Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi all,

not sure which forum to post on so posting here (please feel free to move it)

Leaving current client imminantly (sp?)

Have possibility of a contract in bristol........ have two choices (driving isnt one of them)

1. Arriva trains from ludlow to newport then FGW from newport to Bristol (this appears to be a 150 route with over crowding issues as it is the cardiff to pompeii train).  I'd want to be arriving in Bristol between 8-9am so probably not a good move

2. London midland to cheltenham spa and the XC to Bristol

In terms of journey experience (2) is better I think BUT its very disjoint - Ludlow route gives me over an hour undisturbed time (which is important) but not if newport - bristol is a sardine can

P.S. other contract is in Warrington so out of FGW area totally!  Arriva to crewe then crewe to Warrington

The London midland service is only 1 service a week. (friday at around 10PM)

Your best bet is either train > Birmingham NS when XC direct to bristol

or train > Chelt then XC > bristol

I'd be wary of the warrington service with XC, as IIRC its to be withdrawn sometime next year, so you'd have to Virgin train it (which isnt a bad thing tbh)

Warringotn is Virgin - its the glasgow train

London midland to cheltenham is daily - i often get it when the 0545 FGW train is cancelled!

interesting, when was that added?

As as far as i'm aware it's only on a friday evening ans thats from BNS...

You're not thinking of the Peak AM XC service from WOS are you?

There is an 0540 from WOS to Cheltenham every day - the ony place where london midland comes into play!

Maybe we are talking about different things

Yep there is,

it's however operated by cross country...

Which is were you three me when you said "london midland"

best bet is that to Chelt spa then get an XC train direct to bristol

Thats probably because the unit XC use for that service is the same one central used to use for effectivly the same service (or its damn close in appearancce - I'm not a spotter - I dont note numbers)

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - its a duck

Therefore I assumed it was an ex central service that is now operate by london midland/XC

From what I understand the service arriving Bristol at 0819ish from Newport is badly overcrowded from STJ (ie they are currently laying on a relief coach because not everyone can get on there). This service will be a bit of a culture shock compared with 1st Class on a Cotswold Line service.  (No 1st on Cardiff - Portsmouth trains). One of my staff commutes Cheltenham to BTM and it seems to work pretty well. Arrivals at around 0810 and 0840. Never heard her complain about overcrowding.

Thanks - this si the sort of advice I wanted


I know theres no first on cardiff to pompeii hence my query

If I take that contract - will go WOS - CHelt =- BTM

The fear of a bus offsets the spplit jounrey

For what it's worth, I agree with John.  Someone who used to work with me in Bristol now travels to Cheltenham (via Bristol from Nailsea) - it's not too bad, he reckons.  You'd probably be travelling against the greater flow of commuters, too - lots of Bristol people travel up to Gloucester / Cheltenham, maybe there are less in the other direction at that time of day?  Good luck with the contract, anyway!

6.49 FGW service from Shrub hill will get you to BTM at 8.36, with return working at 16.41 or 18.41, service is normally 158 worked and not normally rammed

That's when its running ;)