Great Western Coffee Shop

I'm sharing here a response I wrote in response to a request asking when the summer sunday service from Melksham to Weymouth will be running this summer.  It came from someone who wanted to bring 20 people along, and who lives quite close to Melksham, on the Trowbridge side.

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Let me fill you in on summer sunday trips to Weymouth - and add some other information about alternatives and other opportunities.

We sponsored / helped run a trial service on summer sunday mornings in 2011 - where an extra round trip between Swindon and Westbury gave people a day out opportunity from Swindon, Chippenham and Melksham stations to Weymouth, using existing trains from Westbury to Weymouth, and an existing Westbury to Swindon service in the evening. The trips were a huge success, with the train being strengthened from what was planned, and still full to near bursting point. And we didn't even advertise it very much - we actually held back at times!

In the summer of 2012, First Great Western informed us that they were unable to offer any extra Sunday morning services due to constraints cause by the Olympics

For the summer of 2013, we were advised that engineering works meant that Network Rail were not prepared to release the line through Melksham to First for a Sunday train early enough to connect with the ongoing train to Weymouth

And we are advised that for the summer of 2014, engineering works in association with the electrification though Chippenham mean that it's highly unlikely that a sunday morning  service of the type needed for a day out in Weymouth will be possible.

Sorry to have to bring you such disappointing news ^ but let me tell you about other things that are going on from Melksham

What we were able to do in 2013 is to offer a chance for this trip on Bank Holiday MONDAY - that's 27th May.   That's not what you asked about, but many of our friends from the 2011 trips came along and we had a great day.

Trains leave Melksham every Monday to Friday at 06:38 and 19:11 for Southampton via Westbury and Salisbury , and at 07:20 and 19:50 for Cheltenham via Swindon and Gloucester - change at Swindon for London.  And you can get back at 19:50 from the South, and 19:11 from the North.    The connection at Westbury in the morning to Weymouth involves a long wait, although it's a good connection on the way back, and the fare is a peak fare - so it's a lot more expensive than the Sunday / May bank holiday trips were. The Weymouth trip (done in that way) is only one I could recommend to the rich enthusiast!)

On Saturdays, there are trains from Melksham to Swindon, Gloucester and Cheltenham at 09:20 and 15:21, getting back at 15:48 and 21:34.  With the first southbound departure at 15:48, a day out on the coast isn't practical - though these service are great for shopping or "Steam" in Swindon, or a trip to Oxford or London.

Sunday trains leave Melksham at 17:25 and 19:41 (19:53 on some dates) for Swindon, and at 18:44 for Westbury.  Personally I use these Sunday trains quite often as I work in many different parts of the country and often need to travel on Sunday evenings, but for day trips out they're not useful.

I wondered if we might be able to repeat the Bank holiday Monday trip from last month on August Bank Holiday (26th August), but I was disappointed to learn from the First Great Western web site that the morning southbound train was scheduled to leave as early as 06:38 - meaning a wait of over 2 hours in Westbury. I raise this with First Great Western, who are looking into the possibility of moving it to a later time, and early indications are that this might be possible.   If it's confirmed - within the next few days - we'll be doing some limited publicity; we can't do too much for fear of overcrowding.   It's not the Sunday trip you were looking for, but if you're interested please let me know and I'll email you details when I have them if it works out.  See update in next post - looks promising!

Finally, I note you're in [Xxxx].  There's a Sunday train from TROWBRIDGE to Weymouth every Sunday until 8th September at 10:06, with direct services returning from Weymouth at 16:10, 17:56 or 20:09.  It never cease to amaze me how much better the train service is from Trowbridge (population 28,000) than Melksham (21,000), but I guess it gets that because it's the county town ;-)

We are working with Wiltshire Council, with First Great Western, and with many associated partners to improve the TransWilts service all day, every day - not just summer sundays.   A service of 2 each way per day at present is not appropriate - all the studies (and common sense and surveys too) point to 8 trains each way per day, perhaps 1 or 2 less on Sundays. Current franchising system problems have held progress back this year, but some day it will happen.

[update] .... Looks like the bank holiday monday (August) southbound train is now 08:38  ;D ;D

Timings at http://atrebatia.info/daysout.html ... and plenty of other opportunities that day too ... how about a rail enthusiast outing to Lymington Pier (fares are good - if you're going to Isle of Wight, buy a separate ferry ticket as that will save you money)

A sort-of close to this story of the summer of 2013

On Bank Holiday Monday (27th May), the morning southbound train was retimed to give a good day trip opportunity to Weymouth.   Notices were displayed at Melksham and Chippenham Station (but NOT at Swindon as we feared overcrowding) and we ended up with a packed but not uncomfortable train, and good loadings on the connection to Weymouth and back, and with a packed train again from Westbury in the late afternoon.

On Bank Holiday Monday (26th August), the morning southbound train was retimed to give a day trip opportunity to Weymouth.  Not quite so ideal, as engineering works at Swindon / Kemble meant it running a bit earlier than ideal and left a longish wait at Westbury.  Publicity was via trifold brochures covering the whole of the service this autumn distributed in the Melksham Independent News.  Again, limited due to our fear of overcrowding, and once again we got packed but not uncomfortable trains.   

I went on both and particularly noted that we had different customers, and those were yet different customer groups from the 2011 crowd.  I conclude that - if we have a strong "day trip to Weymouth" product in 2014 - we will have three different markets to sell it to.

Early indications are that an off peak day trip will be possible, all year, on Mondays to Fridays - a little longer change than I would like at Westbury, but never mind. 

On Saturdays, the 19:32 Westbury to Swindon isn't expected to run (even come across a Sunday to Friday train before?), but in any case the Heart of Wessex overloads already on a Saturday and it's doubtful if we'll be thanked if we throw hundreds more people down there on their busiest day

Sundays ... the train back is good.  I've not yet seen summer 2014 proposals under LSTF for the morning train, but the case that supported the bid, and was in option 1 of the aborted franchise, included an extra Sunday morning TransWilts service with an explicit requirement for it to connect to Weymouth.

I was speaking to the incoming manager of the Melksham TIC yesterday ... "if I had a pound for everyone who's asked me about trains to Weymouth this summer, I could retire" ... ;D