Western Takeover, Great Western Railway London Euston Diverts

[@Nooticus]

Great work capturing these shots

[@A-Trainspotter-From-Berkshire]

Thanks for the comment. As soon as I heard about it, I thought I needed to go and see it as it was such a rare move.

[@LokiAvivson]

2:43 i was on that service! 800315 1Z07 1114 to Carmarthen, although it swapped to 800026 in Swansea as 9 coaches is too long for stations west of Swansea

[@A-Trainspotter-From-Berkshire]

I'm glad you got to see the service from another shot.

[@joshuaritchie3836]

Never knew that Great Western Railway ran to London Euston, interesting that is it two trains per hour on top of the regular London Paddington service. Guessing if they were only running from Cardiff then they would use 387s as it is fully electrified from Cardiff to London Euston and London Paddington.

[@Nooticus]

they dont run to euston regularly. he literally explains the reason and the details in the description...

[@A-Trainspotter-From-Berkshire]

GWR had the option of London Euston and London Waterloo for their diversions, and they chose London Euston because it was closer. London Euston was only done as they couldn't access London Paddington, so it is either London Paddington normally or London Euston on diversion but not both.

[@stsh]

Why are the trains on diesel pulling in/out of EUS when there's OHLE for the section to Willesden Junction. Can reduce the smell inside EUS (especially with the poor ventilation)

[@A-Trainspotter-From-Berkshire]

The reason is because the GWR 800 & 802 units hadn't been tested with drawing traction power from the OLE on WCML between Willesden Junction and London Euston. The testing would have made sure the units didn't cause issues with running under WCML OLE. The original plan would have been to pan up in Euston to allow diesels to be shut down, however a change of plan saw them use a mode called turnaround mode which saw 3 of the 5 engines on a 9 car and 4 out of the 6 engines on a 10 car deactivated to reduce smell of diesel. The only GWR service which used the OLE at London Euston was the Night Riviera which had an LSL class 90, on the Up/London end of the train providing ETS (Electric Train Supply) for the coaches, this allowed the diesel class 57 to be shut down as part of noise rules in London Euston. Another reason why GWR 800s and 802s did use the OLE between Willesden Junction and London Euston is that the GWR staff where being route conducted so it would have been an extra bit of complication which wasn't needed as you can run on diesel.