| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
We need to improve facilities - 6240/10660 Written by Nick on Sunday, 9th March 2008 The least we need is a fast ticketing machine. That's the most important thing. Re: We need to improve facilities - 6240/10666 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Sunday, 9th March 2008 I am advised that ticket machines cost over 20,000 pounds (that may be poor advise, but I can believe it) which is the same amount of money that should buy a service for a few months. I am inclined to think that a nice sign telling you to see the conductor on the train would be a better short term solution - with a ticket machine to follow once it became clear that there wasn't enough time for the conductor to check all the tickets before Chippenham / Trowbridge ;D Re: We need to improve facilities - 6240/10681 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Sunday, 9th March 2008 Better advise says 30,000 for a ticket machine ... and I'm suspecting that if someone came up with twice that we would have an "experimental" service for a year! Re: We need to improve facilities - 6240/10690 Written by Nick on Monday, 10th March 2008 Is it allowed to buy tickets on the train? Re: We need to improve facilities - 6240/10694 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 10th March 2008 If you board at Melksham, YES. There are no ticket selling facilities there at all (The tourist information centre was asked for four thousand pounds if they wanted a machine!) and it is not in the penalty fare area. A sign to tell people to buy their tickets on the train would be really welcome, considering that there is so much publicity against doing so everywhere else! Re: We need to improve facilities - 6240/10772 Written by Nick on Friday, 14th March 2008 Perhaps some monitors showing when arrivals are expected would be an improvement? Re: We need to improve facilities - 6240/10784 Written by courgettelawn on Friday, 14th March 2008 I can imagine a Swiss Tony selling the train companies those machines... I played around with one awaiting the last train back to Salisbury from St Denys. Many major destinations are not even listed! Aberdeen, Par and others! They are counter-intuitive. So often I am queued behind someone who gets so far, then frustrated and then queues up by the ticket booths - or worse - a representative of train staff shepherds people to the machine but doesn't show them how it works. Yes that kind of dosh on a train service much better. 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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