This is the first of perhaps 3 posts in this series - the overall day comprising 3 national network trains, 4 journeys on heritage buses, one rail replacement taxi, and eight miles of walking.

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New Year's Day - and the first opportunity to use public transport in the year, get some fresh air, and update my "state of the system" knowledge. 1st January is a unique day when most trains run to a normal weekday timetable, but (except in a few isolated cases) don't - not even a Sunday service.

Quiet and dark as I walked through the centre of Melksham just before 7 a.m. ... no-one else around, except for a person sleeping 'rough' in the meagre shelter provided by the entrance to Haines and Smith.  The Christmas lights twinkled through the town.  Apart from a handful of cars, the first and only person I passed on foot was walking into town in front of Cooper Tires.  I walked out to the station to the north west of the town, through the well lit subway and past the huge Merry Christmas artwork in the spiral ramp back up from it.  Station Approach, the cul-de-sac past businesses closed for the holiday, and the minivans for the SEND school all parked up in the station car park.  I arrived at the station about 5 minutes before the first train of the year was due - 07:21 - showing that it was expected at 07:23 which was going to be tight for the 4 minute change atChippenham into the Bristol train.  I collected my pre-booked ticket from the ticket machine.

Also at the station, the railway's maintenance crew, I suspect salting but certainly litter picking.  And two others waiting for the train ... another person appeared from somewhere just after me.  Then the on-platform display switch to "delayed" for our train.  No indication of why, or by how much, and no advice for passengers.  The data IS there to tell you if you know where to look online, and I did so, surmising that an early running Network Rail works train due after the passenger train had passed though a few minutes earlier, and was stopped before the junction to join the main London line at Thingley, no doubt waiting for a gap in which it could run between faster trains on that line, and in turn preventing out train following up even as far as Melksham because it'a s long single "section" and one train has to be onto the London line at Thingley before the next one is allowed to enter at Bradford Junction.  Public data showed our train waiting just to the north of Trowbridge.

Departure display changed to "07:33" ... train appeared at that time and we set off at 07:34.  Four of us had joined, four other passengers already on the train which are tiny numbers compared to the usual day.  I was reminded of the passenger count done by a Wiltshire Councillor on the first days of the new year a decade or so ago, and how that data was used to help him defund a public bus service. Please do not use my count from 1st January as evidence of anything other than how few people were using it that special morning.





No staff seen on train. No ticket check. No further delays. As we approached Chippenham, now on double track, passed a long train going "the other way" - that was the Bristol train I had hoped to connect onto.   Checking back, it was 7 minutes late ... we were 12 minutes late, so it didn't work out.  I asked the platform dispatcher if I had missed the Bristol train, and he told me that I had but it wasn't supposed to be a connection anyway.  Which at least gave me a change to grab a coffee, except ...

Over the bridge to the Hearty Hare, closed (I presume) just for the New Year. Three staff on the barriers - that makes a total of 4 at CPM - not quite outnumbering passengers.  At least gave me a chance to network; it seems that with them the Westbury service "often doesn't turn up" and that they are frequently arranging alternative transport.  The snack machine on the platform is no longer there, but I was assured there would be a trolley on the train to Bristol in about half an hour, or that I might be able to walk across the car park to Sainsbury's and get one there.

An opportunity taken to look around and, perhaps for the first time, I noticed that that the canopy over all three platforms has at some stage been cut back, with stanchions sticking out but no covering; the gable ends remain complete though is places clearly in need of some TLC.  The changes are not recent ones, and I suspect that they date from the time that the third platform was taken out of use or even earlier, with the middle platform having a bay cut out to the east - later restored to a full with platform but now with no canopy over it.





Anyway - the 08:09 to Bristol rolls in - a 9 carriage train and even quieter than the train up from Melksham. I was waiting "forward" and got into the second carriage - lovely and warm, and on my own in that carriage, front carriage empty too.  Even before the train pulled out, my ticket was checked; I actually celebrate such checking as it helps discourage fare evasion, and glad to see that the gent checking knew that it was a bank holiday so that off peak was valid.  In hindsight, now sure how detailed he looked.   Certainly did not advise me of my "Avonmouth connection" at Temple Meads.

No sign in the train of that trolley (as told would be there by Chippenham Gateline).  Uneventful journey to Bristol Temple Meads, note that hardly anyone waiting for the train at Bath. At Bristol, the train pulled right through the station and terminated at the far end of platform 12; rather more people around waiting to join it as the 09:00 to London. WHSmiths open in the subway, pasty shop not though shutters half up so was planning to open.  Ticket worked barrier correctly / returned to me (as it was in theory a break of journey on my way to Avonmouth).

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Bristol Temple Meads.  Around half an hour to wait for the New Years Day only special heritage bus service 376 to Wells and Street - but where does it go from? The bus departure screen at the station showing only Airport Flyer services, for the airport and for the bus station. And a service was there, picking up a few people.  Taxis aplenty, but the pick up / drop off spaces very quiet.  And well down the ramp, an oldish looking double decker, "Sorry not in service" and a driver sitting in there. But then there was about half an hour until the bus was due (at 09:11), so fair enough.



Just before 9, I noted someone else hopping on the bus and it left; I was pretty sure it was not headed for Wells, but rather the bus station for the 09:00 start in the timetable. Would he come back onto the station approach in quarter of an hour?  An educated guess took me to the stop (T1) on the main road where I assumed that the 376 usually runs from, and indeed an A4 poster had been put up there to say it was where the New Years Day service was running from. An old boy (help - must have been about my age) comes along and we chat; re-assures me that this is the right stop, and tells me that 1 of the two vehicles to run the 09:11 service broke down during the week and may not be there. He bemoans that he had not known earlier as he (a former driver who often goes to these events) could have borrowed another bus from the day.   We chat about the economics of heritage bus running, the Stagecoach collection that was reduced, getting spare parts for old vehicles and more. I learned quite a bit - heritage buses and their operation is not my "thing" / hobby, but good to see those for whom it is.

31753 - old First bus in preservation and the one that had been on station approach pulls in ... 4 or 5 of us get on.  It's a free ride, but donations welcome. I take a seat upstairs - perhaps 30 of us on the bus as we head out towards Wells.

Stopping here and there on the way, we pick up more passengers as we head out through Bristol.  If I "characterise", most might be described as 'anoraks', mostly male.  A mother plus adult son join us for a while at an intermediate stop, and get off again along the way.  Some people know each other; others remaining aloof and perhaps felt to awkward to engage.

And so - Pensford, Thorpe Cloud, Chewton Mendip and Wells.  The 376 runs along the main road all the way - not a service that also doubles as the service that provides transport for housing estates by diverting through them at the expense of journey time as we see at home in Wiltshire.  And so into Wells, where we pull in to the Bus Station alongside a number of other somewhat more historic vehicles.  There are onward services via Glastonbury to Street, but I had decided to stop for an our or two in Wells - "the smallest city in England".

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Wells - not been there for many years, and I took the opportunity to wander around.   The Town Centre was busy with pedestrians - people out to on New Years Day and Coffee shops open for the most part, though other shops closed. The old buildings, swans on the moat of the Bishop's Palace and the Cathedral quite out of scale with the size of the city make it an attractive destination, and I expanded my "what can I see in an hour" standard to a second hour, together (at last) with having that coffee I had been hankering for since Chippenham. The cafe I chose had a line of electric points and I downloaded pictures from my phone to my laptop, and charged the phone a bit.

Another day and a longer trip at some point, and in summer when it's warmer and the days are longer, and it might be worth a paid visit to The Palace. For New Year's Day, very expensive per minute just for a quick walk through, but I did stroll out of town onto the Tor for some pictures.

 
Part 2 - And so onward ... from the bus station in Wells on the Lodekka that claimed to be the "23A to Imber" but really was headed for Street via Glastonbury.  Ticket, free of charge, issued by the conductress as we joined this back entrance bus.  Big step up - these were vehicles from before the days of universal access and that's probably why they can't make it a chargeable public service.  Lovely old bus - seems to be in better condition and cleaner than modern ones.  Old feature like cigarette stubbers remain. Bus dates, I think I saw, from 1959. Not full, but pleasantly enough room for everyone.





Glastonbury was on my list of places to (re)visit after many years, Street less so so I bailed at the Town Hall - don't think anyone else got off or on; very much a bus on this leg of the journey for the ride. 

Like at Wells, I decided not to spend money looking around the Abbey; something for a different time of year, and on a more relaxed schedule.  Plan was an hour in Glastonbury, looking in shop windows and taking in the Bohemian vibes of the place.  The organic food supermarket.  The clothes shops for the camping and outdoor life.   The tarot card readers, the witchcraft shop and the natural birthing centre.   Many of the things we lack in Melksham, even though Melksham has twice the population.











Glastonbury Tor is a conical hill about a mile from the town, set in the Somerset Levels.  I climbed the 500 feet via the "back way" - public footpath from the town to the roofless tower of St Michael's church on the top.  It's so steep that there are steps, and the even then the path needs to zigzag back and forth as it wraps around the hill.

Not really much "public transport" connection here.  I met a Scotsman from London as we walked up, both stopping to admire the view and recover our breaths. I asked him how he came to be in Glastonbury.  "How did you get here?"  "I drove - wouldn't trust public transport" and he looked at me as if I was wildly brave by doing so. "Too unreliable" he told me.





The top of Glastonbury Tor is lovely - and was also crowded out crowded - to the extent that it reminded me of pictures I've seen of Ayers Rock where the public have now been restricted / banned because of wear.    And this was 1st January - I don't think it's a "special" day there, and certainly not the holiday season. Many people probably local - lots of families.  But also a noticeable load of accents which suggested to me that there are many people around who were not raised locally.



Back down the "front way" - standing aside to let people up, and faster people downhill pass.  Everyone very positive.  I did wonder as we got towards the bottom whether everyone would have time to get up and back before dark, but I am aware there's a full moon at present.



There sheer numbers of people and - I suspect - I was the only one to arrive in Glastonbury that day by public transport and walk up to the Tor - says volumes to me.   The car park at the bottom of the tour was jammed and doing a roaring trade at £4 (3 hours) or £6 (all day) and the coffee van was doing a roaring trade to warm up people as they came off the hill.   I walked on into town - other pedestrians traffic down to a handful again.  Journey home post to follow.

 
Part 3 - Homeward Bound.  The timetable suggested buses home from Glastonbury Town Hall at 14:14, 14:44, 15:14 and final bus of the day at 15:44 - but as I walked down Glastonbury High Street towards the Town Hall, one passed my headed where I wanted to go, at around 14:30.  Odd - 15 minutes late, perhaps?

This was where I felt the real lack of a tracker - no way to know what was going on / whether the 14:44 would be on time.  I got to the designated stop for the 14:44 some 5 to 10 minutes before it was due.  The Town Hall clock suggested I had 15 minutes to wait - turns out to have been significantly slow (can't rely even on official clocks these days!).  The bus stop looked uncared for; some dusty posters including departures of 373, 374, 375 and 376 to Bristol no indication of different routes, and three columns of data - "Monday to Friday", "Saturday" and "Sunday and Bank Holidays".  Times clear enough.

A chap with a small (day) rucksack comes along and looks at the Sunday column, and I take it upon myself to tell him that the only bus running today is the heritage bus; he thanks me for the information I give him from the Facebook page I had printed before the trip. "That will do then"; I ask him if he wants to get back from Wells, and when he confirms that he does I tell him that last bus is 15:05 - leaving before he will get there.  He decides to postpone his trip to the next day.

A lady with a large double buggie and two children running around comes and looks at the timetable. Again, I take it upon myself to tell her that it's only the heritage bus today.  She thinks - "Oh good - that will be an adventure for them". By that time, the bus going the other way to Street had passed, on time at 14:53, and I knew it was the same vehicle due to return at 15:14.  "Will I be able to get the buggie on" she asked nervously - "I really don't want to have to walk all the way back up to the top of town".  I re-assured her that there probably would be no level access, but I'm sure a way would be found.

And indeed - at 15:14 - up rolls the bus.  Steps up!  For, I suspect, the first time in its life the pushchair is folded, lifted up, and stacked awkwardly in the luggage, with the driver asking it not lean against the window.  Mum, sheepdog-like encourages her two little lambs onto the bus, we grab seats and off we go. Conductress comes along with a box of sweets. (Why can't we have sweets given out to passengers on our local bus).  But then "how do I stop the bus to get off" and I suggest having a word with the conductress who's standing with the driver.  Mum goes up, asks for her stop by name and I hear a slightly tetchy comment from the driver "I don't known the route - you'll have to tell me where that is". And indeed she does, bus stops, mum and children get off.

It's very interesting to observe that even with prior publicity from bus operators, there were multiple assumption they were running - and that was just one stop.  Others were looking for regular buses at Bristol before we left, and also at Wells bus station.  Probably a pattern the region over!



15:14 back to Wells - "Everyone off - we terminate here" at 15:29 ... and it turns out to be the same vehicle at 15:47 for Bristol.  Different crew.  And a pretty much uneventful run, getting dark along the way.  Arrived 16:45 - so about 15 late - at the bottom of Temple Meads station approach; not sure why we late - probably the older bus being driven gently; no great issue as I came towards the final part of the journey.

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My plan had been to catch the 17:00 to Chippenham, arrive around 17:30, change to the 17:50 to Melksham, arrive 18:00.  I had already noted than the following option - change at Trowbridge - was bustituted from Trowbridge and I was not keen on that option, as waiting around at an unstaffed station for rail replacement isn't my idea of fun.

But then, due to a safety check at Oldfield Park, the 17:00 was going to run without calls at Bath and Chippenham, and it was far from clear to me that the train via Trowbridge would actually be running, and if it did whether the rail replacement bus would be caught.  No Faresaver buses from Bath to Melksham on New Year's day - so no safety net.



A mixture of broken down train and lack of staff reasons were being given for the Swindon to Westbury shuttles being cancelled - and indeed the 17:50 connection I wanted from Chippenham had also just flashed up "cancelled" on journey check as the bus reached Bristol.  So - plan "D" or was it "E"? - the 17:00 nonstop to Swindon, then the 18:44 to Melksham - still running and a physically different train to the one broken down, 19:10 into Melksham and a lot more assured than a dubious train and a bus/taxi that was only due in about 19:00 anyway.

I asked the guy on the BRI gateline for his advice, and the look it up and suggested train to Trowbridge and train to Melksham.  I queried this, as I understood it to be a bus from Trowbridge and he looked again and confirmed that to be the case.  I asked him if I could go via Swindon and he confirmed that I could; I pointed out my ticket was "via Bath Spa" but he assured me it would be accepted via Swindon in the circumstances. 

And so I joined the 17:00 - "this train will not call at Bath Spa or Chippenham this evening".  We pulled out a couple of minutes late.  On board announcement -"sorry we're a couple of minutes late, but a late change of plan, we're going via Bath and Chippenham after all". Further announcement as we approached Bath - "sorry we're been running a bit slower than normal - but we've been on the other track that's normally used for trains headed to Bristol". And indeed we crossed over, normal platform at, no-one got off (I wonder why!) but some go on. And so on to Chippenham.

At Chippenham ... screen shown 17:50 to Westbury cancelled (and also the 17:37 to Taunton cancelled which would have been alternative for Trowbridge and beyond via a change at Bath).  Once 17:37 had passed, the display changed to show the first train, cancelled, being the Westbury, and there was an announcement that "The 17:50 to Westbury has been cancelled and your next fastest train is the 19:00 from platform 1".  Nothing incorrect there - 19:00 WAS the next train - but no suggestion made to seek assistance if you didn't want to wait for over an hour.



I went over to the gateline - manned with two staff in addition to the dispatcher on the platform - and asked for their advise for Melksham. They are clearly well used to this. Another couple waiting too.  Taxi came in from Trowbridge - must have been substituted for the train due in the other direction at 16:48, and the driver stated that his instructions were to go on to Swindon and then return vi Chippenham and Melksham to Trowbridge. Staff pointed out that he wasn't carrying anyone and some trains were running to Swindon so he could turn round, but he declined; I think he carried on as he had been booked.  Another taxi arrived, this time a local Chippenham one ordered by the GWR central team, and after checking that it was after 17:50, us three passengers got in and we were taken to Melksham - arrival 18:14 at the station.  With all that was going on, not too bad an outcome. 

For locals to Melksham, I was amused that the driver's Satnav took him down Dunch Lane and then Southbrook road to get him to the station. And I was please to see that he stopped at the station and checked on the platform for onward passengers to Trowbridge.  Being a Bank Holiday and on the meter, GWR will be invoiced for £44.25 just for that one leg. I don't know how much the other couple had paid but they were on their way home from Bath / usually bus users and I suspect the man had gone along to support his wife who had to work the day. My ticket from Melksham - Melksham to Avonmouth off peak return with disabled rail card - had cost me £8.70, and I suspect the couple had each paid £10.70 for an undiscounted off peak return, so that taxi fare alone put GWR into a loss. Shows the cost of rail replacement; but really GWR should have enough train crew and enough operational trains to make this sort of thing a rarity!



In Summary - 3 trains, 4 bus rides (3 different vehicles), one rail replacement taxi.  15 minutes late into Melksham.  Many "state of public transport" experiences shared above, many learning points; while some were specific to New Years Day, others certainly were not.

 
Sounds like my kind of day out.  Travelling solo and free to change plans on the hoof, as it were.

Regarding the canopies at Chippenham.   A lot of them were removed last summer after concern at the amount of corrosion in the metalwork holding them up.  Network Rail do plan to replace them when funds allow.   I am not sure if they are still there, but the removed woodwork was neatly stacked at the country end of the disused platform.

 

That's interesting... when I got stranded at Westbury last year I was told that a policy decision had been made to only use Bath Taxis for replacement rail services. It often used to be the case that the station staff would call local (mainly Westbury or Trowbridge) taxi companies for runs to Melksham (and beyond), but apparently Bath Taxis were the only company they were now allowed to book. Which meant a much longer wait for us passengers stuck at Westbury.

Sounds like that ruling has been rescinded now if Chippenham staff can use local services. Or maybe it's unique to Westbury?

 

Station staff at Chippenham did not (and it was implied cannot) use a local taxi themselves - taxis need to be book, authorised centrally as I sorta-understood it.   However, he was Chippenham based (may work from there for Bath Taxis?)    It was, thank goodness, a much much shorter wait, and one that was better informed and more friendly, than would have been a wait at Trowbridge with just a help point.