Great Western Coffee Shop

Santa Claus will be on the train from Melksham at 14:50 on Sunday 17th December, travelling to Swindon with presents for the children - train due back into Melksham at 15:54.  Prebookings only please (Santa needs to know who’s coming along so that he has suitable presents) - run by the Melksham Rail User Group (a 20 year tradition!), cost £10 per adult and £5 per child to include present, train journey, minced pie and soft drink.  We will give adults an upgrade to a glass of wine (free of charge). Thanks to our chair for the gift of wine.  Any profit to Melksham Rail User Group funds, used in helping to promote the service within the local communities.   Booking at the Melksham TIC - 01225 707424 from 6th November 2017.     Note - the train is shared with a public service.  Due to a significant rise in passenger numbers, ticket sales to see Santa will be limited this year - it’s “First come, First Served”. By next year we will have an additional carriage and we can step up numbers again.

Volunteer adult elves are welcome at Melksham Town Hall at 19:30 on the evening of Friday 15th December to help wrap the presents for Santa.  Please do come along for a chat / update on public transport in the Melksham Area, too. 

Let's hope for no driver shortage, though I suppose you could always have it Rudolph powered instead.



You hope,,,,,,, assuming Mark Hopwood Scrooge doesn't decide otherwise


If not the elves will have to build one.

Is Mark Hopwood volunteering to be Santa this year?

We are fairly sure that we're not going to be pushing resources beyond what's going to be achieved on the day.

I got this message from Santa when I passed on the idea of a GWR manager pretending to be Santa:

Santa is real.

I'm not sure this mythical being Mark Hopwood is real. No one's seen him in ages.

Can we stick to Indo-European languages (and Standard Gauge) please.   

Mark was very much present earlier this month at the ACoRP awards in Derby ... with good opportunities for the CRPs (of which TransWilts is very much the smallest on his patch) to engage.   Of course, that might really have been Santa dressed up as Mark, though if it was Santa, he knows an awful lot about running railways!

Glad to see he's got time to turn up to jollies!

If it's a GWR sleigh he's riding however it'll probably be one of those "more than usual" needing repairs, or be shortformed with only two reindeer!

Highlighting some of my words, as they got rather lost in my joke first time around.

I am not a great fan of such events, but once again the ACoRP one was very effective networking in many directions.   Those of us who attend from a none-rail standpoint are far more fully informed ( thus better able to do what we do ) and those on the rail side are given very clear customer inputs from sometimes-critical friends who are constructive but not afraid to make some hard points.

I'd be interested in the detail of some of those "hard points" and the substantive responses and actions which were received/undertaken from/by GWR as a result of them being made?

Logic for a discussion is to follow it up with a further discussion - see all the diary events starting next week where we can give you TransWilts feedback, also all summarised on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/TransWilts/posts/1211116785655028

GWR are very much aware that the TransWilts 2017/18 figures will not grow as they have done in previous years, due to late provision of enough capacity to grow (2 car promised for 5.2017, now expected 1.2018) and really awful cancellation rates which are five times worse than their target.  To a degree, we are on damage limitation at the moment.

Of course, problems don't just impact GWR - they also impact the livelihood of the people and the towns they are supposed to serve, and whoever has let it get into this mess should feel ashamed.  Having said that, we are where we are and a realistic move to resolving things - seeing if we can make 2 steps forward for each one back, and not screaming and shouting at people who are actually just as frustrated as we are at the situation.  Yes, directors of the TOCs, and Network Rail, and DfT directors may also be frustrated - but do have a responsibility and figures to account to.

I don't recall mentioning screaming or shouting, if you're sufficiently articulate it's perfectly possible to be assertive without even raising your voice.

Following up discussions with more discussions is of limited use unless actions follow.

GWR being "very much aware" of something means nothing unless they are doing, and seen to be doing something about it - for example, for over a year now their response time to customer correspondence is measured in months rather than weeks - ETAs are now not being given to customers, rather they are being told that they will be dealt with when they "get to the front of the queue" - they must be "very much aware" of this, but are not doing anything to address it.

The issues around crew shortages, stock reliability "more trains than usual needing repairs" and general service resilience etc for which GWR/Hopwood are all fully accountable have been documented ad nauseam - nothing seems to happen or improve.

Networking and hobnobbing with the hierarchy is fine but there needs to be actions and defined, time measured outcomes at the end of it to make it worthwhile, otherwise it just becomes a talking shop/backslapping session with a few extravagantly gratefully received crumbs thrown down from the top table from time to time - nothing personal but that is why large organisations love "critical friends" - they can use them as a free advocacy service.

Saying "we are where we are" sums it all up really - the GWR mantra is always "Manana Manana" - MDs and Directors are paid high salaries to act on and address frustrations being felt by all of an Organisations stakeholders -not just to empathise with them.

Crikey, thought you were talking about NR there for a minute or two...... :-\

There is a comment from Mark Hopwood on TransWilts' issues in the next member's newsletter, which I will quote here after it's been published and our members have had a chance to read it.

We sometimes use the term "unacceptable" to describe a poor train service.  In reality, if we want to continue to use the train, we have to accept it - at least in the short term - but then work towards getting it improved.   Whether that involves writing letters of complaint, grumbling in public places, getting our MP onto the case or sending the directors of the company tins of sardines via registered post is up to us.