| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Monday, 11th December - 804/2337 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 11th December 2006 06:48 ... 3 on into Melksham, +3 -0 , so six to Trowbridge 07:17 ... 28 on into Melksham, +6 -2, so 34 to Chippenham 19:08 ... 17 on into Melksham, +0 -6 so 11 to Trowbridge 19:50 ... cancelled. Very curiously, there was a bus headed to Cheltenham at Melksham station at 19:00 - "here to pick up the straglers" said the driver. When I suggested he wait to 19:50, he assured me there was anothe bus behind him. The 06:48 was 2 x 153, Spilling at Westbury with one going up to Filton Abbey Wood. The 07:17 amd 19:08 were class 143 (2 coach Pacers) - bus-on-rails And the 19:50 was a bus-on-road. Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2347 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 12th December 2006 Heres how my day went yesterday : Went to catch the 1031 Cardiff Central train at Fratton - cancelled due to lack of rolling stock. 1131 - Success! This train turned up. Then it got stuck behind a freight train between Southampton & Westbury.... Result? Freight train went through Westbury at 1320 (I would be interested to learn of anything passing through Melksham 15 - 30 mins later.) We arrived (and I got off) at 1327 (20 minutes late.) I then tried to catch the 1332 Westbury - Cardiff central train. All seemed well , the information screen said "on time" and then.... Nothing. The screen went blank and no train arrived. Quote from FGW employee : "This is the first time weve tried this timetable." I then caught the 1407 to Bristol. As planned , a trip to Clifton Down followed (train out , bus back to test Bristol's ledgendary congestion) with me arrriving back to join a vocal (and well attended) protest by Save Severn Tunnel Junction (link below.) http://www.saveseverntunnel.co.uk/ The plan was then to have a nice cup of tea followed by catching the 1800 Bristol - Chippenham train. Cup of tea successfully under my belt , only to discover that the 1800 , which now starts from Weston - super - mare , had got stuck behind a freight train! I know that I post regularly on "The Freight Angle" but this is ridiculous! I made it to Chippenham with just a minute to spare before the 1858 to Westbury (via Melksham , passenger count below.) I then intended to count the passengers on the 1935 return (Class 153 unit , 1827 from Southampton Central) but.... Would you believe it , IT HAD RUN OUT OF FUEL and the Westbury - Swindon section was replaced by a coach!!! Neither the staff at Westbury or passengers were informed of this until the train arrived. So I decided to catch the 2006 Westbury - Southampton "shuttle" service (formed of the SAME Class 153 unit mentioned above) , and count the passengers (I use this term loosely) on that instead (see below.) Quote from stranded FGW employee : "Things are only going to get worse." CONCLUSIONS 1) A cynic would suggest that this timetable is not meant to work. Very few FGW employees seemed to know what was expected of them , and most were quite open about this. A cynic would also suggest that using the "Melksham bound" Class 153 unit to form the 2006 Westbury - Southampton service and return trip to Bristol could be "operationally useful." (which is what happened last night.) 2) It would appear that Network Rail (who were blamed by the announcer at Bristol for the 1800 debacle) have scheduled extra freight trains in , taking advantage of the new timetable when they should be letting it "bed down" first. Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2348 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 12th December 2006 1858 CHIPPENHAM - WESTBURY CLASS 143 PACER UNIT This count is accurate (treble - checked) , Graham , so I think that you may have added the 4 off at Melksham to the "on - train" total that I quoted you at the time. 12 already on the train. Chippenham - 2 on , 0 off. Melksham - 0 on , 4 off. Trowbridge - 1 on , 2 off. Westbury - 9 off. Call me a cynic (again) , but a 104 seat 2 - coach Pacer unit looks rather empty when deployed on poorly - timed commuter journeys. 2006 WESTBURY - SOUTHAMPTON ("our") CLASS 153 UNIT Westbury 2 on (including me) Dilton Marsh 0 on , 1 off. Warminster 0 on , 0 off. Salisbury 1 on , 0 off. Dean 0 on , 0 off. Mottisfont & Dunbridge 0 on , 0 off. Romsey 0 on , 0 off. Southampton Central 2 off (including me) From what I can gather , the Southampton - Westbury "shuttle" passenger loadings did not rise above a handful all day. This is because they are timed to run just after the Portsmouth - Cardiff train has gone through , which means that a 75 - seat Class 153 unit is being deployed solely to provide connections for a handful of Dean , Dilton Marsh and Mottisfont & Dunbridge passengers. Unfortunately , I can foresee "carting fresh air around the countryside" reports being prepared , which is why I believe that we should keep up our intense pressure & efforts. Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2349 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Tuesday, 12th December 2006 [quote author=Lee link=topic=804.msg2348#msg2348 date=1165919256] 1858 CHIPPENHAM - WESTBURY CLASS 143 PACER UNIT This count is accurate (treble - checked) , Graham , so I think that you may have added the 4 off at Melksham to the "on - train" total that I quoted you at the time. [/quote] Yes, I possibly did ... couldn't quite believe just how dreadful it was?? Monday, 11th December and Tuesday 12th - 804/2356 Written by Ruthg on Tuesday, 12th December 2006 I was informed by a FGW employee that the reason we've had these "buses on rails" for the last 2 days is because Arriva and Central Trains have asked for their trains back. I was starting to miss them this morning as these things are like ice boxes. Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2357 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 12th December 2006 What I would very much like to know is whether some travelled out of loyalty yesterday , and if others will still use the service , but couldnt make it yesterday. How busy was it earlier today , Ruthg? On Southampton - Westbury , yesterday I counted 5 off the 1339 arrival and an earlier service was said to have had just 2 passengers. Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2358 Written by Ruthg on Tuesday, 12th December 2006 I think there are regular commuters who have decided to catch the train in the morning to Swindon, not out of loyalty, but because they don't want to go via Bath, most of us seem to be going back via Bath though rather than wait until 18.43. 3 people got on at Melksham but I have noticed some familiar faces missing from there. What I did notice is the amount of people getting on at Chippenham seems to have dropped quite a bit, maybe this will pick up. When we get to Swindon there are plenty of people waiting to go on to Cheltenham Spa. Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2359 Written by Lee on Tuesday, 12th December 2006 Thanks Ruthq. Could you possibly keep us updated from time to time? Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2360 Written by Ruthg on Tuesday, 12th December 2006 Yes, I'd be happy to. Re: Monday, 11th December & First Week Of New Timetable - 804/2384 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 13th December 2006 People are fainting and being turned away due to a lack of rolling stock on the Trowbridge - Bath line , as senior FGW managers seem powerless to intervene (link below.) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/6174969.stm Quote : "I spent the journey standing on one leg as there wasn't anywhere to put the other one." Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2396 Written by Nick Field on Thursday, 14th December 2006 Looks like the woes of the new timetable is making the news everywhere this week. Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2398 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 14th December 2006 [quote author=Nick Field link=topic=804.msg2396#msg2396 date=1166085822] He said that once they get some units back currently undergoing engineering work things should improve. [/quote] Yep, I've dropped him a note pointing out that they were able to move very quickly when they realised that 7TJ was screwed up and asking him to move quickly on the TransWilts when they get that stock back. Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2399 Written by Nick Field on Thursday, 14th December 2006 It did raise a wry smile when I saw the program, it was almost as if Andrew Griffiths was blaming the previous operator for letting the trains get into a poor state of repair! Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2400 Written by Nick Field on Thursday, 14th December 2006 Further to my above post I have just checked the timetable and found that SWT do stop at Oldfield Park Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2401 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 14th December 2006 [quote author=Nick Field link=topic=804.msg2399#msg2399 date=1166091873] It did raise a wry smile when I saw the program, it was almost as if Andrew Griffiths was blaming the previous operator for letting the trains get into a poor state of repair! [/quote] I've noticed that there's very much a company approach within First that they'll cast themselves as the victims of others or circumstances in situations where I feel that, perhaps, they're at least partly responsible. Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2402 Written by Lee on Thursday, 14th December 2006 [quote author=Nick Field link=topic=804.msg2399#msg2399 date=1166091873] It did raise a wry smile when I saw the program, it was almost as if Andrew Griffiths was blaming the previous operator for letting the trains get into a poor state of repair![/quote] Especially when Andrew Griffiths was a Business Manager (albeit in Devon & Cornwall) for the previous operator ;D Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2406 Written by Graz on Thursday, 14th December 2006 I saw this, and I wasn't at all surprised Andrew Griffiths was avoiding questions and not accepting the blame for anything, some of which was clearly his comapny's fault. The scenes of pandemonium at Oldfield Park and on the train shown, and indeed throughout the rest of the network clearly show FGW have an awful lot of work to do. I doubt very much things will be 'fixed in the next few days' as he promised- unless everyone deserts the trains by then! Re: Monday, 11th December - 804/2418 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 14th December 2006 [quote author=Lee link=topic=804.msg2402#msg2402 date=1166099226] [quote author=Nick Field link=topic=804.msg2399#msg2399 date=1166091873] It did raise a wry smile when I saw the program, it was almost as if Andrew Griffiths was blaming the previous operator for letting the trains get into a poor state of repair![/quote] Especially when Andrew Griffiths was a Business Manager (albeit in Devon & Cornwall) for the previous operator ;D [/quote] I'm suspecting that the comments / blame related to the serving company in Cardiff rather than to the former operator for whom Andrerw worked. Wry smile, yes ... but moot point and we should move on. 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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