We're just down the road in Whitley, and yes, it woke me up at about 1:50. But it was 'just' heavy rain I think and a pretty impressive light show. Only distant thunder; wouldn't like to have been in the middle of it. I left the house early this morning; my wife texted me to say she had heard about the hail from a friend in Melksham, and was going to go out and check the cars later. Certainly lots of greenery on the pavements as I got closer to the station.

 
On May 12 NHS Haematology told me that I needed an iron infusion. Remembering a long wait for one in 2023, I contacted a private hospital in Reading who offered  me an appointment with a consultant in mid-June with a view to an infusion in mid-July. So last Friday I emailed the Oxford Iron Clinic which uses facilities at the John Radcliffe Hospital in NE Oxford. I had a telephone consultation on Tuesday and the offer of an infusion this morning (Thursday).

I indulged in an excess of working out the best way to get there. Three years ago I'd taken the train to Didcot and then a bus direct to the hospital that took about 50 minutes through some boring industrial estates and then the centre of Oxford.

I even contemplated driving to the John Radcliffe, but its car-park can get very full, and I remembered my cousin, a former commander of a Royal Navy ship, collecting me from there three years ago.  "Why are we driving through Oxford," I asked (rather than joining the Eastern ring road) . "I took the wrong turning," he admitted.  And he was using Satnav, which eventually took us on a ridiculous route, including crossing over the Whitchurch toll-bridge (luckily he had a few coins with him). 

So I considered other routes, including parking in Dorchester-on-Thames and waiting at the bypass  for the Rapid Rivers X40 bus into Oxford (it starts in Reading and spends two hours winding its way through villages.)  Then I realised that it was half-term and that I could very reasonably park close to the school on the old main road in Crowmarsh Gifford and catch the X40 from a stop a hundred yards away.

An hour after I'd concluded that was my best and most pleasant option, a letter arrived from the NHS offering me an infusion on June 10 at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, served by a convenient bus route from Tilehurst. So I cancelled today's appointment and await a promised refund.

 

Looking at what happened to the Transwilts service last night, if you'd waited any longer you may well still be travelling now!

 
BTW I think they cleared that broken down freight train fairly promptly; it might have been better to stay at BTM and wait for the next 'normal' Melksham route via Bath instead of hopping on the diverted 17:29. Can't be bothered to check, might not like the answer

 
Depends on your definition of 'useful'...

Thanks - yes, got to Swindon in plenty of time, and caught the (late running) Taunton service to Chippenham in case the Westbury one was cancelled. It wasn't, although it did run about 10 mins late, so ended up at Melksham at 19:18, 78 mins later than the train I should have been on. It felt like longer

Will try the 17:12 Bristol-Oxford again this evening; fingers crossed...

 
I hope you got... somewhere useful yesterday evening.

Mark

 
27th May - Arnhem to Sankt Polten, changing at Augsburg and Salzburg.   Three International trains - the Amsterdam to Munich service, followed by the Stuttgart to Graz train (both DB operated) and the Innsbruck to Bratislava train, by RailJet. The Salzburg change was supposed to be just seven minutes but we had an extra quarter of and hour. Contrary to current reputation, DB were on time whereas RailJet had been held up somewhere.

Google tells me the distance is 991 kms

 

Don't know ... hoping to get a report  .   I went up to Devizes on the bus to see the film there, but it was "booked attendees only" and full, and I was turned away at the door, then last night's showing in Melksham was organised after the trip away I'm currently on.  The Melksham Environment Group had use of the huge Assembly Hall and I can't imagine there was a capacity issue here; traction on marketing was less than gripping, and the date chosen clashed with the Area Board which is required attendance for unitary councillors and other movers and shakers too.

 

Interestingly, the final train of the day appears to have run, but that is indeed a formal acknowledgement.  I would tend to ask if GWR has bitten off more than it can chew with the extra trains running Bristol - Oxford and Par - Newquay for the last 10 days, and is prioritising those.  However, there were cancellations on both of those services as well yesterday.

Rolling stock and heat issues are getting a lot of the blame with it being the "hottest May on record" but I do note that it's a May record and not a year-round record, so is that something of a more generic excuse that about trains not coping with the new UK weather patterns?

Rather off "Melksham" I got a phone call from Keynsham yesterday, where passengers had been waiting "an hour and a half" for a train and "could not get through to National Enquires".  Old people and babies waiting ... no information about what was happening ... trains flashing through non-stop but nothing calling.   It would appear that after the 14:11 called (at 14:20), the 14:49 was cancelled (though Real Time Trains was just showing nothing for it while this was ongoing) and then the 15:11 had failed to show as well - in turned out that it had got stuck at Temple Meads for 25 minutes and then skipped stations including Keynsham ... presumably to make up time ... the next train due at 15:52 did eventually call, more or less on time.   Good illustration of the lack of customer support / information that reaches people as things go wrong.

This morning ...

 
That's actually a very formal acknowledgement of their failure to provide a rail service at Melksham.

 
There is a cracking thunderstorm over Melksham now, with hailstones like golf balls also belting down.

 

Yes - on its opening day!

I posted this to the Coffee Shop in 2015...

 

In short, I suspect the only new wiring you'll see on GWR routes this decade is:
a) Any South Wales main line reliefs which weren't done originally, as part of the upgrade to 100mph running as part of the union connectivity works
b) Cardiff to Swansea - if the Welsh Assembly pay for it
c) Filton Jcn/Brabazon to Bristol Temple Meads - if WECA/Welsh Assembly/ YTL (Bristol Arena developers) fund it

I can't see anything happening at Oxford until the station rebuild is complete - in any case, the only real advantage would be that 387's could free up 80x.

Anything else really depends on having hybrid stock which can make use of it for charging. No chance the DfT will let GWR do that and even if GBR announce the start of procurement as they take over at the end of the year, there's little to no chance they'd be in service this decade. 

Mark Hopwood suggested that Filton to Bathampton electrification would enable battery-electric units to be able to do the Portsmouths and Weymouths, but there's little incentive to do it otherwise - the 80x are fine on diesel.

On that basis I can't see any branchline electrification this decade or next unless someone in GBR reckons it would save money reasonably quickly. .

 
Cancellations to services between Westbury and Swindon

Due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time between Westbury and Swindon fewer trains are able to run on the line.

Train services running through these stations have been cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
Due to a shortage of trains this evening, we have unfortunately had to suspend our Westbury to Swindon service, meaning Melksham station will not be served.

 

 
Alterations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a speed restriction because of high track temperatures between Reading and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run on all lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be running non stop between Reading and London Paddington. Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough will not be served.

 Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

 
Hopefully catch 18:45 from Swindon, Melksham 19:09. Although the speed we're going at the moment I'm not sure whether that's likely either...

 
Ha if only - broken down freight train between Bristol and Bath. So 17:29 first stop is Swindon - that's the only option really I think, and come back from there. Just departed Bristol.

 
Confirmed along with its return running......

17:12 Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford due 18:29
17:12 Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford due 18:29 has been cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time

19:04 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 20:16
19:04 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 20:16 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

 
Catching 17:12 from Bristol for first time today - well I was, but it's been cancelled (showing 'on time' at 17:12). Now on the 17:29 Paddington, was originally hoping to continue to Chippenham to still connect with the 18:00 Melksham service (just), but it's now 17:35 and we're not moving - 'delayed'.

So looks like plan C - get off at Bath, assuming we ever get there, and catch 18:15 Melksham bus, after walking/running up to the Hilton to catch it.

 
Being a resident of the Limpley Stoke area I was reading the most recent parish council meeting minutes and saw this:

Unitary Councillor for Winsley and Westwood Report- Mr Nigel White (NW) 
 
NW is still in discussion with Network Rail, Wiltshire Highways and
National Highways regarding the railway bridge problems. Signage on
the A36 needs to be bigger as vegetation is covering the very small
HGV warning sign.

Hopefully if enough people raise the issue with Network Rail they may act.

 
Sorry - post deleted
 
 

 
It is hard to get accurate figures for many stations on the route.   Looking back to Graham's post a few months back, Warminster is also served by trains to Gloucester.   Those services also call at Bradford-on-Avon alongside those to and from Weymouth.

Based on ticket sales the Cardiff/Portsmouth line as a whole is attracting around 57 to 61,000 passengers a month.    Since the turn of the year it has failed to reach pre-Covid levels.    Easy to speculate on reasons while sitting at a keyboard but are people put off by the prospect of standing?   We saw that in the days of the class 153s on the TransWilts.

 
For some strange and inexplicable reason, I do indeed happen to be in Melksham this evening.  

I'll be at the film viewing, dispensing some excellently produced public transport related timetable brochures to anyone else who is there, as well as watching the film.

Melksham Assembly Hall is just behind the Town Hall, on Market Place.

Chris from Melksham.

 
sounds a worthwhile cause. Do they propose any sensible solutions to the many problems we face.

 
Agreed - but would *still* be well below the previous highest customer number on other routes....

 
Although shortened to just Bristol Parkway to Fareham due to engineering work at both Severn tunnel and Portsmouth area, seem to be struggling to find sufficient units.

1F06 started with 165137, had to be swapped to a 158
1F09 just a 2 coach 158 (158747)
2F12 Bristol-Warminster cancelled due to unit being swapped
1F15 and 1F22 just a single 2 coach 158 (158766)

Roll on getting decent number of 175s in service, so some extra stock can be moved to Bristol area

 
Agreed although my somewhat unspoken point was that if the service is reliable people will use it.   There were less than 20 cancellations in April (with eight on one day).  This was preceded by a reasonable February and March where barring a car on the line and several attempts to demolish the bridge at Limpley Stoke, the reliability was markedly better than pre-Christmas.