| Archived Save the Train forum articles - 2005 to 2010. See below
Dilton Marsh - Good News And A Chocolate Teapot - 8055/13047 Written by Lee on Wednesday, 9th December 2009 In the new December 2009 timetable, the good news for Dilton Marsh is that it gains an extra southbound evening peak service. This will allow (for example) direct travel from Bristol Temple Meads at 1705, from Bath Spa at 1722 and from Trowbridge at 1739, arriving in Dilton Marsh at 1756, before terminating in Warminster at 1805, which will also help to spread the load of passengers to that station which normally crowd the 1722 service from Bristol and Bath. Dilton Marsh passengers will also have a useful southbound connection into the 1630 Cardiff-Portsmouth service by changing at Warminster. There is also a new short working from Warminster-Westbury, whch will depart from Warminster at 1818 and arrive in Westbury at 1826. Potentially (by changing at Warminster) this could allow passengers to Dilton Marsh to depart from Southampton Central at 1710, from Romsey at 1721, and from Salisbury at 1741, before connecting into the new Warminster-Westbury service, thus greatly improving the northbound evening peak service offer at Dilton Marsh. The new Warminster-Westbury service could also provide a useful northbound connection for Dilton Marsh passengers into the 1838 Westbury-Cheltenham Spa service. There is a problem, though. The 1818 Warminster-Westbury service will not be calling at Dilton Marsh, despite the journey time being exactly the same as other services between Warminster-Westbury that do call at Dilton Marsh. Chocolate teapot anyone? Re: Dilton Marsh - Good News And A Chocolate Teapot - 8055/13048 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Wednesday, 9th December 2009 [quote author=Lee link=topic=8055.msg13047#msg13047 date=1260371648] There is also a new short working from Warminster-Westbury, whch will depart from Warminster at 1818 and arrive in Westbury at 1826. Potentially (by changing at Warminster) this could allow passengers to Dilton Marsh to depart from Southampton Central at 1710, from Romsey at 1721, and from Salisbury at 1741, before connecting into the new Warminster-Westbury service, thus greatly improving the northbound evening peak service offer at Dilton Marsh. The new Warminster-Westbury service could also provide a useful northbound connection for Dilton Marsh passengers into the 1838 Westbury-Cheltenham Spa service. There is a problem, though. The 1818 Warminster-Westbury service will not be calling at Dilton Marsh, despite the journey time being exactly the same as other services between Warminster-Westbury that do call at Dilton Marsh. Chocolate teapot anyone? [/quote] Here are some possible reasons: 1. It's considered to be an empty stock working, returning the train that's newly extended to Warminster back to Westbury, and there has been no thought of anyone actually wanting to use it 2. Although its timing is the same in the public timetables, perhaps it includes more recovery time which they really don't want to eat into (is there something close behind?) 3. Is it run with a longer distance unit with slower acceleration, so that a slow down, potential stop, restart would cost more? 4. Is there a deliberate intend to avoid rebuilding the significant flow between Dilton Marsh and Salisbury 5. Would the cost of brakeblocks be more that the cost of stopping it occasionally? 6. Does the conductor not have a ticket machine, so that the train should not call at a station without a ticket machine where it's likely to pick people up? 7. Is there a new hourly TransWilts service to be introduced next May which will provide a direct service from Salisbury to Dilton Marsh to Swindon at about this time? Realistically, my betting would be on (1) and I think that - if it's important and justified - FGW could be persuaded to change their mind. The 18:31 (Sundays) Swindon to Westbury was an example where an ECS working became a train that stops at all stations and now does a thriving business. OK - it was packed last Sunday (Santa Special) but actually there were - my estimate - some 30 or so people who were NOT in our party on the train ... adding to the traffic to the extent that we're questioning whether the Santa Special ticket sales will have to be trimmed back if we can only have a 2 car unit. Re: Dilton Marsh - Good News And A Chocolate Teapot - 8055/13049 Written by Lee on Thursday, 10th December 2009 1) Definate possibility. 2) The Portsmouth-Cardiff service behind it calls at Warminster at 1801, so that's a 17 minute gap. Would the service really be that late on a regular basis in the Mark Hopwood era? 3) The 1818 would be formed with the same unit as the one that would have called at Dilton Marsh at 1756. This would also rule out 5 & 6) Other services with an 8-minute journey time between Warminster-Westbury calling at Dilton Marsh are provided with longer-distance units. Furthermore these continue northbound, unlike the 1818 which terminates at Westbury. You could argue that the southbound service would be expected to be (a) mostly set down and (b) have significant traffic for Dilton Marsh from Bristol/Bath whereas the northbound would have a different metric, but what do you do on the southbound service if somebody does get on at Dilton Marsh, and wants a ticket? There's a good connection at Warminster onto the Cardiff-Portsmouth service, which would be ideal for an evening out in (say) Salisbury or Southampton (both of which have ticket barriers), especially as there is a late return train to Dilton Marsh. Just the sort of thing a CRP could promote, in fact... In reality, we dont know what type of unit they are planning to use on the service. I'll be finding out for myself on my upcoming travels though, so I'll let you know. 4) Possible. You could argue that the same reasoning applies with the Sunday southbound TransWilts service. This has been put back to 1819 from Swindon, thereby making the southbound connection at Westbury significantly worse. Re: Dilton Marsh - Good News And A Chocolate Teapot - 8055/13050 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Thursday, 10th December 2009 You mention TransWilts connections at Westbury. Southbound, they're through trains from (north of) Swindon to (south of) Salisbury on Monday to Friday - and so they should be and they should be through trains northbound, too!. It's the TransWilts, it was taken over by First as a through service in both directions and a lot of people used to use it for some of those longer journeys from the South Coast to Chippenham and Swindon ... there were some very clever people at Wessex Trains who provided a thin but very effective timetable on a minimum budget, and it's surprising just how close we keep coming to their service when we ask "what would be ideal with just 4 or 5 trains a day?" Northbound connections at Westbury? You could argue they're random - not planned. You could argue (on Sundays especially) that they're operationally convenient and passenger inconvenient - "clear the Swindon out before the Cardiff arrives ... Re: Dilton Marsh - Good News And A Chocolate Teapot - 8055/13053 Written by Lee on Thursday, 17th December 2009 I have received a very positive message from FGW, which indicates that they are looking very seriously at addressing the issue of a stop at Dilton Marsh in the 1818 Warminster-Westbury service. Fair play to them, and watch this space. Re: Dilton Marsh - Good News And A Chocolate Teapot - 8055/13054 Written by Lee on Saturday, 19th December 2009 - The new 1705 service from Bristol is worked by a Class 150 unit. - They were working on the platforms at Dilton Marsh on Friday morning. Re: Dilton Marsh - Good News And A Chocolate Teapot - 8055/13057 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Tuesday, 22nd December 2009 Perhaps we should change "Chocolate teapot" into "Porcelain teapot" ... this looks like it could, indeed, be small but never the less very good news on the return trip. Re: Dilton Marsh - Good News And A Chocolate Teapot - 8055/13079 Written by Lee on Thursday, 11th February 2010 FGW have confirmed that a stop at Dilton Marsh in the 1818 Warminster-Westbury service has been approved & bid for May 2010 Re: Dilton Marsh - Good News And A Chocolate Teapot - 8055/13088 Written by admin (Graham Ellis) on Monday, 1st March 2010 Excellent news, Lee ... very significantly, this new service provided a connection from Salisbury to Dilton Marsh leaving Salisbury at just after 17:30 and restores a practical commutable flow. 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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