| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
First journey through Melksham - 730/2145 Written by paulsouthwales on Saturday, 2nd December 2006 I had the pleasure today of travelling down the line via Melksham today for the first time. I made a special journey up to Westbury from Cardiff to take the 1320 Westbury into Swindon. Being a train enthusiast and regular traveller within South Wales and the West, I realised that this was probably my last opportunity for a year at the very least to go through Melksham, so I took the opportunity. It was touch and go at Westbury, and having read about all the cancellations in recent months here, it was good to see the 1320 eventually leave for Swindon. The 153-unit was moderately loaded which was good to see, a good number got on at Melksham, and about 40 got off at Swindon on my fingers and thumbs! It is a shame that I wont have the opportunity to do this again at a reasonable hour, to enjoy the beautiful countryside in the daytime. For regular users of this service it is of course much more of shame that they might not be able to get to work, go shopping, go for a day out etc. Lets hope December 2007 is better for Melksham than what is ahead in a weeks time. Keep up the campaign, lots of regulars on this site have put in a lot of effort, and lets hope it pays off in 12/07! Re: First journey through Melksham - 730/2158 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Sunday, 3rd December 2006 Thanks Paul ... glad you made it our way. It is getting busier and busier ... the daytime trains going out with a bang. Showing up the absurdity .... I've been very tied up with a great deal of other things in the last few weeks - in fact, I've been at work from 5 for both of the last 2 mornings and I've only just got along to here for a visit that's far briefer than I would like. But I'll be at the station meeting customer off the 09:12 tomorrow, and dropping them back off for the final 17:02 - for the moment - on Friday. 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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