The £41 fare quoted from Bristol Parkway is an off-peak day return routed via Warminster and Salisbury. The £54 fare quoted from Swindon is a super off-peak return, via any permitted route. The comparable fare (same ticket type and route) from Bristol Parkway is £67.20.

I remember these ticket types well from my student days. Network Awaybreak was the walk-up off-peak 5 day return in the former Network South East (NSE^▸ (Network South East)) area, launched some time in the 80s. NSE later introduced the Network Stayaway for longer distance flows (e.g. Waterloo - Exeter and Weymouth lines), which was similar but allowed return travel within one month. A bit like the old InterCity saver product. I don't know how long these products lasted beyond privatisation.

A minor refinement - the services from Paddington started in 1998 rather than 1988. Then Heathrow Connect was launched in 2005 (now operated by TfL^» (Transport for London - about) and hopefully to become fully part of Elizabeth Line some time in 2022)

Looking at Real Time Trains for December, it appears that the departures from Warminster at 0748, 1148 and 1552 attach to other trains at Salisbury and then continue to Waterloo.

The reality is that demand on longer distance services has fallen through the floor. I travelled on a short-formed 5 coach train from London yesterday, and was the only person in my carriage. Colleagues tell me that peak trains are deserted as many office workers move to home working. With a vast reduction in fare income, the train operators will have no choice but to cut operating costs dramatically. A member of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff told me that significant timetable thinning is under consideration.

Unfortunately the excellent A-Z departure poster at Frome station appears to have disappeared. I suspect it may be hidden under this poster concerning the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) industrial action, which affects a handful of weekday trains at Frome. Fortunately GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s Famous Five marketing poster is still on display.  (sorry the pic is rather large)

It seems to me that the causes of late running are largely predictable. For example: Students have turned up in September in previous years; the roadworks near Temple Meads were know about long in advance; general congestion due to volume of traffic happens each day. I can't believe that this was a surprise to the manager who went out to drive the bus. These factors all need to be taken into consideration when designing the timetable. The result would be longer (potentially much longer), more realistic journey times in the timetable, especially at peak times. The problem for the operator is that to maintain service frequency with longer journey times requires more vehicles in traffic. Sadly it appears that First are struggling to provide enough vehicles/drivers even for the current timetable.

Today's 1707 Paddington to Frome service was pipped at the post as the first IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) passenger service at the Berks and Hants stations by the 1807 on the same journey last Thursday (28/06). This was a substitute for the planned HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)), and was formed of 5 coaches. It managed some impressively short dwell times at the small stations, such that a 12 minute late departure from Reading was transformed into a right time arrival into Frome.

Absolutely agree, it's the attention to detail during major service alterations which can successfully mitigate the impact on many customers. As is common however, the service provision has not always been planned around the journeys people actually want to make. As an example, during the Berks and Hants blockade last time, I was waiting for a train at Westbury station early in the morning. A lady arrived and asked staff how she could get to Hungerford, her usual trains at 0616 and 0701 not running.

Well there is a rail replacement bus to Pewsey at 0645 arriving at 0735. However this terminates at Pewsey, and the passenger demand for such a service is such that a single taxi would probably be overprovision. There is also a rail replacement bus from Pewsey to Hungerford, unfortunately timed to leave five minutes before the bus from Westbury arrives. So a passenger flow with virtually zero demand (Westbury to Pewsey first thing in the morning) is served, whereas other flows with demonstrable demand (Westbury to Hungerford/Newbury) are not effectively served. From what I overheard, the lady in question was advised to travel to Reading via Bath (at least 90 minutes), and then pick up a bus taking nearly an hour to Hungerford. The usual journey time is about 35 minutes. This issue could easily have been mitigated with attention to such details in planning replacement services.

According to National Rail Enquiries app,four consecutive trains from Southampton to Westbury are cancelled this evening. 1842, 1910, 2010 and 2110. Might try another route home...

The cafe outside Frome Station gets plenty of trade from local trading units. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to open until after 8am, so they miss out on the trade from the 100+ rail passengers who use the departures between 0605 and 0802. They could probably get a bit of trade from those on the 1015, which often has 50+ passengers waiting on the platform (and more on Saturday for the 1007).

I have travelled in the past on both the 0524 and 0549 from Westbury as far as Salisbury, and indeed they are lightly loaded as one might expect. I would guess that the capacity of these trains is driven more by the expected loadings later in their circuits when they hit the morning peak. The 0524, when it terminates at Salisbury, attaches to a couple of SWT^▸ (South West Trains) trains to bring back to Westbury on the 0602 (and then there are various bits of detaching and shunting at Westbury). It looks as though not only is the GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) train short by a coach, but one of the SW trains is not being attached? This might cause problems later on.

Thanks, that's very useful.

I would add that the fares from Frome to London via Warminster/Salisbury are often cheaper than those from Westbury and Warminster. So, for example, the Off peak day return to Waterloo from Frome is £35.10 (same as Shirehampton), whereas from Westbury it's £40.90 super off peak or £50.90 off peak. In the morning I often get the 0640 from Westbury, which has a good connection at Salisbury for Waterloo. Many passengers boarding at Warminster purchase tickets originating from Frome (about £65 return instead of about £80).

I'd go for first available. In the case in question, it may be that some passengers would prefer to interchange at Chippenham than Trowbridge (step-free interchange, staffed platforms, reasonable waiting room), but I'm not sure what the comparative journey/waiting times are.

A passenger reading the ferry timetable might reasonably expect the connection to work:

https://www.calmac.co.uk/wemyss-bay-rothesay-bute-ferry-winter-timetable