| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Melksham to London. Chippenham to Wareham - 3568/7059 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Friday, 24th August 2007 There's a huge POTENTIAL traffic out there for all sorts of journeys using rail services alsong the Swindon - Chippenham - Trowbridge - Westbury corridor. I've said it many times but more and more and more I'm reminded. On Wednesday, a local gentlemen in Melksham walked into the place I work (which is nothing to do with trains and transport) and I was helping him sort out his Linuc printing problems. We got talking, and he was describing how he used to (and still would) use the train for the handful of London trips he makes each year. But "at the moment, I use the car - by the time I go to a rail head and change I may as well drive the whole way and pay 20 quid to park") On Thursday of the delegates on my course yesterday arrive here even after I got back from a breakfast meeting near Swindon.. He lives in Chippenham and had been seeing his daughter off on a journey to Dorset - via Bath and Dorchester. She texted him later "We got here OK though the train journey was a little interesting." Seems like a case where a TransWilts service from Chippenham at about 9 a.m. might have found itself another customer ;-) This (it's Friday) morning, I have been talking with a lady on the phone concerning travel between our town and Swindon. "Would you suggest I use the train?" she asked. Yes, I would if there was a suitable train available; as it is, she would have to wait until 8 O'Clock this evening. However, with roadworks on the A350 again (a 20 minute long queue from the North of Beanacre to McDonald's reported yesterday morning) the road is scarcely attractive. That's three potentials I've come across in three days ... and I'm in an obscure location across Melksham from our station too. Makes me wonder how many others there are. And I note a pattern - a regular hourly or 2 hourly service would meet all these trtavel requirements! Re: Melksham to London. Chippenham to Wareham - 3568/7154 Written by courgettelawn on Tuesday, 28th August 2007 Of course they would. It would also help if unregulated fares to London from the FGW-run line to London Paddington were charged at sensible rates. I, travelling from Salisbury to London go to Waterloo and with a railcard (not available on all networks) pay about link to index of articles |
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Save the Train was the campaign to bring an approriate train service back to and through Melksham. Most big contributors are still around writing at the Coffee shop forum where new members are very welcome. The train has been saved - sort of - we have stepped back up from an unusable service to a poorish one but it's doing very well. We did that through setting up the TransWilts Community Rail Partnership. That fulfilled its early objectives; it has been taken over by local and regional government types who are now doing medium and long term work. The team from this forun can also be found at the Melksham Rail User Group (which was the Melksham Rail Development Group at the time these articles were written and we had no users. We mustn't loose sight, though, that the train service remains poor and needs our community support in marketing and campaigning to keep it going in a positive direction ... and all the more so when we're expecting to find a different normallity once we get out of the Coronavirus Pandemic and head for zero carbon via the climate crisis. Yes, it's saved ... it's now a key community facility ... the need for enhancement and the strong and near-universal local support remain, and the rail industry and goverment remain slow to move and provide the enhancements even to level us up with other towns. Please support the Melksham Rail User Group - now very much in partnership rather than protest with the rail industry and local government, including GWR, TransWilts and unitary and town councils. And please use the trains and buses, and cycle and walk when you can. -- Graham Ellis, (webmaster), February 2021 | |||
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