| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Sunday delays and the erroneous information point - 4926/8977 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Sunday, 9th December 2007 I suppose we shouldn't expect the first day of a new timetable to go perfectly should we? And it's going to be even worse with engineering works up at the Swindon end. I was watching the 18:51 from Chippenham on live departure boards .... and saw it reach Westbury, eventually, at 19:45. So I rather expected that the 19:38 from Westbury up to Swindon, off which I was meeting a customer at Melksham at 19:56, would be a bit late even though there was no indication of that on the departure board web site. Best get to the station on time, just in case it's a different train! The information point tells me about the train to Chippenham and makes no comment about it being delayed. Good - that usually means "on time". But 19:56 came and went, 20:00 came and went, and no train. And the information point, when called, tells me that no train will be calling at this station in the next 99 minutes ... Of course, I've learned not to believe everything I'm told - so I phone up National Rail Enquiries ("How do you spell that?" he asks about Melksham - I really must improve my diction!) and he's surprised that the train hasn't shown up - asks for my number to call me back. Top marks to him - he did , about 10 minutes later, to let me know the train had just left Westbury. So due Melksham, 19:56. Actual 20:32 .... and with perhaps 15 people on it. 2 got off, no joiners ... but then with the train terminating at Chippenham tonight, and chaos all around it seems, it's not exactly a typical evening. I rather suspect that the freighliner locomotives and Network Rail wagons that rolled through, southbound, at about 10 past 8 had something to do with the delay. A good reminder to stand well clear of the edge, even on a desolate night on an apparently obscure section of track. Obscure? Maybe - but damned useful to all and sundry! Re: Sunday delays and the erroneous information point - 4926/8979 Written by Industry Insider on Sunday, 9th December 2007 [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=4926.msg8977#msg8977 date=1197234520] I was watching the 18:51 from Chippenham on live departure boards.... [/quote] Just in case anyone is interested, the normal live departures board, which I find useful but a little hard to read, can be viewed in an easier to read format via a Virgin Trains style site. [url]http://www.livedepartureboards.co.uk/virgintrains/summary.aspx?T=SWI&R=1[/url] To change the station all you have to do is alter the 'SWI' with the relevant three letter station code (known as the CRS code). Re: Sunday delays and the erroneous information point - 4926/8985 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 10th December 2007 [quote author=Industry Insider link=topic=4926.msg8979#msg8979 date=1197241614] [quote author=Graham Ellis link=topic=4926.msg8977#msg8977 date=1197234520] I was watching the 18:51 from Chippenham on live departure boards.... [/quote] To change the station all you have to do is alter the 'SWI' with the relevant three letter station code (known as the CRS code). [/quote] Thanks - that's a good call. Full station code list for the "TransWilts" SWI - Swindon CPM - Chippenham MKM - Melksham TRO - Trowbridge WSB - Westbury DMH - Dilton Marsh WMN - Warminster SAL - Salisbury FRO - Frome Re: Sunday delays and the erroneous information point - 4926/8996 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Tuesday, 11th December 2007 Melksham Station, last Sunday, 20:12 (while awaiting the 19:56) ....  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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