Great Western Railway, TFL Rail and HX Trains at London Paddington on May 18th 2019

#lastofthehsts #greatwesternrailway #londonpaddington #london #gwr #tflrail #gwml

2nd time I filmed at London Paddington the terminus of the Great Western Main Line however this time not just because this is my 200th video I’ve filmed but importantly the main reason was because it was the final day of HST operations on Great Western Railway from London Paddington which after nearly 43 years of service on GWML having first entered service on Great Western in October 1976.

"Worth noting two minor mistakes”
At 7:01 the train to Heathrow Terminal 5 was not 332003 in fact later was determined to be 332013

At 42:50 332011 is wrong in fact the number of the train was determined later on to be 332006"

So apologies for the mistake there.

London Paddington the terminus of the Great Western Main Line was first opened on June 4th 1838 located to the West side of Bishops Road however todays mainline station built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel dates from re-siting on May 29th 1854.

Today served by Great Western Railway, TFL Rail, Heathrow Express and London Underground's Circle, Hammersmith & City, Bakerloo and District Lines with the Circle Line serving services to and From Edgware Road via Victoria and since December 2009 services were extended to Hammersmith.

Class 332s served by Heathrow Express terminate on Platforms 6 and 7 which began in 1997 after Electrification between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington to Heathrow Airport which served a temporary station called Heathrow Airport Junction until June 3rd 1998 when the service opened to Heathrow Central however since March 2008 HX services were extended to Terminal 5 however Class 387s will take over in May 2020 although unlike the normal 387s on GWR 12 units will be modified with the works being carried out at Ilford E.M.U.D.

TFL Rail took over Heathrow Connect services on May 18th 2018 served by Class 360s and new Class 345s however due to signalling issues with Crossrail at the time of filming only the 360s are allowed to continue to Heathrow Terminal 4 although when Crossrail is opened 345s will serve Terminal 4 and 5.

Great Western Railway rebranded in September 2016 from First Great Western provide stopping services used by Class 387s to Reading and Didcot Parkway and recently Newbury alongside the Intercity services now taken over by Class 800 and 802 IETs.

The station itself was restored in stages with Span 4 in 2010 and the rest being completed by 2016 with the works carried out by Network Rail.

Electrification of the GWML will run as far as Newbury and Cardiff Central which at the time of filming was still ongoing with the main electrification completed as far as Bristol Parkway.

As for the HSTs the era may be over for the Long Distance services however 11 sets will be retained and will be known as Castle HSTs to be used between Cardiff Central and Penzance and also for loco 43002 'Sir Kenneth Grange' named after the designer of the HST upon retirement will be moved to it's final home at the National Railway Museum in York.

Although one era of the HSTs at Paddington is at a end and another takes over however one thing is likely certain the Legacy of the HSTs on Great Western as a icon along with the likes of the Flying Scotsman and the A4 Mallard which changed the face of British Railways will likely never be surpassed.

Featuring
London Trains Fan 2019
Alex Trains
Boo Dino Trains
Beers and Diesels

Filmed on Saturday May 18th 2019 on iPhone 8 and edited on iMovie

Видео Great Western Railway, TFL Rail and HX Trains at London Paddington on May 18th 2019 канала RoscoTrain107