Railway Children Special

There is a rather unusual railtour happening today down in my neck of the woods. Why unusual? Well it will be a train full of enthusiasts that will travel through Chiltern Railways depots, pass across unusual sets of points and will generally reach areas of track and infrastructure only usually ever seen by insiders.

It is hoped that the event will raise £10,000 - £12,500 for Railway Children with ticket sales, on board raffle and sales etc.

The train is being provided by Chiltern completely free of charge, the trains crews are donating their pay to The Railway Children and Network Rail are not charging for their work in planning and  running  the train etc. The whole day has been facilitated by the Branch Line Society.

Below is full detail of the Working Timetable for this unique, interesting and unusual trip. In Twitterland I occasionally use the hashtag "#traingeek". Well, looking at today's itinerary I think that today's trip possibly takes train enthusiasm to a new level. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. I hope that a good day is had by all and that lots of money is raised for charity.

Tickets for this event have been sold in advance. If you don't have a special ticket, please do not attempt to board the train.

For operational reasons the timetable for today has been organised into  six different chunks. Hopefully live tracking will be available via the following links, which may act as a historical record just for a day or two.

The timetable data and Real Time Train data has all been extracted using the Real Time Trains web site.

• 1Z21 (Starts from Maylebone at 1105)
• 1Z65 (Starts from Gerrards Cross Siding at 1320)
• 1Z66 (Starts from Aylesbury at 1500)
• 1Z67 (Starts from Great Missenden at 1710)
• 1Z68 (Starts from Aylesbury at 1733)
• 1Z72 (Starts from Bicester North Turnback Siding at 1952)

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Working Timetable Information for the Day

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1Z21 1105 London Marylebone to Gerrards Cross Siding
Operated by CH
STP schedule UID U50894, identity 1Z21
Runs SuO on 26/05/2013 only
TSC 25217004
Unadvertised Express
	WTT Working		Realtime
Location	Arr	Dep	Dep	Dly
London Marylebone formed from 2H19 from Bicester North		1105	1105	RT
Marylebone Up Tunnel Sdgs	1108	1115
London Marylebone	1118	1125	1121	-4
Neasden South Jn	pass	1133	1129	-4
Wembley Gcj	pass	1135
Wembley Lmd	1137	1227	1220	-7
Wembley Stadium	pass	1229	1223	-6
Wembley Siding	1231	1238	1240	2
Wembley Stadium	pass	1240	1242	2
Neasden South Jn	pass	1242	1243	1
Neasden South Jn Sig Me525	1243	1250
Neasden South Jn	pass	1251	1247	-4
Wembley Stadium	pass	1253	1252	-1
Sudbury & Harrow Road	pass	1254
Sudbury Hill Harrow	pass	1254
Northolt Park	pass	1255
Northolt Park Jn	pass	1257	1256	-1
South Ruislip	pass	1258	1256	-2
West Ruislip	1301	1302	1259	-3
Denham	pass	1305
Denham Golf Club	pass	1306
Gerrards Cross	pass	1309	1306	-3
Gerrards Cross Siding	1311			-3
1Z65 1320 Gerrards Cross Siding to Aylesbury
STP schedule UID U50895, identity 1Z65
Runs SuO on 26/05/2013 only
TSC 25217004
Unadvertised Express
	WTT Working		Realtime
Location	Arr	Dep	Dep	Dly
Gerrards Cross Siding		1320	1320	RT
Gerrards Cross	pass	1322	1322	RT
Denham Golf Club	pass	1323
Denham	pass	1324
West Ruislip	1328	1335	1336	1
Denham	pass	1338
Denham Golf Club	pass	1339
Gerrards Cross	pass	1342	1342	RT
Seer Green	pass	1344
Beaconsfield	pass	1345
High Wycombe	pass	1350	1349	-1
West Wycombe	pass	1352
Saunderton	pass	1355	1353	-2
Princes Risborough	1359	1400	1358	-2
Monks Risborough	pass	1406
Little Kimble	pass	1413	1410	-3
Aylesbury	1421			-2
1Z66 1500 Aylesbury to Great Missenden
STP schedule UID U50898, identity 1Z66
Runs SuO on 26/05/2013 only
TSC 25217004
Unadvertised Express
This train started from Aylesbury due to a decision by the train operating company (TR)
	WTT Working		Realtime
Location	Arr	Dep	Dep	Dly
Aylesbury		1500
Aylesbury D.M.U. Depot	1505	1537
Aylesbury	1542	1542
Aylesbury (Sdgs 1-7)	1603	1610
Aylesbury	1613	1619
Aylesbury (Sdgs 1-7)	1622	1629
Aylesbury	1632	1633	1626	-7
Aylesbury North Loop	1637	1640	1639	-1
Aylesbury Sig Me302	1642	1649
Aylesbury	1652	1653	1650	-3
Stoke Mandeville	pass	1657	1653	-4
Wendover	pass	1659	1655	-4
Great Missenden	1704			-4
1Z67 1710 Great Missenden to Aylesbury
STP schedule UID U50899, identity 1Z67
Runs SuO on 26/05/2013 only
TSC 25217004
Unadvertised Express
	WTT Working		Realtime
Location	Arr	Dep	Arr	Dep	Dly
Great Missenden		1710		No report
Wendover	pass	1718	pass	1710	-8
Stoke Mandeville	pass	1720	pass	1714	-6
Aylesbury	1723		1716		-7
1Z68 1733 Aylesbury to Bicester North Turnback Sg
STP schedule UID U50896, identity 1Z68
Runs SuO on 26/05/2013 only
TSC 25217004
Unadvertised Express
	WTT Working		Realtime
Location	Arr	Dep	Arr	Dep	Dly
Aylesbury		1733		1734	1
Little Kimble	pass	1742	pass	1742	RT
Monks Risborough	pass	1745	No report
Princes Risborough	pass	1748	pass	1747	-1
Saunderton	pass	1752	pass	1751	-1
West Wycombe	pass	1755	No report
High Wycombe	1759	1805	1758	1801	-4
West Wycombe	pass	1808	No report
Saunderton	pass	1811	pass	1806	-5
Princes Risborough	1815	1816	1809	1812	-4
Princes R'boro Ace	1818	1841	1814	1847	6
Princes Risborough	1843	1848	N/R	1847	-1
Princes Risborough Me666	1850	1855	No report
Princes Risborough	1857	1909	1852	1906	-3
Haddenham & Thame Parkway	pass	1915	pass	1910	-5
Blackthorne	pass	1923	No report
Bicester North	1927	1927	1923	1923	-4
Bicester Signal Me2034	1929	1934	No report
Bicester North	1936	1941	1928	N/R	-8
Bicester North Turnback Sg	1943		1932		-11
1Z72 1952 Bicester North Turnback Sg to London Marylebone
STP schedule UID U50897, identity 1Z72
Runs SuO on 26/05/2013 only
TSC 25217004
Unadvertised Express
	WTT Working		Realtime
Location	Arr	Dep	Arr	Dep	Dly
Bicester North Turnback Sg		1952		1952	RT
Bicester North	1954	1955	1954	1956	1
Blackthorne	pass	1958	No report
Haddenham & Thame Parkway	2007	2008	2006	2008	RT
Princes Risborough	pass	2014	pass	2013	-1
Saunderton	pass	2017	pass	2015	-2
West Wycombe	pass	2019	No report
High Wycombe	2022	2023	2019	2021	-2
Beaconsfield	2029	2030	2027	2028	-2
Seer Green	pass	2032	No report
Gerrards Cross	2036	2037	2034	2035	-2
Denham Golf Club	pass	2039	No report
Denham	pass	2039	No report
West Ruislip	pass	2042	pass	2039	-3
South Ruislip	pass	2044	pass	2040	-4
Northolt Park Jn	pass	2044	No report
Northolt Park	pass	2045	No report
Sudbury Hill Harrow	pass	2046	No report
Sudbury & Harrow Road	pass	2047	No report
Wembley Stadium	pass	2049	pass	2044	-5
Neasden South Jn	pass	2051	pass	2045	-6
London Marylebone	2059		2052		-7

Edit: While the formating is particularly rubbish, I have now (22:50) edited the WTT above to show what actually happened during the day. All data is drawn from an automated system, hence why some places have no data.

Edgware Road (Bakerloo Line) Station Closed until Late December 2013

To allow the rather antiquated lifts to be replaced, the Bakerloo Line's Edgware Road station is closed from today until late December (2013).

Passengers will be able to use Edgware Road (Circle/Hammersmith & City line) station which is a short walk away (on the other side of the Marylebone Flyover). Using the other station will enable connections with the Bakerloo line at Baker Street and Paddington.

Alternatively, Marylebone Station (which is about seven minutes walk away) is also on the Bakerloo Line.

HS2 Tunnel Recommended under Ealing and Northolt

Back in the Summer of 2010 I wrote about the impact that HS2 would have on the Northolt area of West London. In particular, there was clearly going to be a huge impact on Northolt's Central Line station.

Well, I've only just noticed that the latest recommendation is that the route be tunnelled from Old Oak Common to Northolt. Given that it has already been decided to tunnel from Northolt Junction through to West Ruslip, this means that HS2 could now have a nine mile (14km) tunnel from Old Oak Common, all the way through to the very edge of London.

I can see why this might be the most cost effective option. It would be interesting to know how deep the tunnels will be. Clearly it's not just country folk who have been getting grumpy.

National Mills Weekend 2013

Lots of people make themselves constantly busy doing interesting things. Many people don't, but deep down they know that it's probably not that difficult.

I often count myself in the second category. 

This weekend is National Mills Weekend. It does what it says on the tin! Go on, do some research and then take a trip out to do something interesting!

My local windmill is Lacey Green Windmill in Buckinghamshire. It is open tomorrow (12th May 2013) from 11am to 5pm. It is defienitely worth a visit if you are in the area. 

My 2011 visit report is at the end of this link (click and scroll down).

Have an enjoyable weekend!
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Weather on Sunday 12th May 2013

At the time of writing, 8 pm on Saturday 11th May, the weather forecast for Sunday 12th May is not good.  A wind of 14 mph with gusts of 28 mph (Force 6) is forecast from 10 am to 1 pm.  Heavy rain is forecast from 2 pm until 7 pm.  It has therefore been decided, for the safety of the windmill, and those working on it, that we would be unwise to fit the sailcloths.  We may be able to let the wind turn the sails without the sailcloths.