Save the Melksham Train
Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Looks like we have buses for Christmas! - 4991/9073
Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Friday, 14th December 2007

Text sent to customer enquiries .... up until a coupld of weeks ago, a train from Chippenham was showing with an appaling connection from Swindon.

Hello - I am looking for details of your train services between Swindon and Melksham on 27th, 28th and 31st December.  I have tried the Christma timetables page and been able to find what looks like buses from Chippenham to Melksham at 08:00 and 18:55, but no return services and no trains.  But I have not found any statements of engineering works anywhere between Westbury and Swindon either.

Could you please tell me:

a) When trains will be running (right over the Christmas Period would be great) between Westbury and Swindon via Melksham

b) If you are indeed replacing trains by buses, why are you doing so if there are no engineering works on the line?


If I hadn't been told otherwise, I would swear that someone was trying to make it hard for us to use the train to and from Melksham .....

 
link to index of articles


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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