2023 - Train update and amendment log - Swindon <-> Westbury

[whole diary]

[grahame]

It left Whatley at 05:32 rather than 04:20 ... I'll give you that it was held there until the line was re-opened. These things are always complex.  You could describe this particular failure to call, then, as
"Due to a failure of the signalling system"
"Due to congestion"
"Due to a failure to regulate such that timed passenger trains were prioritised"
"Due to failure to invest in enough capacity on the line"
"Due to a failure of the maintenance regime" ...
Or better as a combination of a number of them, as you would see in an accident report.  The superb news is that when something went wrong, the system was such to prevent an accident.

It doesn't really matter except that someone needs to take note and make real decisions in such a way that these things happen less often.

[TaplowGreen]

08:45 Swindon to Weymouth due 11:08
08:45 Swindon to Weymouth due 11:08 has been cancelled.

This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

08:45 Swindon to Weymouth due 11:08

08:45 Swindon to Weymouth due 11:08 has been cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

My disgust knows no bounds.

There are forty (four zero) people waiting at Melksham Station for a day trip to Weymouth who have been assured the train is running but 43 minutes late (initially) then that it is DEFININTELY running and 62 minutes late.

Inside information (not told to passengers) suggests a fire at Reading 3 hours ago ... which should have given plenty of time ...

I am at a loss what to do / say when people ask "what's the point of having a station because 'this' is always happening" - "why not knock it down and build houses, that would be more useful".

The help point is being as useful as a chocolate teapot - giving out incorrect information which is worse than "I don't know"

[grahame]

I have advised people to get to Westbury on the 09:53 ...

[GBM]

Asking for a friend
Is this a Melksham (via Westbury change) service?
17:35 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads due 20:11
17:35 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads due 20:11 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

Asking for a friend
Is this a Melksham (via Westbury change) service?
17:35 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads due 20:11
17:35 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads due 20:11 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

No, it isn't ...   but this is

18:35 Westbury to Swindon due 19:17

18:35 Westbury to Swindon due 19:17 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[Timmer]

Weymouth, like most resorts, was packed today. To lose the 17.35 isn’t good at all. What a train to cancel on a day like this GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)

I imagine the 3 car 18.45 will be rammed.

Edit: it is!

18:45 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads due 21:21
18:45 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads due 21:21 will no longer call at Chetnole, Yetminster and Thornford.
This is due to overcrowding.

Keeping on topic, at least the 19.40 is running through to Swindon so the 40 or so passengers at Melksham heading to Weymouth earlier can enjoy a direct service after this morning’s debacle.

[IndustryInsider]

What a train to cancel on a day like this GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)

At the moment there seems to be precious little interest in sorting out the myriad of issues that are currently festering within the industry.

[Mark A]

I know mentioning loco and carriages isn't the done thing but, looking back, is that roughly the time for the departure of the return leg of that summer-only day trip train that ran to Weymouth from Cardiff, yes?

No one would have considered cancelling a single instance of *that* train, as the knock-on effect would seriously strain even Weymouth's hospitality... though it has to be said that the current government's provided an almost useable floating hotel on Portland that's currently empty of guests.

Also, was it a Sunday late afternoon, there was a second loco hauled train awaiting departure from Weymouth that was headed for, was it Manchester, the two services leaving in fairly quick succession?

Who know that another era could be as close as (counts on fingers) less than 28 years away?

I'm trying to recall exactly where, at worst, the tail of the stationary queue of cars into Weymouth was back then, especially the one we saw one warm and sunny day in the nineties... it was some way from the sea, as the traffic was stop-start in the direction of Weymouth from that town beginning with 'D' whose name escapes me, while the A35 / A354 roundabout in particular was a catherine wheel of woe.

Mark

[grahame]

17:44 Swindon to Salisbury due 18:55

17:44 Swindon to Salisbury due 18:55 has been cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

[grahame]

16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

"Next Fastest Service" has become a common announcement... earlier this morning I grabbed today's cancellations and looked at next services for each of them.  Most of them have a next service an hour or less later.  Those marked "*" have other services interlaced on the line so that many of the journeys are possible half an hour later rather than an hour

Guess which cancellation leave passengers stranded for the longest period ...

Cancelled - next - gap - service - original due time
08:24 09:18 54* Reading to Redhill due 09:52
09:15 09:45 30 Truro to Falmouth Docks due 09:39
09:36 10:36 60 Liskeard to Looe due 10:06
09:45 10:15 30 Falmouth Docks to Truro due 10:13
10:00 10:57 57* Redhill to Reading due 11:33
10:08 11:06 58 Looe to Liskeard due 10:34
10:38 11:38 60* Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Foregate Street due 12:21
11:50 12:15 25 Penzance to Plymouth due 13:52
12:53 13:49 56* Worcester Foregate Street to Bristol Temple Meads due 14:27
14:18 14:46 28 Plymouth to Penzance due 16:12
16:23 18:37 134 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08
17:36 18:44 68 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20

[bobm]

Cancelled - next - gap - service - original due time
11:50 12:15 25 Penzance to Plymouth due 13:52

Not so good if you are heading to Menheniot on that one - next train is 15:15 - 205 minutes later.

[grahame]

Cancelled - next - gap - service - original due time
11:50 12:15 25 Penzance to Plymouth due 13:52

Not so good if you are heading to Menheniot on that one - next train is 15:15 - 205 minutes later.

Indeed - it's complicated with extra calling patterns.   I didn't check whether the Looe branch cancellations were the Combe Junction callers either.

[bobm]

I did and they weren’t.