Scruffy stations on the Paddington to Heathrow line

Here's my guess as to why they haven't bothered. Most of the stations out west are going to be knocked down and rebuilt. When finished they will have a finalised wayfinding and signage scheme which is what TfL will want to spend their scarce cash on. These schemes will reflect the Lizzie Line branding so spending money on TfL Rail branding is probably considered unnecessary for just 6 months duration. I suspect financial pressures have stopped even very small scale signing schemes except where they are needed for legal reasons. The days of "orange and black Overground overstickers" largesse have long gone.

The only thing worth keeping an eye on is the extent to which Lizzie line branding is applied out west given the brand applies from Dec 2018. I suspect it will be pretty modest at most places subject to rebuilding with more of an effort at Heathrow and at Paddington as the former is a "gateway" (and not being rebuilt) and the latter will be a crucial interchange point between separate Crossrail services.

I would expect much more of a branding effort out east because stations are being rebuilt there so adding the final purple flourishes and new roundels etc will be relatively simple. Works will complete at many locations in the next few months with only Ilford and Romford continuing. Ilford has yet to start as the work has not been awarded to a contractor yet.

apologies if this has been answered elsewhere but is there any reason as to why Hanwell seems to be the only station skipped out by the class 345 trains? I cannot seem to think of any reason asides from low usage or demand? But that would fit in with the tfl logic of trains calling at all stations. Just find it a little odd its the only one that doesnt get this service

The 'All trains, all stations' principal across TfL's empire is starting to become difficult to implement on some new lines.

If I remember rightly, quite a few years (decades) ago now, there was some talk about the feasibility of a 5th or 6th track along the GWML for at least a few stations. No doubt this hasn't been in anyones ideas for along time now, but perhaps in the distant future, if custom proves to be insatiable, it might crop up again.

I should hope the service patterns end up better than now - the associated bus cuts and changes make an awfully big assumption about how much people will wish to use Crossrail in preference!

But yes indeed, as long as there conflicting requirements and finite infrastructure there will have to be a timetable that compromises. It'll be interesting to see how much of London's suburban railway network gets equipped with ATO over the years to come.

To be honest, a lot of tube stations need a thorough clean, its not just this route. I know of one station where there are dead flies lying on the bottom of the window and its been like that for a long time  . 

Allegedly it is a sighting problem from the Driver's cab. I believe I read it is insufficient lighting. There was talk of the H&H service stopping during daylight hours but it hasn't happened yet.

I suspect Hanwell is a case of "build it and they will come" i.e. all it needs is a decent service otherwise it's far easier and more reliable to get one of the many bus routes to Ealing Broadway for 12 services a millisecond service to Paddington.