Great Western Coffee Shop

Bit of fun and games at Melksham tonight.

Seems a group wanting to alight were in the rear portion of the two 150s used for the 18:19 ex Swindon and with Melksham's short platform couldn't leave the train from their position nor walk through to the front to exit.

I am not sure where they boarded. However when I got on at Swindon there was nothing I noticed to indicate that you needed to be by the front door. The guard did make an announcement shortly after leaving Swindon explaining where to be. The question is was there any information at Chippenham?  Obviously an annoucement after leaving Chippenham would be too late.

The story had a happy ending. The train drew forward a short distance after those using the front portion had got on and off and all was well. However it indicates the need to be alert to the needs of the occasional traveller. (or don't use a combination of carriages you can't walk through!)

This is what I'm often saying about things like Pacers, 150/1s and 175s. If you are running units in multiple without corridor connections between the units passenger in the wrong portion are stuck there. Therefore, unless every station served is accessible from every coach (which also means no splitting/joining on route, all the units need to run the full length of the route) only units with corridor connections should be used in multiple. The solution is to build all units with corridor connections on the ends, which only leaves the problem of trains that go above 110mph, which seem to require streamlining that prohibits corridor connecters (although class 67s don't seem streamlined, can they really do 125mph?)