Centre entrance.
Paul, from GWR, who very kindly invited my mum and me along to the Testing Day, met us at the gates between the station and the Railway Centre. I have visited Didcot Railway Centre on numerous occasions over the years, and it is a place I think very fondly about, so it was great to be back.
The Railway Centre had not opened to the public yet, so Paul accompanied us through the Centre. I remarked that some new steps and lighting had been installed near the entrance to the Railway Centre since my last visit. I was later informed that the installation of this infrastructure had been undertaken in preparation for GWR using the Railway Centre as a train storage facility.
As we were ascending the stairs, I caught my first glimpse of the Intercity Express Train, that was being used for the testing today. The train was crawling through the Railway Centre at no faster than a walking pace. Walking next to this majestic train was a truly unique experience. I, for one, certainly hadn’t appreciated the sheer scale of these trains! It’s only when you see a train like this in such an unusual location that you can really understand the pure might of them. The train that was being used for the testing was a 9 carriage Intercity Express Train (number 802 102), and given this train has a length of over 230 meters, all you could see was the snake of coaches around the Railway Centre.
Paul, my mum, and I walked the short way to the ‘Crew Room’ at Didcot Railway Centre to be provided with the appropriate high-visibility jackets. Hi-viz’s were a must today, as the Railway Centre was partly being used as a mainline train depot, so similar safety procedures have to be in place.
On the walk to the Crew Room, we bumped into a railway legend, Tim Dunn. Tim was also here along with my mum and me to witness this immensely special day in railway history. Tim introduced himself to us, and we started chatting for a little while.
The Intercity Express Train was still carefully and gradually navigating its way through the Railway Centre. The train was making a number of trips to and from the Railway Centre today and its next departure from the Centre was at 09:35, when it would be heading to Reading (which is about a 25 minute journey) before returning to Didcot Railway Centre at 10:29.
As we headed back to the entrance, the train had now started to make its way through the gates between the Railway Centre and the Great Western Mainline and was awaiting its departure time from the Railway Centre. Seeing the gates unlocked and open was a first for me as usually they remain firmly shut!
Given the significance of today in the railway world, it would have been amiss of me not to document the day with photos, so I grabbed my camera out of my bag. There was a buzz around the Railway Centre with railway staff all undertaking their roles to try and ensure today was a success.
Before too long, the train was given the authority to depart the site. Once again, for the train enthusiasts amongst us, the test train was working 5Q81 the 09:35 Didcot Great Western Society to Didcot Great Western Society via Reading.
After the train had safely departed the site, we walked back to the Crew Room and took a seat outside. I started tracking the progress of the test train, and by this time, it had arrived at Reading and was preparing to make its way back towards Didcot.
Paul, Tim, my mum, and I chatted for a short while and just took a little bit of time to relax before the train returned to the Railway Centre to continue with its testing duties.
I was still keeping an eye on the train’s progress, and it was now making its way back towards Didcot. We were informed that the train would be heading up the Demonstration Line, which is just less than a kilometre in length, and would then stop and reverse at one of the Centre’s stations, Didcot Oxford Road. The Demonstration Line is a short stretch of track that runs the length of Didcot Railway Centre and is usually used by heritage trains taking visitors on rides.
It was decided that we would take a walk up to the far end of the Railway Centre to Didcot Oxford Road station. It took a little while to navigate our way through the Railway Centre, but after a little bit of perseverance, we found our way to the Oxford Road station.
As the purpose of today was to test to see whether the Railway Centre could be a suitable location to store a number of Intercity Express Trains whilst the HS2 works are underway, there had to be some more out-of-the-ordinary processes in place. One of which I will explain now!
Given this was the first time an Intercity Express Train had ever been within the bounds of Didcot Railway Centre, the testing team needed to ensure that everything that was being undertaken was safe and would continue to be for potential future visits. One way of ensuring this, was that whenever the train moved within the Railway Centre it had to be ‘walked’. And when I say ‘walked’ that’s exactly what I mean. Therefore, a member of the railway staff was required to walk the track in front of the Intercity Express Train to ensure everything was proceeding as planned and to maintain the safety of everybody involved.
After a few minutes, a member of railway staff appeared around the curve of track before Didcot Oxford Road with a mighty Intercity Express Train following behind. This was the first time I had ever seen this type of railway procedure being enacted and it certainly was incredibly interesting to watch.
The train mindfully crawled into the platform at Didcot Oxford Road whilst it was being photographed and videoed from many different angles. It was a truly unique sight, and I think really illustrated the true dedication and collaboration that it took to ensure a mainline Intercity Express Train could successfully reach such an unfamiliar setting.
Gradually coming to a gentle pause, the door to the driver’s cab of the train was opened and some of the crew who were onboard the train made their way out onto the platform. There was a definite feeling of pride and success in the air.
To add to the unusuality of this, Didcot Oxford Road slowly became busier and busier as more of the crew and staff made their way off the train. You could have mistaken it for a small mainline station!
It was decided that before the train retraced its route to head to the other end of the Demonstration Line, we would take a group photo of all the people who were involved in today’s testing in front of the GWR Intercity Express Train.
Once the train was safely secured, everyone filed to the front of the train to be able to take the planned photo. It took a little while to gather everyone, but soon enough, the photo was captured!
After the photoshoot, it was suggested that Paul, Tim, my mum and I could take a little ride on the test train on its journey back up the Demonstration Line. We would travel to one of the Centre’s other heritage stations, Eynsham.
I duly boarded the train through the train driver’s cab door, which was another first! My mum swiftly followed me, and we made our way through the train’s catering galley before we arrived in the first of the first class coaches on this 9 carriage Intercity Express Train.
There were a number of staff from the train planning team who were based from the front first class coach, so we made our way through to the second first class coach and found ourselves a seat. I must admit we didn’t have much trouble securing a seat as we were the only people in this coach!
I put my bag down and took a seat. Once everybody was onboard and the train had been prepared and set up for its return journey, we started moving away from Oxford Road station. As I mentioned earlier, the train is only permitted to move at a walking speed, so we had a decent journey in front of us. In addition to the slower speed, another part of the testing was to ensure that the train wasn’t too lengthy for the locations they were looking at stabling trains, so we stopped and started numerous times.
I really enjoyed the journey on the test train, and it certainly was not something I expected to have the opportunity to do when I arrived this morning. One of Paul’s colleagues in the Train Planning Team came through the train offering any refreshments. We were very appreciative of this, and after the hot drinks were carefully delivered, Paul, my mum and I got chatting to them. We chatted for most of the 20ish minute journey to Eynsham station about all things railways. I really appreciated their time imparting some of their brilliant knowledge. There was certainly a great ambience onboard!
Multiple times throughout the journey, I took the opportunity to capture some more photos out of the train’s window. Even though we had an average speed of about 1mph, the 20 minutes seemed to fly past.
The train’s final pause signified our arrival at Eynsham station, and we started to make our way through the remaining 7 coaches to reach the leading driver’s cab to be able to alight the train. The majority of the train wasn’t adjacent to a platform, so exiting via the driver’s cab was a requirement.
After walking the length of the train, we arrived at the cab. I was offered to have a photo in the driver’s seat, which I certainly couldn’t turn down! A few photos were taken before we exited the train.
On alighting, I took some more photos of the train before meeting the Head of HS2, at GWR, who we chatted with for a few minutes. Paul suggested that we head back to the Crew Room to have a little rest while the train continued with its testing duties.
We walked back to the Crew Room and grabbed a drink and biscuit. Tim was still at the Railway Centre, so after spending a little time resting, we spotted him outside, so my mum and I thought we could go and have a quick chat with him.
Tim was videoing Didcot Railway Centre’s iconic heritage GWR Railcar passing over a level crossing on the ‘Branch Line’ within the Centre. My mum introduced us properly and we just generally talked for a while, putting the world to rights! Tim was brilliant and it was really interesting speaking with him! I had seen him presenting railway history programmes on TV many times, and it was great to meet the person behind some amazing television.
Whilst we were chatting, we heard the unmistakable sound of a steam locomotive, and to our surprise, it wasn’t coming from within the Railway Centre. It sounded like it was on the mainline! I had a little look online, and sure enough, it was steam locomotive ‘70000 Britannia’ working a rail charter train from London Paddington to Bath Spa via the Chilterns (under the headcode 1Z46). Unfortunately, we couldn’t see the train very well, but I took in the wonderful smell of steam and the relaxing, complex, yet predictable, sound of the steam locomotive doing what it does best.
Tim and I decided that we would try and take yet more photos of the Intercity Express Train before it left the Railway Centre. We started making our way back towards the entrance of the site. The Intercity Express Train was still moving up and down the Demonstration Line while duly carrying out all the required testing duties.
The test train was certainly capturing the interest of the Didcot Railway Centre visitors now that the Centre had opened to the public. I think there was a mix of confusion and excitement to see such a modern and technically advanced train in the company of some of the oldest trains in the country!
Once I was content with the photos I had taken, my mum and I walked back towards the Crew Room and decided we would purchase some lunch from the Centre’s café. We both opted for a sandwich and when we returned to the Crew Room, the testing team were just starting to wrap the day up and were planning their journeys home. That prompted my mum and I to have a think about our train home too. I had a look on the GWR website and spotted there was a train due at 14:10 from Didcot Parkway back towards Gloucester. By this time, it was about 13:30, so that felt like the most suitable timed train to get us home.
The test Intercity Express Train was due to leave Didcot Railway Centre for one final time at 14:04, so it left a window for a few last bits of filming that needed to be completed. The chosen location for this filming was the Railway Centre’s Engine Shed, so a few of us took a short walk through the Railway Centre. The filming was swiftly completed, and the testing crew headed back towards the Intercity Express Train to finish the day.
The entrance to the Railway Centre was appropriately protected, and then the test train started to make its way out of the Centre. The gates to the mainline were opened, and the Intercity Express Train bid farewell to the Centre. Paul, Tim and I watched the test train begin to leave before coming to a stop whilst it awaited its authority to access the Great Western Mainline to return to the depot (working 5Q82 14:04 Didcot Great Western Society to North Pole IEP Depot via Reading Traincare Depot).
My mum and I had to head off before the test train departed to ensure we had enough time to make our way back to Didcot Parkway, Platform 1, to catch our train back towards Gloucester. So, we said our goodbyes and headed out of the Railway Centre.
The walk back to Didcot Parkway was the reverse of what we had completed earlier today, and within a matter of minutes we had arrived at Platform 1, and we awaited the soon arrival of our train.
Whilst waiting on Platform 1, I spotted the test Intercity Express Train departing the Railway Centre in the distance, which was a nice ending to the day.
Our train soon arrived, and we boarded for our journey home. We hadn’t booked any seats, so I suggested we head to coach D, which is an unreserved coach. Sure enough, there was a table seat available, so we took a seat and prepared for our return journey. This train was number 800 021, working 1G17 the 13:32 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa.
The trip back towards Gloucester went very smoothly and after about 50 minutes of travel time, we were back at Stonehouse (which is the station preceding Gloucester) where my dad was awaiting our arrival to drive us home.
Thank you so much to the wonderful team at GWR for inviting my mum and me to this very special testing day, it was a brilliant experience. Everyone we met was so friendly and welcoming, and I learnt so much about HS2 today. The day was a collaboration between GWR, who operate the trains, the freight operating company GB Railfreight, who drove the test train and Network Rail.
The test day was a success, and just a matter of months later Didcot Railway Centre was used to home several Intercity Express Trains during the first of the HS2 work closures over the Christmas 2024 period.
To read more about the Old Oak Common station construction and to keep up to date with future HS2 engineering works which affect GWR services, please visit: www.gwr.com/ooc
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