October 23rd late morning, a Friday, one of the Oxford trains at Bath Spa. Many people on the platform boarding what was already a rather busy five carriage train. If this was representative of how this new service has found its feet, it's very positive, but what a capacity-constrained system that providing even this service deploys trains that GWR doesn't really have.

 
6. Paddington ex-Metropolitan / Hammersmith & City / Circle (new-fangled spiral) line westbound platform, looking towards the magnificent mainline trainshed.

 

Isn't this at least partly due to committing to new routes where the need for additional stock was not factored in (ie Bristol- Oxford), and also having to use IETs on routes where other stock should be being used?

So there's a lot of robbing Peter to pay Paul? 

 
1: Paris Gare de Lyon (the "mezzanine area").

 

We - thank goodness, being dressed in clothes for a warmer clime, were able to access the waiting room at the London end of the platform and await our connection there, then keep warm for just under 20 minutes more on the train to Melksham (had to wait for the single line).   Cold walk home through the town;  I did check "myTrip" to see if there was a bus nearby  - there was, but it was already past the top of station approach ...

 

The station adoption group were told they probably would not have access to their noticeboard behind the scaffolding until the end of February.

 
It's like that all along all both in-use platforms, and at least some of the unused one, and has been for a few weeks now - lots more warnings about standing behind the yellow line due to the reduced platform width. Anyone know how long the work is scheduled to take?

And 2 is Melksham, obviously

 
And we now have an exact opening date!  Monday 23rd November!

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/date-set-opening-new-brabazon-11231137

 
9.  Chippenham. 

 
The final couple of days - Med to Melksham.  Most pictures should be recognisable, though one (or 4!) is a "stuving special" 

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Pravia ... our day ended there not be initial choice, but because of a failed connection into the last train of the day leaving us short. 

 
Pre-booking was a good idea - we had a few days there in September (not school holidays) and none were available.

The minibus trip round the island was good, and we enjoyed our stay (based in The Tregarthen hotel).

 
The 158s at Exeter were supposed to be released by the 175s long ago which would have taken over their diagrams for Barnstaple and on Exeter-Penzance mainline.

The 175s have taken over, subject to units failing, the HST diagrams and the Plymouth-Liskeard shuttle.

Newquay hasn't seen a 175 since August. A 150 has been used as the second train to give the service some reliability. A 150 did fail on Tuesday and Newquay had a 2 hour service all day.

 
From the North Cotswold board, but for wider comment


As a more general thing, we were at Paddington in the peak hour on Wednesday at the peak hour, and noted several trains being called as short formed down to 5 carriages, and on several we were told that there were no catering facilities.  There was a significantly late departure of the Great Malvern train, and neither my ticket nor Lisa's would operate the automatic barrier and we required staffing assistance to get through.  Things are not as we were lead to expect that they would be when the HSTs were being replaced.   Having said which, the staff were exemplary on the barrier and in offering to help us onto (and later off) the train, which ran on time to Chippenham.

Issues are not unique to the British system, mind you, and we experienced delays in every country we had been through.   Only one of those was significant, as a 45 minute late arrival into Ovideo meant that we had missed the 25 minute onward connection to the second (and last) train of the day to Navia and Ferrol.   Paddington to Chippenham on time, and we left there on time towards Melksham but had to wait for the single line.  Some things happen all too often!

 

How are we doing on Welsh 158s?  Can they come, please, without the normal 2 years in a field?  And can we retain enough of the other old stuff as they arrive to have capacity to handle "more trains that normal require repair at the same time"?

 
From Mozilla Status Codes


You may see something like this if you are an automata ...



If you ARE real, and looking for our coffee (not tea, not hot chocolate, and not hot orange juice, port or sangria) and get this message, please let me know.

 

Or is he about to bow out?

 
Recycled/refurbished/resold/reused somehow please if the bike is legal to use. Crushing may be dramatic but is a horrible waste!

 
Further to my post above......................on the same cruise, we spent a day in the Scilly Isles (St Mary's). We had pre-booked an electric golf cart for the day.  A great way to get round the island and "green" transport as well - recommended.

 
I'm going to put a word in here for The Great Western in Wolverhampton

Smack outside the GW Wolverhampton Low Level Station, as was (now an "events space") and a short walk from the now only station called Wolverhampton

Fantastic.  Atmosphere.  Railway theme.  Genuine pub.  Real beers.

https://www.publocation.uk/pubs/west-midlands/wolverhampton/the-great-western

 
There have been a fair number of five car short-forms this week including:

0523 Hereford to Paddington - Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
0818 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday
0953 Paddington to Hereford - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday
1953 Paddington to Hereford - Monday, Wednesday and Thursday

and for today can also add the 1453 Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street service and return run which is usually a nine car these days, and the busy 1734 Paddington to Hereford train.

 
Fines in isolation are useless; anybody convicted of these offences should have their eBike confiscated and crushed. And the same should apply to pedal cycle users.

 
As usual the answer is probably 'it depends'.

For us the bus fare cap, whether £2 or £3, would have made no difference, and we would still be using the train between DIG & EXC for city centre trips. For these journeys we now use the bus purely because of our qualification for the National Bus Pass.
For journeys involving rail travel beyond EXC or EXD we still always use the train from/to DIG.

Current 'daytime' situation DIG<>EXC:
Bus: Single £3, Return £6, Home to bus stop walk 3 minutes, journey time 25-35 minutes depending on which of 3 available services is used, 2 of the services are opposing circulars running every 20 minutes while the third is an 'out & back' running half-hourly. The 2 circular routes depart the local stop at almost exactly the same time.
Train: Single £4.00 (£2.65 Railcard), Return £4.50 (£2.95 Railcard), Home to station walk 8 minutes, journey time 6-8 minutes (alternate services run non-stop DIG<>EXC), the service is essentially half-hourly clockface.

The train service punctuality (86.9%) & reliability (96.9%) - latest monthly snapshot data -  is generally pretty good. Overcrowding is very rare.
The bus service suffers from driver shortage cancellations, but this metric is improving, and delays due to the general level of road congestion in Exeter.

 
If GWR had the patience with the 769s, now languishing in a field at Long Marston, that they have with the 175s the turbos at Reading would have gone west by now.

The 150s are not going to be replaced by 175s or a BEMU.

 


.................only if he follows up by saying what he's going to do about it.

 
Strong stuff! Wouldn't expect to hear that sort of language from a minister - a good sign?

 
Cancellations to services between Bourne End and Marlow

Due to a points failure between Bourne End and Marlow all lines are closed.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

 
Thank you. The bus sounds quite appealing so I’ll look into that.

 
Is that pub / Tap still on Denmark Hill station n London - that was the best in the south east by far - and a major contender for the England No 1

 
Forget rail.
It jeopardises the financial viability of bus services themselves. 40 passengers at £2 for an hour or two journey doesn’t cover the costs of the bus
It destroys commercial viability, and will push even the busiest routes into needed subsidy.