| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Proposed Days out - 7949/12859 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 26th January 2009 For many years, we have seen "125" trains pass through Melksham during engineering works, nonestop. Previous requests for these trains to stop very occasionally have been refused due to health and safety reasons - the platform is too short for the train and the trains did not have "Selective door opening". Selective Door Opening is now available ... so there is no longer a reason why the trains can't stop on special occasions! The Melksham Railway Development Group met on Friday evening and has proposed two excursions this spring from Trowbridge and Melksham to London, and to Devon, as follows. The group has approached First Great Western with a view to stopping trains that are coming through anyway (calling at Chippenham and Westbury), each on just one day. Saturday, 4th April 2009 Trowbridge 09:30, Melksham 09:40 to London Paddington, arr 11:15 Return Paddington 16:30, Melksham 18:00, Trowbridge 18:10 (With option for passengers to return on 20:15 / 21:47 / 21:58 with change) Anticipated fare - Adult 30 pounds, Child 10 pounds to include underground Saturday, 9th May 2009 Melksham 09:05, Trowbridge 09:10, Exeter 10:17 Exter 20:48, Trowbridge 22:00, Melksham 22:10 (with option to Plymouth and connections Paignton, Exmouth, Barnstaple, Looe) Anticipated fare - Adult 20 pounds, Child 10 pounds (to Exeter or Paignton) Please note - this is a draft proposal. The dates may change (the group is quite happy to do so if FGW suggest other dates during the period might be better / less crowded on the train), and it's also possible that First Great Western will have other reasons that they can't / won't stop the train (but we can tempt them by reminding them just how many people the MRDG can get on the Santa Special ;-) ) Re: Proposed Days out - 7949/12877 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 16th February 2009 Although I asked early in January, it was apparently [color=Purple]already too late[/color] to schedule extra stops even to 2 trains in May - and I have now asked about something for the summer. 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 | |||
|
|||
Further Information:
Home
Current Summary
Daily update
User forum
Consultation
Service now
Service future
Future Analysis
Recent Statistics
Recent letters
Letter to DfT
Save the train
Presentation
Support us
Other Maps
Station facilities
Station approach
Pictures
Trains diverted
History
About Melksham
Site Map
About this site