Great Western Coffee Shop

I try my best to get out and take a closer look at the issues that might be of interest to members/site visitors. In this topic, I will post some of the photos of my travels, with the aim of showing both good and bad.

For photos from previous months, click on the links below.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1592.msg10419#msg10419

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1943.msg14391#msg14391

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=2442.msg18328#msg18328

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=2930.msg22347#msg22347

28/10/2008 :

SWT 2-coach Class 158 unit at Cosham (0805 Portsmouth-Basingstoke service, busy but not full.)
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008swt158.jpg

Oxford station entrance.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008oxford.jpg

Tackley.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley2.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley4.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley5.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley6.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley7.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley12.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley13.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley15.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley16.jpg

2-coach Class 165 unit at Tackley.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley1.jpg

Tackley village map.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley3.jpg

Recent plaque to mark Oxfordshire County Council/FGW station improvements, along with one marking Network SouthEast improvements in 1993.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley8.jpg

Crossing at Tackley (see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=2432.msg18233#msg18233)

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley9.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley10.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley11.jpg

Out of season for tourist information?
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley14.jpg

I noticed there is no shelter on the Banbury-bound platform. Any plans to install one, like they did recently at Avoncliff, a station with similar passenger numbers/leisure trade?
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=3139.msg23999#msg23999

28/10/2008 :

Class 165 unit interior.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008class165interior.jpg

Radley.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley1.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley2.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley3.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley4.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley6.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley7.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley8.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley9.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley10.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley12.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley16.jpg

Advertisement for local village shop.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley17.jpg

Recent plaque to mark Oxfordshire County Council/FGW station improvements (see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=3234.msg24928#msg24928)

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley5.jpg

Former Abingdon platform? (I'm assuming, please correct if wrong.)
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley11.jpg

Radley information point, which seems to operate in a similar way to SWT area ones.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley13.jpg

Bus/rail integration at Radley.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley14.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008radley15.jpg

28/10/2008 :

Class 166 unit interior.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008class166interior1.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008class166interior2.jpg

Appleford.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008appleford2.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008appleford3.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008appleford4.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008appleford5.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008appleford6.jpg

Recent plaque to mark Oxfordshire County Council/FGW station improvements.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008appleford1.jpg

One thing I didnt manage to capture (mainly because it was hammering down with rain, leading your Global Moderator to take shelter) was that to access the platforms at Appleford, you have to navigate a busy road, and I wonder if this puts people off? To be fair though, there are big red signs that warn of this at the station.

Bicester Town.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008bicestert1.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008bicestert3.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008bicestert4.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008bicestert5.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008bicestert7.jpg

Oxford-Bicester Rail Action Group board.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008bicestert2.jpg

Looking east, and perhaps towards the future.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008bicestert6.jpg

Car parking at Bicester Town, which has been expanded due to a deal with Bicester Village.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008bicestert8.jpg

28/10/2008 :

Culham.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham1.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham2.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham4.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham7.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham8.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham9.jpg

Redundant station building at Culham (available to let), with adjoining part of the platform fenced off from public use.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham3.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham5.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham6.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham10.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham11.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008culham12.jpg

Some interesting photos there, Lee. Thanks.

At Tackley, there's not been a shelter on the down platform for many a year - the last one standing was in the late 60's/early 70's and was a small white wooden one. That was when Ivy Robbins, who opened the rebuilt station in 1993 (as commemorated on the plaque), was 'Lady Porter' at the station. Although there is little usage of the platform for northbound passengers - the vast majority of passengers are Oxford bound - space certainly exists for a shelter.

Good to see Radley station car park once more looking full!

Thanks for that info, IndustryInsider.

Another thing worth noting was the community involvement in the Avoncliff shelter project (see link above.) Judging from what one guy at the station was saying, similar sentiment exists along the Oxford-Banbury line (an example being the local partnership deal that brought about the Sunday services), and perhaps FGW could harness that in the same way in this particular instance.

Looking forward to meeting you at Taplow.

Will you have room for photos of all 21 No Smoking signs on the station?

Only 21?  ;D

Look forward to seeing you there.

Oxfordshire County Council and FGW did look at providing a new shelter on the Banbury platform at Tackley. But after carrying out a structural survey found the wooden trestle platform was not strong enough to take the weight of a shelter. Because of difficult access, they cannot get the machinery on site to dig out proper foundations and the cost of that would make the idea prohibitive given the low number of people heading north. The train service is geared towards getting people into Oxford and London.

Tackley and nearby Heyford have both been adopted by local people. FGW has a service delivery manager for the line and he works closely with the county council's rail officer.

There is an Oxford Canal Line Partnership (you may have seen the station signs have a special logo) and this brings together the county council, First Great Western, British Waterways, Cherwell District Council and local businesses. It aims to promote use of the railway and encourage people into the countryside through posters, leaflets and service or station improvements. The Sunday service came about as a result of the Partnership and its achievements have been recognised at national awards.

Thanks for expanding on the workings of the partnership, gwr2006. Here is a photo of the logo on one of the station signs :

(http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/281008tackley15.jpg)

Thanks also for the info on the shelter. Its just a shame that because of the situation, the obvious local support cant be harnessed in the same way as it was along the Heart Of Wessex line, resulting in the Avoncliff shelter being built :


On the service being geared towards getting people into Oxford and London, an 0756 (0755 from December) arrival into Oxford strikes me as being too early. Any plans to improve this, or do commuters find it adequate?

30/10/2008 :

A full off-peak service (1018 Reading-London Paddington.)
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008full165.jpg

Taplow (many thanks to eightf48544 and the Taplow Rail Users Group for the guided tour.)
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow1.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow2.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow3.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow4.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow5.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow6.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow7.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow8.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow13.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow14.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow15.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow16.jpg

3-coach Class 165 unit at Taplow.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow9.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow10.jpg

Taplow Rail Users Group room at the station.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow11.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow12.jpg

FGW notice warning of linespeed increase.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow17.jpg

Another variant of the help point.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008taplow18.jpg

The information screens on each platform are also different from other areas, only showing a train when it is due, and referring passengers to the summary information screens.

30/10/2008 :

Cookham.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham1.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham2.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham5.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham6.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham7.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham8.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham9.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham10.jpg

Old station building and platform at Cookham.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham3.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham4.jpg

Level crossing at Cookham, with millenium clock in the background.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008cookham11.jpg

30/10/2008 :

Henley-on-Thames.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley2.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley3.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley4.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley5.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley6.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley9.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley11.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley12.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley13.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley17.jpg

2-coach Class 165 unit at Henley.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley1.jpg

Signs showing Henley's rowing links.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley7.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley8.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley10.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley16.jpg

Recent plaque to mark Oxfordshire County Council/FGW station improvements.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley14.jpg

Out of season for tourist information?
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008henley15.jpg

30/10/2008 :

Maidenhead.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008maidenhead1.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008maidenhead2.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008maidenhead3.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008maidenhead5.jpg

Marlow branch line train at Maidenhead.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008maidenhead4.jpg

FGW meets the Tube at Ealing Broadway.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008ealingbroadway.jpg

Overcrowding on the 1714 Paddington-Henley service (possibly caused by the delay to the 1718 Paddington-Oxford service.)
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008crowding1714henley2.jpg

Marlow.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008marlow1.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008marlow2.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008marlow3.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008marlow5.jpg

http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008marlow6.jpg

Marlow-Maidenhead Passengers Association board at Marlow.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008marlow4.jpg

Changing trains at Bourne End.
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/oct08photos/301008marlow7.jpg

In 2005, FGW sat down with local rail users and the county council and reshaped the timetable on the line to match local travel demand. The arrivals in Oxford allow connections with fast trains to London, i.e. 0756 into the 0807 to Paddington. It also allows time for people to travel out from the station to the Oxford hospitals. Most people who work in the city centre also tend to arrive between 0800 and 0830 from various directions (Reading, Didcot, Banbury etc.) so its an ideal time.

It wasn't quite that friendly as that was it? Tackley and Heyford commuters were basically told their two through turbo operated fast trains to London leaving around 7am and 8am were being axed when 180's started replacing the through services and the trains to/from Stratford were taken over by Chiltern Railways.

A more ideal time would have been to leave it as it was with the first through train arriving at London at 08:25 and the second through train arriving London at 09:10 for anybody on a days business, but at the same time arriving at Oxford at 08:10 which was more suitable than the current 07:56 arrival for Oxford commuters. The best solution of all would be instead of having two Oxford bound trains within about 25 minutes at 06:xx, there would be a second train from Banbury at 8am running half-an-hour after the 07:56 arrival at Oxford.

The return service is a little strange too - for a short while there was the embarrassing situation where FGW had to provide a rail-replacement bus every evening from Oxford as the franchise specification had been breached I think? Also current services from Oxford are at 17:44, 19:14, 20:53 and 21:39. The 17:44 is ideal for commuters, but the 19:14 should be half-an-hour earlier, then there should be a 19:44 and 20:44 to give a nice rounded hourly service. The 21:39 is pretty pointless running so close to the 20:53 after most people have gone home for the night and the argument about good connections from London commuters doesn't hold much weight as only the 20:53 has a good connection.

It is true to say that the rewriting of the timetable led to some vociferous opposition from local people who stood to lose their through London trains in favour of being forced to change at Oxford. Ultimately it led FGW to sit down with the rail user group and local councils and come up with the pattern that retained two through services. Because the remedial timetable was introduced at short notice I recall there was the situation where a bus replaced the evening peak train out of Oxford for a while, calling at each station on request of any passnengers.

It must be a nightmare timetabling that line these days with its mix of half hourly CrossCountry, hourly Freightliner trains and local trains that do limited business stopping at the intermediate stations. The downturn really occured when DfT decided to move the Stratford trains to Chiltern Railways - also breaking the popular tourist trail between Windsor, Oxford and Startford. Figures I have show that journeys dropped by 36.7% in the year after those services were taken away.

Yes, but it is good that Stratford now has London trains with Chiltern, not FGW!

It might have retained two through services, but who on earth would use them as through trains when it's quicker to change at Oxford? An average of nearly 2hrs is not an appealing prospect as a through train is it! Granted the local trains do limited business, but if you take the old evening paths from Oxford of roughly 17:50, 18:55 and 19:46 (two of which were expresses from London) and compare that with the current schedules of 17:44, 19:14 and 20:53, it is clear that the service has suffered quite badly. Those paths must have existed then and FGW must have had an opportunity to retain them?

Can I ask what the 36.7% drop in figures actually refers to, and whether they have improved since? Chiltern's service is more regular (every 2hrs throughout the day), and takes the same time as the old Thames operated service - granted Paddington is a more established terminal than Marylebone and the Oxford stop-off was attractive to some tourists, but I can't believe that through London-Stratford journeys would drop off that much.

It has been suggested to me that I draw a parallel with the TransWilts and compare Melksham to Tackley and Heyford.   Although the 2001 census showed that there are more London commuters from Melksham (pop 22000) than Westbury (Pop about half of that), the morning service of trains at 05:52 and 07:45 to Swindon and 06:56 and 09:12 to Southampton was replaced by a single service at 07:17 to Swindon and a single service at 06:40 to Southampton.  In the evening, services at 17:02 and 21:33 to Swindon were replaced by a single train at 19:50, and arrivals at 18:09 and 22:37 were replace by a single 19:11 arrival.

There was, indeed, a consultation exercise run on the draft timetable by FGW in 2006. They were clearly told that the proposed number of services was inadequate, and that if they DID reduce them, then the proposed morning service was too early and the proposed evening service was too late.   So what did they do in their review after the consultation?  They moved the already-too-early morning trains even earlier (and the DfT changed the SLC to allow this!) and moved the evening train even later. We really felt that we were being s****ed on, and questions were asked (and still are) as to whether the provision of a service at times that are not appropriate to the market is a step back to Beeching days, where services were reduced to a minimal level and timed to be impractical as a prelude to saying "look - it's not used - we may as well close it" ...

OK ... there's the comparison drawn.  I would be biased (living on the TransWilts) of course and say that it's an even grosser case that Tackley / Heyford ... but there are still places / services that need to be sorted out, and that seems from what I read here to include Tackley and Heyford as well as Melksham and the TransWilts.


P.S. The draconian Jacobs report that the SRA based the current franchise on made a lot of suggestions about cutting things out that weren't implemented - some of the Devon and Cornish branches to be none-stop services with just half the current services, for example. And yet on the TransWilts, it came out in favour of a 2 hourly service.  It strikes me that with awful traffic issues in Oxford, a good service on the Banbury line would be sensible .... park and ride opportunities?

The points made about a choice of peak arrivals/departures being the ideal (along with good connections and a 2-hourly off-peak service), pretty much correspond with what I feel would be an appropriate TransWilts service (link below.)
http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/sdcstrategy/westburyswindontt.xls

Judging by a recent meeting we had with FGW, they agree with this principle. This is backed up by other exchanges with those within the company.

However, we still remain frustratingly short of implementing a solution.

There is a good service on the Banbury line - where it's needed, between Banbury and Oxford, even if XC don't want all the commuters cluttering up their trains. Tackley, Lower Heyford and Kings Sutton are all small villages, so with the best will in the world, the passenger numbers just aren't there to justify much higher frequencies. They only stayed open beyond the 1960s because the villages are all off the main north-south road, so bus services bypass them.

Kings Sutton is served by several Chiltern services anyway and it's a short drive from Heyford into Bicester for a frequent service to London and there really can't be that many people travelling from Tackley to London. I have always understood that the more important flow beyond Oxford for these villages was actually to Reading (and Didcot to a lesser degree), not London.

Where the railways do stand to make a killing from a better service into Oxford is the Bicester Town route, but that will not happen until the track is improved and the journey time comes down from the current 25-minute trundle. It will be interesting to see what happens if Chiltern do get the go-ahead for their scheme here.

There are moves afoot on this, some of which are covered in the link below.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=3761.msg29019#msg29019