| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Who's responsible for promoting the line? - 42/70 Written by Nick Field on Tuesday, 11th October 2005 After reading some recent posts I have this question nagging in my head. It seems that very few people I talk to even know that the current service exists at all and I find that a little disheartening. I hardly see anything about it in literature from either the county or district councils. I am sure passenger growth could be even greater if organisations such as Wessex Trains or Wilts County Council would advertise it or make mention of it in their newsletters etc etc. Re: Who's responsible for promoting the line? - 42/71 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 12th October 2005 Sadly, Nick, I think the answer is that no-one is responsible for promoting the traffic and that really, over the years, no-one has really taken it on to do the marketing and promotion. There's a lot of very interested / concerned / active folks out there but, alas, they're backroom people and not folks who want to stand on a soabox and shout "Have you see this useful service". I was somewhat shocked at how quickly / easily I seemed to be able to get elements of attention and publicity as just a private individual .... At this stage, I don't think anyone's going to want to take on commercial responsibility for publicisiing a service that's slated for withdrawal and so it's that much more up to folks like you and me to be the ambassadors for the line. Paradoxically, the fact that there's been something of a vacuum there in the past makes it a little easier to move into the field .. people who perhaps have a little influence are going to listen more to a story the first time they hear it ... although they're also going to need to hear it lots of times for it to be taken as a general view. I've sent out a circular letter and put text up in the "stoppress" of the site ... and I guess I'm saying that ... Nick - it's you, and me, and all the other people who live and work around here who are responsible for promoting the line. ;) Re: Who's responsible for promoting the line? - 42/125 Written by Gareth Evans on Friday, 25th November 2005 Graham, Am just wondering, have you heard of the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (http://www.acorp.uk.com)? They are an organisation who are interested in promoting and sustaining local rail through community partnerships. One line ACoRP support is the Heart of Wessex (http://www.heartofwessex.org.uk/partnership.html) which connects with the Melksham service at Trowbridge and Westbury. Perhaps the two could be integrated as a single partnership? Apologies if this is old news to you! Gareth Re: Who's responsible for promoting the line? - 42/128 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Saturday, 26th November 2005 [quote author=Gareth Evans link=topic=42.msg125#msg125 date=1132922379] Graham, Am just wondering, have you heard of the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (http://www.acorp.uk.com)? They are an organisation who are interested in promoting and sustaining local rail through community partnerships. [/quote] It's a fair and good question, Gareth. My "Save the Train" Web site is just that - my web site - through which I am raising awareness to the best of my time and ability for the TransWilts train service through Melksham. Re: Who's responsible for promoting the line? - 42/300 Written by chrisbastian on Tuesday, 24th January 2006 Who's responsible for promoting the line? Well, not the Department for Transport, for one. Their website www.transportdirect.co.uk , which plans your route between any two points in Britain, ignores the direct trains from Swindon to Southampton. Ask to go from station to station without changing and it returns an error message, except for the early morning train. I have pointed this out to them over a month ago and they still havn't fixed it. Ways of promoting the line? The Heart of Wessex line run a sucessful promotion with the Ramblers Association. So why not walks from Westbury, Warminster, Salisbury, Dean, Dunbridge & Romsey from the Swindon/Melksham trains? You'd be amaized how many members the Ramblers Associastion has. Current time table a little tricky however. 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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