Great Western Coffee Shop

Spotted an ATW Liveried 150 on Weymouth This afternoon

That is not great for any day trippers/ holiday makers.

I disagree - it's better than a cancellation!

But worse than anything but a pacer. A unit swap would have been much better.

Its only going to get worse in the main holiday period school holidays ect at least on the southern line they get proper trains even if they are 444

A unit swap to what? A fair few Weymouth services are booked 150, and that's exactly what the Arriva unit was ... a 150...

Fortunately we can't get Pacers on third rail ;) - electrification engineers with quality control in mind!

158's are booked on 05.40, 08.11, 11.11, 20.01
and 23.12 arrival

A unti swap wouldn't happen but if FGW were clever, 3+2 seating units could be put in a seperate pool for commuter services and ex wessex units would be perfect for Weymouth etc.

Pacers on third rail could kill everyone on board if it 'nodded' to much.

I take it from the start of the May timetable less 158s will be operating on the Weymouth line as they are used to strengthen Cardiff-Portsmouth 158s?

If this is the case expect ATW 150s to be visiting the seaside from time to time. There is one advantage to them running on this busy summer line that there are more seats. The disadvantage of course is this means less space for luggage, pushchairs etc.

Conner you will be pleased to know 150213 did the BRI-PNZ-EXD diagram yesterday  ;D

But Timmer, they are diagramed as "150's" not "High Capacity" 150's. If they were like that, then it would be ideal, have 1 set ATW/Silverlink and the other a FGW unit of some description.

Not the first time either.
ATW 150's basically ran the service one day.

An ATW liveried 150 was on the 1042 Gloucester-Weymouth service yesterday, which passed the 1311 Weymouth-Gloucester service that I was on at Maiden Newton.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I noticed 150278 in the sidings at Westbury today (about 3pm).

Are FGW hiring rolling stock from ATW and then leaving it unused?  What routes/times do they actually use the ATW set(s)?  I've noticed one operating the SVB line occasionally.

No! I wont have that  ::) ;) :D

the last proper train that ran on the southern line to Weymouth was the class 442.

they do not run any particular diagram  they are used the same as rest of FGW dmu fleet.
the one at WSB sidings was probably the booked terminator in morning then stables for the afternoon/evening trans wilts service,even if they did not have the ATW sets this would be the same just a booked thing.

A CIG and VEP last visited Weymouth instead of 442 ;)

OK. The last proper train that regularly ran on the southern to Weymouth...... :P ;)

... or "ran regularly" ... we don't want to give TerminalJunkie apoplexy!  :o

Hopefully TJ will explain why something can have a regular run but when we switch to the adverb of regular and past tense of run we have to switch them round  :-\

I dunno either - but we'll boldly go where no man has gone before!  ;D

Or will we go boldly where no man has before gone?  :P ;)

I'll stop now.  ;D

Just to make things more confusing, would I be correct in thinking the last proper train to run *regularly* to Weymouth, was the once a week class 67 + Mk2 service during the summer....?

Depends on whether you deem "skips" to be a proper train... Now, the occasion when it was top-and-tailed by two 37s, of course...

We have a winner!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhnUj_Aj_y8

Although apparently double-headed, rather than top-and-tailed.

The train (diagram) in question could perhaps be usefully used to provide additional round trips on the TransWilts rather than just lying idle for a considerable time;  the Sunday TransWilts service has not been much mentioned but it also needs dramatic improvement - the first train of the day not running until after 5 p.m. making it utterly impractical for almost any days out / round trips.

After all that wating around yesterday, the train didn't actually run up from Trowbridge to Chippenham direct, providing the large intermediate town with its only trains of the day ... so the meagre three trains we were due got reduced to zero at the last minute yet again (I'm loosing count - I think it must have been the 4th or 5th trainless day in 2 months).

Back on more general topic - the whole Sunday Service thing needs review; early services are sparse and overcrowded, and I think there's probably a pent-up / potential travel requirement for travel by train that's put off by the services being too few.

Nope class 33 and 4/8 TC and before that MNs.

I don't do apoplexy. You're obviously confusing me with Btline :P


You can't split a bare infinitive, boldly or otherwise. The full infinitive is to go, and without the particle to you only have a bare infinitive.

In any case, the split infinitive rule is just an invention of a few 19th century Grammar Nazis. Since in most cases splitting the infinitive results in a natural flow of words there's no real reason to avoid it.


Sorry, I've no idea why you feel the need to do that. It seems to makes perfect sense either way!