Ride a rare railway with Chiltern Railways on Sunday

This Sunday (10th June), thanks to engineering works, there’s a chance to take a trip along a little used bit of railway in West London.

Chiltern Railways normally operate out of Marylebone station, but it’s closed all day on Sunday for engineering works, so passengers are being sent over to Paddington instead.

Here, Chiltern Railways will be able to take passengers up along a little used single-track railway through West London to get back up to their normal line at West Ruislip.

The track being used is what used to be the New North Main line, which was once a major line, but the later arrival of the Central line running alongside it sucked away the passengers, and the line slowly died off.

Today it’s retained as a rickety back-up should the railway into Marylebone be closed. It’s also used twice per day by Chiltern Railways as a training exercise, and as a Parliamentary train service.

Keeping the staff up to speed on how this old railway line work will show its reward this Sunday, when far more paying passengers will travel along the line than it would normally see in an entire month of Sundays.

Some will be there resigned to a longer than expected journey to their destinations, but others — you perhaps — will be grinning in excitement at the chance to ride along a railway track they’ll never use again.

Do look out for the set of semaphore signals at Greenford East as you go past.

The trains from Paddington depart from Platform 14 at:

• 08:50
• 09.29
• 09.59
• 10:29
• 10:59
• 11.29
• 11.59
• 12.29
• 12.59
• 13.29
• 13.59
• 14.29
• 14.59
• 15.29
• 15.59
• 16.29
• 16.59
• 17.29
• 17.59
• 18.29
• 18.59
• 19.29
• 19.59
• 20.29
• 20.59
• 21.29
• 21.59