Great Western Coffee Shop

Why were FGW's BTM - Padd HST's running via Lawrence Hill, BPW and Badminton, and FGW's west units running from Lawrence Hill to Bath Spa and beyond today?

Im confused as too why HST were not running to Bath, yet the West units were!!

Closure at Chippenham would usually be the reason for that.

But in the past, when Chippenham is closed, BTM - Padd would normally run via Bath, Trowbridge, Hawkeridge Jnc and up the B&H to Reading/Padd.

It's faster and doesn't deny Swindon of a decent service.

No, that's if the line beyond Swindon in closed.

Line between BTM and Dr Days junction just outside Bristol was closed yesterday so Cardiff-Portsmouth were diverted via Dr Days not calling at BTM but calling instead at Lawrance Hill for Bristol passengers. London HSTs were stopping there to pick up passengers to take them to BTM.

If Bristol Temple Meads to Dr Days was closed, then HSTs would have run via Bath. Perhaps you mean North Somerset Junction.

Or indeed Oxford. I've expressed my irritation with the HST diversions via Hungerford/Westbury/Trowbridge on here before: the problem we have from Oxford heading west is that there are two "tiers" of fare, routed "Not London" or "Not Reading" (oddly, there seems to be no OXF - BRI "Any Permitted" ticket).

Now, the CDR and SVR via Didcot is pretty good value. Unfortunately, when the HST service is diverted away from Didcot, these days FGW don't ease the routeing restriction and insist that, if you want to avoid a grindingly slow rail replacement bus and actually travel by train on your rail journey (a novel concept, I know), you have to stump up for the "Not London" fare. That means a price jump to ^43.00 from ^31.00 for the "not Reading" SVR or ^17.80 for the "not Reading" CDR. No-one has yet been able to explain the logic of charging extra for taking you miles out of your way and making your journey an hour longer than usual!

Having been apprenticed to the Devil's Advocate through my TransWilts training, I can suggest four reasons.

You might be a bit unhappy about it - but you pay, don't you? So it's more fare box revenue for the TOC and its shareholders  ;D

It's a bloomin nuisance having you travel when the Didcot -> Swindon section is closed ... you're using up scarce seats / train paths on the Berks and Hants, so you should be paying for rarity value

By charging more on days that it's not very convenient to have customers travel, the TOC is hoping to price you onto trains that go direct on the previous or following day

Look - you're occupying their train (and seat) for longer, so it's only fair you should pay more

I recall being "a bit miffed" when a day trip from here to London rose from under 40 pounds to over 100 within a few months, caused by the removal of all "off peak" trains, the removal of super saver, and a fare rise.  To the cynical, it looked as if the changes couldn't have been much better orchestatrated to drive people away without actually closing the service down.   The fare rise was followed by cancellations of up to half of the remaining trains for the following month or two ... though to be fair to First Great Western, reliability is now hugely improved on the inappropriate vestigial service that's left.

Yep I do mean North Somerset Junction, thanks D_M.

S&C works at Thingley Jct each weekend until middle of June.

I've noticed that. Presumably it's just a like for like replacement, which is a bit short sighted given the need to get freight heading onto the branch to get off the main line whilst awaiting a northbound train.