FGW have got a couple of things right! (not many though)

[whole diary]

[vacman]

Despite all of the negative things that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have done, there are one or two positive things, back in the days of Wessex Trains, the Falmouth branch was reduced to a single 153 every summer in order to strengthen the StIves branch to four cars, which caused chaos as the "locals" on tha Falmouth were demoted so that the "bucket and spade brigade" at St Ives could travel in comfort, well this year the Cornish branches have been treated! all summer they've provided four cars on the St Ives branch, two cars on the Falmouth branch, two cars on local services on the Newquay branch and two cars on the Looe branch (previously unheard of for the M-F services), Gunnislake has been reduced to a single 153 OFF PEAK but retains a two car 150 for the morning/evening peak. Also lets not forget the cheap day returns that they reduced by up to 40% last year, then there's the rather sensitive subject of the Cornish Railcard, which I belive FGW did the right thing by withdrawing it in favour of cheaper season tickets.Yes they've had their moments but credit where credit's due.

[spike]

The 1626 Paignton to Exmouth was rammed today, so they didn't get this right! 2x153s, and a trainload of moaning passengers (rightly too if you ask me) made a nice trip back to Exeter St Davids. And it was 15mins late by Exeter too

[grahame]

Despite all of the negative things that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have done, there are one or two positive things, back in the days of Wessex Trains, the Falmouth branch was reduced to a single 153 every summer in order to strengthen the StIves branch to four cars, ..........Yes they've had their moments but credit where credit's due.

The number of 153 units in the GW^▸ (Great Western) area has been halved since this time last year, hasn't it - wasn't it 15 down to 7? And it does seem that the reduction of services of just one coach in length that has resulted is a positive step.   I notice that elsewhere in the country, one coach trains are being stepped up to 2 (or even 3) - I think I was reading about this on the Cumbrian Coast line, serving Tony Cunningham's Workington Constituency where labour's majority was slashed at the last election, just recently.

I used to know the predecessor of the 153 (i.e. single coach previous generation units) as "Coffin Nails" because they were the last life on a line that was a potential target for closure. So it's good to see the step back up - perhaps this helps the threat receed.  Certainly the economics of running a single coach lightly loaded train - with a crew of the same number of staff that would be required for 2 or 3 coaches - can be questioned, especially when you take all the extra layers of payment needed to organisations like the ROSCOs^» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about) these days. 

And I'm delighted to see ... even on the services which were nearest the edge on the new December 2006 timetable - that a 1 car unit was getting to be inadequate due to traffic growth. The late lamented 17:02 Melksham to Swindon was getting pretty darned busy on days it ran with a 153 - still some seats available for sure, but I don't know how much longer that would have neem the case. And I recall the 17:42 return service (also no longer with us), which I used much less often, getting towards uncomfortable when run with 2 cars.  There has been (and is ongoing) a campaign for the return of appropriate services on this line. For cheapness, we have suggested a 153 unit initially - but perhaps it would be more sensible to back suggestions of a 2 car (Pacer OK?) to avoid producing just a short term solution and then having to look at souring yet another carriage to deal with overcrowding in 2009 or 2010.

[Lee]

Interesting station passenger figures comparison :

Barnstaple
2004 / 2005 - 194474
2005 / 2006 - 210846

Falmouth Town
2004 / 2005 - 85859
2005 / 2006 - 83899

Gunnislake
2004 / 2005 - 37190
2005 / 2006 - 43885

Looe
2004 / 2005 - 75510
2005 / 2006 - 70880

Newquay
2004 / 2005 - 83712
2005 / 2006 - 71301

St Ives
2004 / 2005 - 220300
2005 / 2006 - 171281

[grahame]

Lee, those figures make interesting reading;   I'm not sure of the change from one individual year to the next, especially at a time when a new franchise operator was just finding its feet (and perhaps using new accounting methods), but I am struck by the level.

I'm aware that you are quoting terminus stations for branch lines, and not traffic on the whole line - but in the case of Looe and Newquay, aren't they the only substantive stations on the lines, with limited traffic only to / from intermediate stations?  I'm not sure about Gunnislake - how many people use stations such as Calston and Bere Alston, and on the Falmouth line, how busy are Falmouth Docks and Penryn?  What I'm getting at is ... what can we conclude about the total number of journeys?

What am I getting at?   Well - I know that figures of 109,000 and 121,000 journeys were quoted for the TransWilts service - which was cut back last December by 60%,  no longer has its own train on the line, and no service at all from Swindon (it's "base point" now) between 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Newquay, I know, hasn't got a conventional peak hour service but I suspect its market is different, but they all seem to have a far better service (and have suffered far less sever cuts) than we do up here.

Is there someting I've missed, or has the population of Wiltshire been grossly mistreated?  And if so, isn't there a strong case for getting one of those old pacer units that can't run west of Newton Abbott anyway to provide a level of service commensurate with the traffic on offer?

[vacman]

Interesting station passenger figures comparison :

Barnstaple
2004 / 2005 - 194474
2005 / 2006 - 210846

Falmouth Town
2004 / 2005 - 85859
2005 / 2006 - 83899

Gunnislake
2004 / 2005 - 37190
2005 / 2006 - 43885

Looe
2004 / 2005 - 75510
2005 / 2006 - 70880

Newquay
2004 / 2005 - 83712
2005 / 2006 - 71301

St Ives
2004 / 2005 - 220300
2005 / 2006 - 171281

A slight decrease in some, but since 2000 and until 2005 the St Ives branch is up 24.7%, Falmouth branch up 20.5%, Newquay up 40% and Looe valley line up 15.5% (source- Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership) which does justify the extra units, also bear in mind that lines like the Falmouth branch are bursting with commuters in the morning and then bursting with holidaymakers in the daytime and the St Ives is just rammed from 1000 in the morning until 2200 at night! A lot of people (including DaFT^» (Department for Transport - critical sounding abbreviation I discourage - about)) seem to think that the Cornish branch lines just cart fresh air around the countryside and that we should use these units for Bristol commuters instead, try travelling on the StIves branch in August at any time and you will see why they are needed down here!

[Tractorman]

I'm aware that you are quoting terminus stations for branch lines, and not traffic on the whole line - but in the case of Looe and Newquay, aren't they the only substantive stations on the lines, with limited traffic only to / from intermediate stations?  I'm not sure about Gunnislake - how many people use stations such as Calston and Bere Alston, and on the Falmouth line, how busy are Falmouth Docks and Penryn?  What I'm getting at is ... what can we conclude about the total number of journeys?

On the Gunnislake line the number of people using Calstock/Bere Alston if combined would at least equal the Gunnislake figure.

On the Falmouth the number of people using Penryn/Penmere would exceed that of Falmouth Town.

[vacman]

I'm aware that you are quoting terminus stations for branch lines, and not traffic on the whole line - but in the case of Looe and Newquay, aren't they the only substantive stations on the lines, with limited traffic only to / from intermediate stations?  I'm not sure about Gunnislake - how many people use stations such as Calston and Bere Alston, and on the Falmouth line, how busy are Falmouth Docks and Penryn?  What I'm getting at is ... what can we conclude about the total number of journeys?

On the Gunnislake line the number of people using Calstock/Bere Alston if combined would at least equal the Gunnislake figure.

On the Falmouth the number of people using Penryn/Penmere would exceed that of Falmouth Town.

from my experience Penmere is probably the busiest station for people to travel from, Falmouth Town second, however, Penmere is usually local travel (not beyond Truro) and Falmouth town is mostly long distance travellers.

[Lee]

Here are the comparison figures for the rest of the Devon & Cornwall Branch Line stations (excluding main line termini and the Paignton line.)

Bere Alston
2004 / 2005 - 29552
2005 / 2006 - 27263

Bere Ferrers
2004 / 2005 - 12862
2005 / 2006 - 11459

Bugle
2004 / 2005 - 1362
2005 / 2006 - 1661

Calstock
2004 / 2005 - 24024
2005 / 2006 - 21123

Carbis Bay
2004 / 2005 - 66298
2005 / 2006 - 23737

Causeland
2004 / 2005 - 2281
2005 / 2006 - 2671

Chapelton
2004 / 2005 - 472
2005 / 2006 - 161

Coombe
2004 / 2005 - 96
2005 / 2006 - 59

Copplestone
2004 / 2005 - 356
2005 / 2006 - 1090

Crediton
2004 / 2005 - 22478
2005 / 2006 - 22550

Digby & Sowton
2004 / 2005 - 134804
2005 / 2006 - 155822

Eggesford
2004 / 2005 - 14152
2005 / 2006 - 16009

Exmouth
2004 / 2005 - 623832
2005 / 2006 - 611451

Exton
2004 / 2005 - 10583
2005 / 2006 - 10255

Falmouth Docks
2004 / 2005 - 38434
2005 / 2006 - 47316

Kings Nympton
2004 / 2005 - 2400
2005 / 2006 - 1781

Lapford
2004 / 2005 - 2104
2005 / 2006 - 1658

Lelant
2004 / 2005 - 8697
2005 / 2006 - 1653

Lelant Saltings
2004 / 2005 - 18281
2005 / 2006 - 23774

Luxulyan
2004 / 2005 - 791
2005 / 2006 - 1160

Lympstone Commando
2004 / 2005 - 55875
2005 / 2006 - 62141

Lympstone Village
2004 / 2005 - 63325
2005 / 2006 - 66739

Morchard Road
2004 / 2005 - 3442
2005 / 2006 - 2712

Newton St Cyres
2004 / 2005 - 702
2005 / 2006 - 780

Penmere
2004 / 2005 - 71676
2005 / 2006 - 76571

Penryn
2004 / 2005 - 53069
2005 / 2006 - 58759

Perranwell
2004 / 2005 - 9936
2005 / 2006 - 9545

Polsloe Bridge
2004 / 2005 - 43788
2005 / 2006 - 43773

Portsmouth Arms
2004 / 2005 - 372
2005 / 2006 - 510

Quintrel Downs
2004 / 2005 - 918
2005 / 2006 - 928

Roche
2004 / 2005 - 1137
2005 / 2006 - 1222

Sandplace
2004 / 2005 - 1429
2005 / 2006 - 865

St Columb Road
2004 / 2005 - 733
2005 / 2006 - 1031

St Keyne
2004 / 2005 - 1053
2005 / 2006 - 606

Topsham
2004 / 2005 - 127903
2005 / 2006 - 138905

Umberleigh
2004 / 2005 - 8301
2005 / 2006 - 10408

Yeoford
2004 / 2005 - 6883
2005 / 2006 - 6848

[devon_metro]

Any figures for Paignton? Whenever I board a train to Paignton its always wedged or do I just travel at stupid times?

[Jim]

Any figures for Paignton? Whenever I board a train to Paignton its always wedged or do I just travel at stupid times?

Well, it's FGW^▸ (First Great Western), what do you think?

[Lee]

Any figures for Paignton? Whenever I board a train to Paignton its always wedged or do I just travel at stupid times?

Paignton line comparison figures :

Paignton
2004 / 2005 - 345738
2005 / 2006 - 335491

Torquay
2004 / 2005 - 298494
2005 / 2006 - 292701

Torre
2004 / 2005 - 153214
2005 / 2006 - 150974