Hi all

Up until four years ago, my grandparents lived outside the lovely town
of Staines, and I used to travel with various combinations of family
first by HST from Penzance to Reading, then on old mk1-based slam-door
EMUs on the Reading to Waterloo line, to visit.

In a few weekends' time, I'm making the same journey as far as Egham,
to go to the Royal Holloway Uni open day.

What sorta trans operate the route now? What frequency do they run at
from, say 5pm til 10pm? How long is the entire journey from Reading to
Waterloo? Any tips for avoiding crowds and having as pleasant a journey
as possible?!

TIA!

On 14 Sep 2005 11:12:10 -0700, spam@microchipped.co.uk wrote:


>What sorta trans operate the route now? What frequency do they run at
>from, say 5pm til 10pm? How long is the entire journey from Reading to
>Waterloo? 


About 1hr20min from Reading to Waterloo; the route is now operated by
quite new stock: Class 458 Junipers and 450 Desiros. Half-hourly for
much of the day.

wrote in message
news:1126721530.730286.309080@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...

> Hi all
>
> Up until four years ago, my grandparents lived outside the lovely town
> of Staines, and I used to travel with various combinations of family
> first by HST from Penzance to Reading, then on old mk1-based slam-door
> EMUs on the Reading to Waterloo line, to visit.
>
> In a few weekends' time, I'm making the same journey as far as Egham,
> to go to the Royal Holloway Uni open day.
>
> What sorta trans operate the route now? What frequency do they run at
> from, say 5pm til 10pm? How long is the entire journey from Reading to
> Waterloo? Any tips for avoiding crowds and having as pleasant a journey
> as possible?!
>

Check the Rugby fixture list - it shouldn't be crowded at the weekend unless
there's a big match at Twickers.

Peter

"Thomas"  wrote in message news:3osrbaF7hbdoU1@individual.net...

>
>  wrote in message 
> news:1126721530.730286.309080@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>> Hi all
>>
>> Up until four years ago, my grandparents lived outside the lovely town
>> of Staines, and I used to travel with various combinations of family
>> first by HST from Penzance to Reading, then on old mk1-based slam-door
>> EMUs on the Reading to Waterloo line, to visit.
>>
>> In a few weekends' time, I'm making the same journey as far as Egham,
>> to go to the Royal Holloway Uni open day.
>>
>> What sorta trans operate the route now? What frequency do they run at
>> from, say 5pm til 10pm? How long is the entire journey from Reading to
>> Waterloo? Any tips for avoiding crowds and having as pleasant a journey
>> as possible?!
>
> Much quicker to go into paddington then take the bakerloo line to 
> Waterloo.


Really? Are you saying that the journey time Reading-Paddington-(Bakerloo 
Line)-Waterloo-Egham (allowing time for changes and waiting for the next 
train) is less than the time from Reading to Egham? I'd be surprised if that 
was true. I can imagine Reading-Waterloo might be quicker via Paddington and 
Bakerloo line, but that's not the journey that the OP will be making.


As a matter of interest, have the new trains (Junipers and Derisos) allowed 
the journey times to be reduced at all compared with the old slam-door VEPs 
and the (spit) 455s? Or is the limiting factor line speed rather than train 
acceleration and speed?

"Martin Underwood"  wrote in message 
news:4329520f$0$22940$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader01.plus.net...

> "Thomas"  wrote in message news:3osrbaF7hbdoU1@individual.net...
>>
>>  wrote in message 
>> news:1126721530.730286.309080@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
>>> Hi all
>>>
>>> Up until four years ago, my grandparents lived outside the lovely town
>>> of Staines, and I used to travel with various combinations of family
>>> first by HST from Penzance to Reading, then on old mk1-based slam-door
>>> EMUs on the Reading to Waterloo line, to visit.
>>>
>>> In a few weekends' time, I'm making the same journey as far as Egham,
>>> to go to the Royal Holloway Uni open day.
>>>
>>> What sorta trans operate the route now? What frequency do they run at
>>> from, say 5pm til 10pm? How long is the entire journey from Reading to
>>> Waterloo? Any tips for avoiding crowds and having as pleasant a journey
>>> as possible?!
>>
>> Much quicker to go into paddington then take the bakerloo line to 
>> Waterloo.
>
> Really? Are you saying that the journey time Reading-Paddington-(Bakerloo 
> Line)-Waterloo-Egham (allowing time for changes and waiting for the next 
> train) is less than the time from Reading to Egham? I'd be surprised if 
> that was true. I can imagine Reading-Waterloo might be quicker via 
> Paddington and Bakerloo line, but that's not the journey that the OP will 
> be making.
>
>
> As a matter of interest, have the new trains (Junipers and Derisos) 
> allowed the journey times to be reduced at all compared with the old 
> slam-door VEPs and the (spit) 455s? Or is the limiting factor line speed 
> rather than train acceleration and speed?


Sorry my mistake, I didn't read the original post properly.

Thomas wrote:

>  wrote in message 
> news:1126721530.730286.309080@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> 
>>Hi all
>>
>>Up until four years ago, my grandparents lived outside the lovely town
>>of Staines, and I used to travel with various combinations of family
>>first by HST from Penzance to Reading, then on old mk1-based slam-door
>>EMUs on the Reading to Waterloo line, to visit.
>>
>>In a few weekends' time, I'm making the same journey as far as Egham,
>>to go to the Royal Holloway Uni open day.
>>
>>What sorta trans operate the route now? What frequency do they run at
>>from, say 5pm til 10pm? How long is the entire journey from Reading to
>>Waterloo? Any tips for avoiding crowds and having as pleasant a journey
>>as possible?!
> 
> 
> Much quicker to go into paddington then take the bakerloo line to Waterloo. 


To get to Egham? No, it really isn't.

-- 

Stephen

Three years ago a woman from a north Lancashire village forgot to stoke her
solid-fuel boiler. An award-winning camera crew followed her determined and
often heartbreaking attempts to light it.

On Thu, 15 Sep 2005 11:50:49 +0100, "Martin Underwood" 
wrote:


>Really? Are you saying that the journey time Reading-Paddington-(Bakerloo 
>Line)-Waterloo-Egham (allowing time for changes and waiting for the next 
>train) is less than the time from Reading to Egham? 


Although planning to make a journey to Egham, the OP did also seem to
be asking about the overall Reading-Waterloo journey time.


>
>As a matter of interest, have the new trains (Junipers and Derisos) allowed 
>the journey times to be reduced at all compared with the old slam-door VEPs 
>and the (spit) 455s? Or is the limiting factor line speed rather than train 
>acceleration and speed? 
>


The new SWT timetable, which was intended for the new stock but at a
time when slammers could still appear, actually increased the journey
times by a few minutes. This is mainly because of additional recovery
time and slightly longer dwell times.

On Thu, 15 Sep 2005 12:32:43 GMT, 1577+2260 <someone@somewhere.x>
wrote:


>>As a matter of interest, have the new trains (Junipers and Derisos) allowed 
>>the journey times to be reduced at all compared with the old slam-door VEPs 
>>and the (spit) 455s? Or is the limiting factor line speed rather than train 
>>acceleration and speed? 
>
>The new SWT timetable, which was intended for the new stock but at a
>time when slammers could still appear, actually increased the journey
>times by a few minutes. This is mainly because of additional recovery
>time and slightly longer dwell times.


Indeed. Dwell times have increased since the withdrawl of the VEPs,
which allowed fast loading/unloading of passengers due to the large
number of doors.