Great Western Coffee Shop

According to the new summer timetable released on Network Rail's website last week, there is an extra summer Saturday service running from 5th of July until 6th of September departing Bristol TM at 09.09 and returning from Weymouth at 16.55:
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/eNRT/May08/timetables/Table123.pdf

However this does not appear in FGW's summer Weymouth line timetable:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Documents/Custom/DC%20MAY%202008%20TIMETABLE/Bristol%20to%20Weymouth.pdf

So the question is will this service actually run this summer or has it been axed before it's run?

This particular path is actually in TRUST for the event of the 67s or additional trains running, but is not guaranteed hence not being in the GW TT.

Weymouth loco hauled now 100% happening.....

As 67's and MK2's?

What did I say (and Vacman)  :D

8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Thanks for so much unassuming modesty, lads!  ::) ;D

But you have to admit Chris, they're usually right. (remember the ATW units that Vacman trailed here for several weeks before it was announced.)

I'm looking forward to Vacman telling us that the Trans-Wilts service has been secured, as then I'll know it's a done deal.

Absolutely right, John!  ;D

I'm really very grateful, to vacman and devon_metro (and others), for their very accurate and helpful posts here!

(Sorry for teasing you, lads!)  ;) :D ;D

Anytime  :)

This is great news. I know I probably said this last year that its a shame that this extra service does not appear in the main FGW timetable book E. People won't use it unless they know its running. Not everyone uses the net to find out about train services.

Hopefully FGW will shout it from the rooftops that this extra train is running during the summer and start promoting it early so people know an extra train is available both ways, not just days before it's about to start like they did last year.

I guess the 67 cranks will be out in force again then!

Are there many who bash 67s Jim?

There were always plenty who bashed 37s when they ran on this route. Those were the days!

There were only a handfull the times I did it. 37's and 31's though, they had a huge following on the line!

Yes I always enjoyed Watching the loco hauled specials  working their trains up the bank from Weymouth to Bincombe Tunnel from my back garden when I used to live at Upwey just outside Weymouth there is a lot more atmosphere from a loco hauled Train.

And all the windows lined with cranks..........

Isn't it called 'pollution' these days?   ::) ;D

You'd be surprised Chris!

a 67 + 6 mk2s has one engine (admittedly a large one)
158+158+158 would have 6 engines all chucking out pollution,

So loco hauled travel is remarkably environmentally friendly!

Not a great comaparison there D_M, a 67 engine chucks out about as much pollution as about 10 unit engines!!!!

Yee Gods.First you complain that there is no Extra trains  in the summer period when there is you complain about the thing is highly polluting and the customers are all cranks.Cranks they may be 67's  may be more polluting than DMU's which are obviously not available. But at least they encourage more bums on seats  more revenue and hopefully it may encourage. FGW to improve the service.

Bah, most modern loco I could think of!

MkII stock in IC livery at BTM last week between platforms 3 & 5 IIRC, thought they might have been on their way for a Weymouth service although I didn't see them at Westbury yesterday PM, anyone know what they are destined for?

Fragonset had a rake with 31's in matching livery for a while.

If the weather this weekend is as good as it has been these past few days, I think FGW will need to strengthen their Weymouth services this Saturday. FGW if you are reading this then its something worth considering bearing in mind all those who have been longingly looking out their office windows at the lovely weather these past few days will doubtless want to get out and enjoy it this weekend.

For any of you thinking about taking a trip to Weymouth please bear in mind that the winter timetable is still in operation and that there are no direct Weymouth services this coming Sunday in the morning with what afternoon services that run in the winter TT replaced by buses for part of the journey.

Or you could go to Minehead instead.....

The coachs you were on about were destined for storage at Long Marston. Had actually come from Meldon Quarry....

According to the Western Daily Press the summer loco hauled service began operating this past weekend:

http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=146238&command=displayContent&sourceNode=146064&contentPK=20712742&folderPk=100268&pNodeId=145795

Now all we need is for FGW to really promote this extra service so it gets used. Nothing as yet on their website but it is appearing on the online journey planner.

They need to at least get some return on their investment.

Use it or lose it.

I have to echo that sentiment ... but it's no guarantee. Sorry - I still smart under a use it or loose it dictat that we were given for the Swindon to Southampton service that turned out to be use it AND lose it

Modified sentiment.  Use it, document your use, tell people you're using it, get the whole world and his dog to use it ... it's not as catchy but it'll give you a better chance of having it next year too  ;)

^300,000. Ouch! 16 days of operation, so ^19k each week. How many seats? 5x70 say = 350. So ^54 per return seat if everyone is filled each day it runs. Take into account rainy days (like saturday) and I can see why FGW baulked at operating it.

 

Problem is that it sits at WEymouth all day. Could probably run it up to Westbury and back in the time earning extra income.

If it hadn^t been for the fact that I decided to go out and about on Saturday, I would have not known it was running. The only ^publicity^ I have seen regarding the additional was an A4 page stuck onto the booking office doors at Frome Station Saturday morning showing the times of the additional and the other trains between Bristol and Weymouth, which certainly wasn^t there on Friday afternoon.

Whilst on the one hand, FGW certainly deserve praise for running the train throughout the summer rather than on certain dates, they also deserve critism for the way in which they have dealt with this, but then again I'm not surprised given FGW's "love" of the ex-Wessex empire.

Although crewed by EWS, it is advertised as a First Great Western service, and should be treated equally as such. I am led to believe from the on-train staff that there are negotiations on-going to enable the train to run on weekdays (presumably during the school summer holidays). Perhaps if FGW used the train on an actual timetabled services between Bristol and Weymouth ^ like Wessex used to do ^ then they might get more benefit out of it.

Times
Bristol TM 0909
Keynsham 0916
Oldfield Pk 0924
Bath Spa 0927
Bradford O-A 0941
Trowbridge 0949
Westbury 0959
Frome 1010
Castle Cary 1025
Yeovil PM 1042
Maiden Newton 1106
Dorchester West 1124
Weymouth 1138

Weymouth 1658
Dorchester West 1711
Maiden Newton 1724
Yeovil PM 1744
Castle Cary 1801
Bruton 1807
Frome 1819
Westbury 1838
Trowbridge 1845
Bradford O-A 1853
Bath Spa 1908
Oldfield Park 1912
Keynsham 1920
Bristol TM 1930

Hopefully the FGW publicity machine will swing into action and start publicising this extra service and soon.

They do indeed deserve praise as this is going to cost a lot of money and they don't have to run this extra services as part of their franchise. It was a shame that all this wasn't sorted out over the winter so it could have been included in the printed summer timetables, but we must remember that there is a third party involved in running extra trains and thats good old Network Rail.

Hopefully this will happen as its needed during the school summer holidays, Sundays too IMHO.

Couldn't agree more with you. This would also free up units to boost other busy summer services in Devon and Cornwall. The only problem now with doing this is that Weymouth line trains now also run beyond Bristol to Gloucester/Worcester/Great Malvern which didn't used to happen when Wessex Trains ran the Weymouth line.

If this were to operate in the weekday it would benefit me immensley. A northbound train leaving Frome at a sensible time- 1819 - would mean I could once again travel from Frome. And I like going on Loco trains too ;)

16:58 Service was cancelled today according to FGW site, Member of train crew unavailable.

16:58 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads due 19:30
This train has been cancelled.This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Bit of a shame that. Does anyone know if the 09:09 ex Bristol down service ran?

Down service ran. Might be due to the riot at Bath!

I get the feeling the LHCS is on the 1730 WEY - BRI...

That would be the most commonsense thing to do.

The LHCS did indeed work the 1730 Weymouth Bristol TM. I understand the 1251 Gt Malvern Weymouth (which forms the 1730) terninated at Westbury on the way down.

Sorry to seem dumb but what is the LHCS

Loco Hauled Coaching Stock

One of the less common acronymns, so not dumb at all.

I've added it to our acronym page at
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/acronyms.html

Here's a useful timetable from the Heart of Wessex Rail Partnership showing times of the extra loco service to Weymouth as well as services either side of this train both in the morning and the return journeys from Weymouth late afternoon:

http://www.heartofwessex.org.uk/downloads/Loco%20mini%20poster.pdf

There's also a poster on platform 2 at Oldfield Park advertising this service- it doesn't mention it's loco powered but there are 4 loco photos! This is the first and only publicity I've seen so far.

You kind of get the impression that the person at FGW who made up the timetable poster was rather chuffed about the return of LHCS to the Weymouth line so added a few pictures showing the loco in action around various parts of the country to promote what you can expect.

Still nothing about this extra service on the FGW website though.

A few people were on platform 1 with their cameras as I went past on Saturday morning waiting for it's arrival at Oldfield Park. Seems even skips (class 67s) are photogenic these days!

First Post, so hopefully I won't offend anybody. Really happy the summer 'loco-hauled' has returned again this year, happy and surprised !!! Happy; because the tedium of seeing 'just another unit' in sleepy
Somerset has been broken (even if they turn up in all sorts of liveries), and surprised; because after last year's abortive attempt to run locos through the summer, I thought we would never see their like again.

I travelled behind the locos on Saturday evening (quite impressed, noise etc). Having tried to obtain a ticket at Yeovil Pen Mill (office closed),  I asked one the EWS staff for a ticket on the train. Imagine my surprise when he told me that FGW had failed to provide 'revenue-collecting' staff for this service (apparently for the second week running) and I would have to travel for free. Let me say here and now that I'm not a 'fare-dodger' and although I enjoyed my journey, I was left bewildered. I really want to see this service succeed, but if FGW are unable to collect fares and advertise this service properly, then I fear for the future of it. 
 

Hello, Penmill Pugs, and welcome to the coffee shop!

I think the only people you may have 'ruffled' a bit are FGW, who seem to have overlooked the need to at least try to cover the costs of this service?!

Has anyone else on the forum experienced this rather bizarre situation??

We all want to see the Weymouth line do well this summer so FGW do get a return on their investment of running the loco and coaches to demonstrate its worth keeping for future years and yes it would help if someone was there to collect the fares.

I would imagine that it was a rare case of Yeovil Pen Mill station ticket office being closed that morning. Many times I've been on a Weymouth train which was reasonably busy by the time it reaches Yeovil but rammed on departure. Plenty of good revenue there.

First week there was no FGW revenue staff on board the train out or back just the EWS crew. Second week, there was a member of the Westbury revenue staff on board on the outward run who I think joined at Keynsham but I don't know how far they went down; it was certainly beyond Frome. As the loco and stock returned on a timetabled service, there should have been someone, but as the outward working (1251 ex Great Malvern) didn't turn up, no one available. In fact, no-one even boarded at Westbury, which I would have expected at the very least.

I recall that when it ran last year, the first week there was no-one, and the subsequent two weeks there was revenue staff on board on the outward journey only. FGW can't on the one hand complain about having to provide the train at extra cost if they don't take steps themselves to - as Timmer says - get a return on their investment. Own goal here I think.

However, the good news is that official posters are now starting to appear at stations advertising the service.

Though strange that the one at Oldfield Park has loco photos, and none of the others I've seen at any other station have any photos at all...

At last! FGW have placed basic details of the Weymouth loco service on the Heart of Wessex page of their website:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=85

As is FGW's way these days when you want timetable info...use the online journey planner. They don't like timetables do they?

I don't think they've included details as according my RailPlanner software the timings change each week - although are the same for either end of the line (0909 and 1655).

I shall be sampling this service today ...

Interestingly enough, if you want to go to Bristol faster than the 1730 - get that as far as Castle Cary... change at Castle Cary and then Westbury. You arrive about 25 minutes earlier!

I did yesterday evening but only for a couple of minutes as it was a very convenient connection for Oldfield Park off the 17.30 ex Paddington train. A reasonable amount of passengers alighted at Bath Spa. How was the loading from Weymouth? A few bashers were leaning out of vestibule windows sampling the smell and sound of the leading skip!
Useful to know as the 17.30 is a very slow service.

Not guilty.

No idea, I bailed at Trowbridge on the way back, but I suspect D_M was one of the ones leaning out ;)

I'll upload my photos when I can be bothered.

Not at Bath come to think of it ;)

A supportive article in the Bristol Evening Post today: see http://thisisbristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=20884129&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922

Made itself onto the front page of the FGW site.

Two photos of last weekends run at Bristol in the PM
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/swr/wds23.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l50/liamy_2006/swr/wds24.jpg

All we need now is for the weather to play it's part in helping to fill this train. So far it hasn't been very helpful on Saturdays thus far.

Sorry, Timmer, but it's Wimbledon fortnight and Glastonbury festival: therefore it's bound to pee down with rain for days on end!

 ::) ;D

My photos from the Weymouth 67s are now available in my .Mac web gallery: http://gallery.mac.com/tom.cairns/100025

I took a gamble and booked a day out in Weymouth with my family last Saturday using this service - and I have to say, the weather played surprisingly fair for us. It was absolutely glorious! There were a few extra passengers heading for Glastonbury festival (which was by then already well under way) and a few locals making short journeys to go shopping or visit friends along the route, but although the train was still fairly packed on arrival at Weymouth I'd judge that at least 75% of those using it were trainspotters and enthusiasts rather than genuine daytrippers.