Welcome
If you plan to travel way out west, you’ve got to pick the mode that is the best: namely, of course, the Great Western Railway. Leaving London on our great main lines is always fascinating, as there are items of railway interest at every tip and turn. The Great Western is no exception, and leaving Paddington I always look for a forward facing window seat on the north side for most interest. You have to keep a weather eye out for Hitachi’s North Pole depot and the Southall steam centre, but most interest is to be found on the right hand side.
Thus it was as I left Paddington on an ‘802’ in mid-February, with Crossrail works evident under the Westway outside the station throat. At Mitre Bridge there’s an Intercity Express Train passing overhead, presumably en-route to North Pole, then the railway lands at Old Oak hove into view. It’s all change here: where ‘Westerns’ and ‘Warships’ once trod, the massed ranks of ‘345s’ in the sidings at the new Elizabeth Line depot are now to be found. The wrecker’s ball is making inroads on the former HST shed, as construction teams prepare to build the sub-surface station here for HS2. A melancholy sight, marking the end of nigh on two centuries of Great Western presence here.
