Paddington - open or closed?

[fluffymark]

I'm going to Thatcham on Sunday. This is going to be a bit more of an adventure than I first thought, due to the marvelously planned engineering works they've put on the line between Reading & London, and it's also the weekend of the Reading festival. Huzzah for good timing. Grrrrrrrrr.

Some websites tell me that Paddington is shut, and there are no trains. nationalrail.co.uk is still showing timetabled trains out of Paddington on Sunday, although with a bus service at Slough. So which is correct? Is Paddington station open or closed? Aaaaaargh!

And yay for more good things. I had a shock when I found my name as co-author of a paper I located on a preprint archive which I've never seen before. Didn't know that paper existed, let alone has my name on it. I better go and see what I (supposedly) wrote, because it's bound to be useful.

And Invader Zim! Invader Zim! :) :) :) Lots of gir goodness on its way. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! :)

Comments

[arkady.livejournal.com]

Paddington mainline is closed, the underground station isn't. There's a planned engineering blockade on the mainline railway.

I'll have a look at the blockade briefing paper at work tomorrow; I'll be going to Walthamstow straight after the morning shift, so I'll post what I find in a comment from there.

[fluffymark]

Thankyou, that would be fab. I'd trust official briefings much more than some of these websites I've been trawling. All I want to know is if Paddinton mainline is totally closed, or if theres a reduced service just between Paddington and Slough.

And see you at B-Movie tomorrow! :)

[damerell.livejournal.com]

The actual facts about the trains (http://www.serco-online.com/html/engineering/engineering_ext.htm#23-29aug) say the railway is completely closed between Maidenhead and Slough, with a bus replacement for Thames Trains services and no FGW services at all; also I think Virgin services will not be calling at Reading.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

The official LUL advice is now up as a post on undergroundgoth (she says, donning her official LUL Line Information Assistant's hat).

[fluffymark]

Thankyou. :)

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Aha.

The reference to "the actual facts" above wasn't a poke at your comment, BTW, just me bemoaning the fact that the Serco page is incredibly useful and therefore carefully hidden from the public...

[mirabehn.livejournal.com]

If I were you I'd still go SWT from Waterloo to Reading and then Thames from Reading to Newbury or Thatcham.

I think you are guaranteed to get to us that way, even if it takes longer...

*hugggggggggggggggggggggggggggggs*

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I fully expect SWT to be screwed up too, given that they always are even without exceptional load.

[mirabehn.livejournal.com]

eep! I didn't know that. :(

I suppose this is what happens - I always expect WAGN and Thames trains to be especially bad as I've only ever lived Herts, Cambs and West Berks. But I suppose they're all the worst...

I have this horrible feeling that I will be lucky to get even half the people who are intending to come to the party tomorrow. Growl...

[fluffymark]

*hugs*
I'm going to make every possible attempt I can to reach you. :)

[mirabehn.livejournal.com]

*huggggggggggggggs*

thank you. :)

I'm just feeling bitter. The state of the railways generally tends to send me off on one, and when it interferes with my birthday plans too... grrrr!!

*coughs* re-nationalisation needed! *coughs*

[fluffymark]

Just when I was starting to get confidence again in the railways - this happens. I've not suffered a serious delay on a train for many months now - and now this. Well, i'll see what happens first, but i don't expect i'll be enjoying the ride too much.

Nationalization may work - as privatization just made the railways less efficient by breaking them apart, and theres no effective competition to drive the need for efficiency.

*hugs*

[arkady.livejournal.com]

OK - information now up and posted on undergroundgoth - I figured it was important enough that maybe it ought to reach a wider audience. ;-)