Great Western Coffee Shop

Last week I organised a trip to Gloucester today to see some relations. Had I remembered it was Cheltenham Races week I would have postponed it, but you know what they say about hindsight...

The 1128 Swindon to Gloucester (1028 PAD CNM) usually runs virtually as ECS over this section, but not so today. A 5 car IET full and standing with racegoers, some of course were from Ireland. A quiet bunch of pilgrims they certainly were not.

There came a message over the PA system. I didn’t hear it for the racket. It was repeated a minute or so later, and told passengers that today this train would run fast to Gloucester and would not stop at Kemble, Stroud or Stonehouse. Cue a mad scramble from 3 or4 people to scramble off the train – quick- one of which was sitting in the seat next to where I was standing so there was at least one positive outcome.

But just the other side of Oaksey, a woman walked down the train and for some reason spoke to me. “I’m going to get by the door for when we stop at Kemble” she said. I told her about the announcement and she thought I was winding her up, but having confirmed the story with two other individuals she came back to me (I don’t know why - I suppose I just look “authoritative” on trains...) she said “What can I do.” Well of course the only thing she could do was stay on until Gloucester and then go back.

Irony kicked in at Standish. We were 2 late from Swindon but 1 early by then after the skip stops. We then sat there for 2 minutes waiting for a northbound XC to pass, and were about RT into Gloucester.

I suppose GWR would argue that she ought to have listened to the announcements. I would normally agree with that view because far too many take no notice, but then far too many announcements these days are generally unimportant anyway (eg see it say it, no smoking, wear a mask if you can etc) but every so often there is an important one. Like today.

I am struggling to see the rationale behind these skip stops. The train was not significantly late leaving SWI, it has a 6 minute layover at Gloucester booked anyway, and turns into ECS less than 15 minutes later for another layover in High Street sidings.

And on Gloucester Central station there was at least one dissatisfied customer waiting for it to come back so that it could take her back to Kemble...

I think you stated what I guess was the rationale almost at the top of your comment......... "full and standing"

Could it have been that GWR were expecting more pax to join the train between Swindon and Gloucester and deemed the train to be already too full to be safe?

You may have a valid point there. People “on the ground” may have been able to establish how many pax were waiting at intermediate stations, and I couldn’t see as we passed because I was sitting on the other side of the train.

I must admit to having been surprised initially when I saw the train so full, but then I realised this was the first train of the day on which off peak tickets would be valid from Paddington. But that would not have applied at those intermediate stations, so I would have expected most racegoers to have gone earlier because on this train they wouldn’t be at the racecourse much before 1300

Nevertheless, whilst the train was full and standing, I have used trains that were fuller we now have a reason for the goings-on. Whether it was a good reason that would stand up to scrutiny we will never know unless a member of this forum with firsthand knowledge of the incident tells us.

The remaining question is whether those on-train announcements were sufficient given the circumstances. The sound quality of on-train PA systems varies substantially, as does the volume, even between coaches. There was no announcement on the platform before I boarded; I don’t know what the departure board display said because I didn’t look for it or see it. Personally I think, given the crowded train and the background noise level, that relying solely on the on train PA system was inadequate in this case.

This Morning I travelled via Worcestershire parkway heading north. Part of the Crowd on the southbound platform heading for Cheltenham can be seen in the attached photo. Cross Country provided a 3 car 170 on the 09:58 it arrived full and standing. Most of the crowd where still on the platform when it departed.