Once a week a train leaves a London station it shouldn’t, and you have just a few weeks left to catch a ride before it stops, possibly forever.
This is the Chiltern Railway’s parliamentary train service and it is both a training exercise for Chiltern drivers and a legacy of a curious quirk of railway legislation. It was once a requirement that rail companies provide a basic service on every line they operate to ensure everyone had access to public transport, although the train companies often put them on at awkward times as they didn’t really want to run them. As it was an order from the government to provide them, they were known as Parliamentary Trains.
The law has long since been repealed, but some legacies of old train services still linger on, and while not legally Parliamentary Trains, they retain the nickname, and their tendency of being in odd places at odd times.
As such, they’re hugely popular with people who love odd things.
One such Parliamentary Train runs once a week between West Ealing and West Ruislip, but not for very much longer. Due to works that are taking place at West Ealing station to prepare it for GWR’s trials of a battery powered train, the once-weekly Chiltern Railways train service will be replaced with a bus service instead.
A Parliamentary Train Bus Replacement Service if you like.
The battery train trials are expected to start shortly and run for some months, and at the moment, Chiltern Railways are unable to confirm if the Parliamentary Train will return after the GWR trials are completed.
So, you have just a few weeks left to ride Chiltern Railway’s little known Parliamentary Train as you might never be able to do so again.
Chiltern Railways train at the former Parliamentary Service out of Paddington
The Parliamentary Train departs from West Ealing station’s platform 5 on Wednesdays at 11:17, arriving at West Ruislip at 11:34am. It’s one way, so you’ll be coming back on the Central line.
The last train will depart on Wednesday 7th December 2022 – so you have just four weeks to ride this most obscure of train services that carry so few passengers that they are sometimes nicknamed Ghost Trains. Of course, the last one on 7th December is likely to be less ghostly than usual as train geeks converge at West Ealing to be on the very last train.
However… from Wednesday 14th December, something new appears — a replacement bus service, so that’s something new to try out as well.
There’s still one London Overground “Parliamentary Train” running, on Saturdays the 0530 to Enfield Town goes the the Clapton Junction, Coppermill Junction, South Tottenham Curve – non stopping at South Tottenham to Seven Sisters missing out the usual Rectory Road, Stoke Newington and Stamford Hill.
There used to be a Barking to Gospel Oak train that continued to Willesden Junction but it seems to be gone from the timetable.
That’s because Barking to Gospel Oak and continuing onwards to Willesden Junction isn’t possible without changing platform….
Sectional appendix (Anglia) EA1370 page 1 says they can!
I only mention it because I got the train I mentioned whilst I was working for .. LOROL.
Of course the train didn’t actually stop at Gospel Oak…
There has always been another reason for this service: to maintain some driver knowledge for those occasions when Marylebone was shut and Chiltern line trains were diverted into Paddington.
Keep up the good work!
Chiltern seem content these days to kick everyone off at West Ruislip and have them catch the Central Line into London.
The true source of course for these sorts of trains is https://www.branchline.uk/PSULintro.php which shows trains taking odd curves all over the country
Hi
You can not ride this train it runs empty each way.
5M27 Marylebone to West Ealing
And then the
5M32 West Ealing to West Ruislip.
5 in the headcode = empty stock.
Well, I’ve been on it!
Went on it last week. The Destination Indicator read “Excursion”!
A cracking website.
You’re looking at Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri.
Wednesdays you can: 2M27
I’ve lived in Ealing all my life and have sometimes got the Chiltern trains to high Wycombe, but never knew about this. Think I may have to take the dog to Ruislip woods before it stops.